The Psychological Technique of Martin Luther Thomas' Radio Addresses

by Theodor W. Adorno

Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969) was one of the twentieth century’s most influential thinkers in the areas of social theory, philosophy, aesthetics, and music. This volume reveals another aspect of the work of this remarkable polymath, a pioneering analysis of the psychological underpinnings of what we now call the Radical Right and its use of the media to propagate its political and religious agenda. The now-forgotten Martin Luther Thomas was an American fascist-style demagogue of the Christian right on the radio in the 1930s. During these years, Adorno was living in the United States and working with Paul Lazarsfeld on the social significance of radio. This book, Adorno’s penetrating analysis of Thomas’s rhetorical appeal and manipulative techniques, was written in English and is one of Adorno’s most accessible works. It is in four “The Personal Self-Characterization of the Agitator,” “Thomas’ Methods,” “The Religious Medium,”and “Ideological Bait.” The importance of the study is it includes a theory of fascism and anti-semitism, it provides a methodology for the cultural study of popular culture, and it offers broad reflections on comparative political life in America and Europe. Implicit in the book is an innovative idea about the relation between psychological and sociological reality. Moreover, the study is germane to the contemporary reality of political and religious radio in the United States because it provides an analysis of rhetorical techniques that exploit potentials of psychological regression for authoritarian aims.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Politics

144 pages, Paperback

First published December 3, 1999

About the author

Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno was one of the most important philosophers and social critics in Germany after World War II. Although less well known among anglophone philosophers than his contemporary Hans-Georg Gadamer, Adorno had even greater influence on scholars and intellectuals in postwar Germany. In the 1960s he was the most prominent challenger to both Sir Karl Popper's philosophy of science and Martin Heidegger's philosophy of existence. Jürgen Habermas, Germany's foremost social philosopher after 1970, was Adorno's student and assistant. The scope of Adorno's influence stems from the interdisciplinary character of his research and of the Frankfurt School to which he belonged. It also stems from the thoroughness with which he examined Western philosophical traditions, especially from Kant onward, and the radicalness to his critique of contemporary Western society. He was a seminal social philosopher and a leading member of the first generation of Critical Theory.

Unreliable translations hampered the initial reception of Adorno's published work in English speaking countries. Since the 1990s, however, better translations have appeared, along with newly translated lectures and other posthumous works that are still being published. These materials not only facilitate an emerging assessment of his work in epistemology and ethics but also strengthen an already advanced reception of his work in aesthetics and cultural theory.

Reviews

[Niko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorno, Adorno, nothing has really changed, not that Adorno would be surprised. It seems like nowadays certain voices have picked this book up and studied it thoroughly as a 'how-to' guide and not a total dismantling of the fascist worldview and libidinal maze. Adorno's writing here is refreshingly direct, though never sanding away the subtleties of his dialectical analyses. This work's most significant conclusions I think require in the reader a serious familiarity with psychoanalysis to appreciate in full.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this excellent little primer, Adorno writes about how to identify when media personalities, especially those with fascist leanings, use psychological techniques to manipulate and mislead their audiences, then provides tips on how to counteract these techniques. His subject, 1930s American radio host Martin Luther Thomas, uses many of the same techniques and fallacious talking points that his ideological successors, such as Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Ben Shapiro, and the late Rush Limbaugh, still use in modern American media, making this book as prescient as it is useful. These psychological techniques include:

• The “Lone Wolf” trick: Thomas portrays himself as all alone, not part of the establishment or mainstream media, and therefore you can trust him and send him money to help with the cause. As a political racketeer himself, he constantly denounces other racketeers because by doing so, fewer will believe him to be one. In modern media, this technique is often used to point out opponents’ lies and fallacious reasoning to distract from one’s own. Adorno says that counterpropaganda should point out that “they” themselves “are doing the self-same things which they profess to be furious,” a mechanism of psychological projection (4).
• The "flight-of-ideas” and “fait accompli” techniques: Thomas has nothing to prove, no real conclusion to reach, and no actual argumentation takes place at all. His so-called “conclusions” are the pre-existing convictions of every true Christian American. The whole logical process is spent in identifying a group, person, race, nationality, etc. and applying to them whatever his audience pre-considers to be bad, with no effort to actually prove any of the claims (33).
• The “democratic cloak”: In the name of democracy, Thomas distorts democratic ideas to sell his authoritarian message. He hypostatizes democracy as an end in itself. Thus, certain traits of the population which are due to socially non-democratic processes and antidemocratic in spirit, may be taken and propagated as the last word in democracy, simply because they are characteristics of the majority (52). “Counterpropaganda should point out as concretely as possible in every case the distortions of democratic ideas which take the place in the name of democracy” (51).
• Five devices pertaining to a “Strategy of Terror”: These differ in degrees from slight innuendo to the threat of impending catastrophe. From the “if you only knew” device in which Thomas suggests mysterious dangers that only he knows about, to the “last hour” and “black hand” devices which tell of an enemy among us that will bring imminent disaster to America.
• The “anti-institution” trick: While deploring lawlessness, corruption, and anarchy, Thomas also becomes outraged whenever a central democratic government shows any signs of strength (92-93).
• Imagery of Communism: Thomas “employs the device of denouncing anyone as a Communist who disagrees with his own ideas. This is mainly achieved by the use of the term ‘radical,’ which in fact can mean anyone who follows a progressive line” (105-106).

Adorno provides numerous examples of Thomas using these techniques and many others. The only shortcoming is that he does seem to assume Thomas’s intentions at times, making statements like “when Thomas says this, he actually means this.” Adorno might have ample reason to assume this and might be correct, but the evidence given against Thomas purely in this book is not always enough for the reader to convict him of his intentions. Overall, though, this book is a quick and insightful read for anyone interested in engaging in counterpropaganda and exposing media frauds for who they are.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating dive by a great thinker into certain American strains of Fascist thought. It's not very clear from the book (or from this Goodreads info, frankly) but the book was written in 1943, and that's a lot of the thrill here, watching a sharp, great mind sort through and critique the radio broadcasts of a '30s radio personality here, in America.

It should be noted how much it is of the moment. You'll see a lot of our foul 45th reflected in Martin Luther Thomas's dark imaginings and twistings of words. Sigh.

Maybe it should be 5 stars, but I guess it feels a bit like minor Adorno. His critique is strong and sharp, but it's also more straightforward than we're used to with him. It doesn't loop around and self-critique and iterate. He also wrote it in English, so perhaps I just miss the tangled word-by-word wrestling match that he usually engages in and how it makes you work.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. At least 40 years ahead of its time in terms of its application of media theory to religion and nationalism. Equally insightful is his point that antisemitism, whether bug or feature, is deeply rooted in Christianity. Fascism, with antisemitism forming its theoretical core, exercises its appeal by utilizing Christian civilization as a medium.

[Bernd von Haidinger III · Rating 4 out of 5]

A critique of populism 70 years before Ernesto Laclau systematized it in _On Populist Reason_ and before Slavoj Zizek revisited it in his piece "Against the Populist Temptation." Useful to anyone who studies Fascism or National Socialism or anyone interested in media studies/cultural memory. Book picks up in the second section.