Among all the types of psychological warfare that history has reviewed, in the world of spy wars, rumours occupy a special place..
A very special one..
For unlike all other means, rumours always start from an unknown focal point, which is difficult to pinpoint, or to trace in a logical and sound manner, for a rumour can begin in a large factory, or a small café, or even from the heart of the most dangerous agency, in any country in the world..
And this depends on the nature of the rumours, their importance, their seriousness, and what they can lead to, after they penetrate society, settle in its conscience, and acquire a terrifying power, before which the facts themselves may perhaps be swept aside..
And taking rumours lightly is a grave mistake, no matter how trivial or stupid a rumour may appear, or even if it lacks logic and sound reason..
And before we discuss this point, let me bring your mind back to a funny rumour, which most likely began as a joke, and then it was not long before it grew strong, with its constant repetition, until it went beyond all bounds of natural logic..
And the talk here is about that rumour, which spread suddenly, saying:
That the creative artist (Mohamed Sobhy) is Christian by religion!
A rumour that should have provoked laughter and mockery, and seemed plainly absurd and illogical, and despite this, we were surprised to find it spreading..
And spreading..
And spreading..
And as it spread, some malicious people began weaving even more absurd justifications to convince others that (Mohamed Mahmoud Sobhy), known as the artist (Mohamed Sobhy), is a Christian man..
And the ridiculous thing is that the justification itself is illogical..
But the more ridiculous thing is that people believed it..
And repeated it..
And proved the power of rumours..
And at the time when the originator of the rumour was rolling on his back with laughter and mockery, at that naive people, which believed such a silly rumour, the artist (Mohamed Sobhy) had to speak to the newspapers, and about the falseness of the rumour, which he himself had mocked at first, regardless of what it contained, given that its author and repeater is a person who insulted religions, without awareness or logic..
Or perhaps he is a person who intended this!!
The important thing is that, despite everything that was said, and despite (Sobhy) himself denying the matter, there remained those who believed..
And those who repeated..
And those who argued..
And such are rumours..
It is easy to launch them, and difficult, and perhaps very difficult, to stop them..
And one of the main reasons for rumours is the desire of some to appear as the distinguished person, the well-informed, the one who knows the inner workings of things..
And this is the worst trait in existence..
And the rate of badness doubles, if the owner of that trait actually belongs to a sovereign, security, or political body, such that his words suggest confidence and credibility, even if in reality he knows nothing about what he is talking about..
For it is not necessary that someone working in the police apparatus, for example, be aware of everything going on there, indeed it is very natural that he be ignorant of much of what happens, otherwise the entire police apparatus would become like a public café, in which everyone repeats secrets, and even announces them to all employees without exception, and without any rules for the secrecy and security of the apparatus and the state..
And this also applies to those working in the intelligence agencies, the cabinet, the people's assembly, and all the other sovereign bodies..
And in most cases, the feeling of being insignificant is the main motive, for junior employees, or for the small among the big officials, as they are called, to pretend to be important, by claiming that they know the secrets of the place..
And even the secrets of the state itself..
And sometimes, these psychologically ill people pretend to know even what is called "(kitchen decisions)"..
And what is meant by the term is those decisions, of a highly sovereign nature, such that no one can know of them except the top leaders, at the highest levels, and the prime minister, or the president of the republic personally..
And such decisions are always at a very high degree of secrecy, such that the president and the leaders do not inform their wives of them..
So what about their employees, in the senior grades..
And the lower job grades..
But the strange thing is that people do not think..
Or search..
Or discuss..
They only believe..
And are impressed..
And repeat..
And there lies the disaster.. and there also lies, the power and danger of rumours, at all levels..
And rumours, in terms of their strength, their ability to penetrate, and the effects they leave behind, are divided into three main types..
And the most famous type of rumours is what is known as "(the creeping rumour)"..
And this creeping rumour is the most influential of rumours, and the most capable of defeating the facts themselves, since it, as is clear from its name, starts calm, slow, but it possesses such strength as allows it to creep through societies, and to move between tongues and ears so swiftly, that it becomes firmly established, strong, convincing, even if it is not based on sound logic..
And the main purpose of the creeping rumour is to direct public thought towards a particular matter, or a specific idea, so that it settles in hearts and souls, and becomes capable of destroying morale, or stripping away the general will, when the moments of confrontation come..
And the most famous of the known creeping rumours, is the idea of the strength of the Israeli army, and its invulnerability, and the idea that it is an invincible mighty giant..
And during the Second World War, (Goebbels), the Nazi propaganda minister, used the rumour of the German secret weapon, to break the will of the English, and make them believe that their defeat was inevitable, even if the developments of the situation suggested the opposite..
And the creeping rumour is capable of pushing an entire people to surrender, before they even face their enemy, by portraying to them that this enemy exceeds them in strength by hundreds of times, or possesses a terrible weapon, capable of annihilating them without mercy.. etc..
As for the second type of rumours, it is "(the violent rumour)"..
And this type of rumour relies on spreading a powerful, frightening lie, which drives a certain group, or even all groups, to anger and revolt, and to rush into destruction or sabotage, without stopping to think about the situation, study it, and determine whether it is true or false.. And the clear example of powerful rumours, is the events of the central security, in the late eighties of the twentieth century, when a rumour spread among the central security forces, saying that their conscription period would be doubled under extremely bad living conditions..
And with the utmost violence, the central security soldiers set out declaring their refusal..
And their anger..
And their revolt..
And the whole world caught fire..
And this is exactly the goal of violent rumours..
To unleash feelings and emotions from their shackles, with the utmost violence and force, without thought or deliberation..
And from here it becomes clear that violent rumours are the exact opposite of the creeping rumour, for they start quickly, and their purpose is quick and direct results, and...
And violent..
There remains before us then the third and last type of rumours, which is what is known as "(the submerged rumour)"..
And the submerged rumour is very similar to the creeping rumour, in terms of its slowness, its penetration, and its seepage, but it differs from it in that it does not touch a permanent or continuous vital sector of society, but rather touches a matter related to limited times, or specific seasons, such that the rumour submerges in society most of the time, then returns to the surface, when its turn comes, or its season, or its occasion comes..
So if it were a rumour related to a shortage of food resources, for example, it disappears most days of the year, because goods are actually available, then it reappears with the summer seasons, for example, or at the beginning of the month of Ramadan..
And financial rumours are the most famous types of submerged rumours, such as rumours of the government issuing a law, permitting it to seize the bank deposits of citizens, or the free currencies in their balances, and it is a rumour always linked to economic crises, for it is always submerged in society, then suddenly appears, if society faces a financial crisis, even if it is temporary or passing..
And from all of the above, it seems clear that rumours are one of the weapons of wars through the ages..
Nay, they are the strongest weapons of the hidden war..
Psychological warfare...
Mohammed Haffz