The government has been using the same techniques and devices of propaganda and persuasion that were brought out to justify the Iraq war of 2003, the removal of Colonel Gaddafi in 2011 and the proposed attacks on the Assad regime in Syria in 2013.

Step 1. Highlight atrocities

We have claimed the moral high ground, using atrocity propaganda. Tony Abbott does this on a regular basis even though our allies behead people as .

Step 2. Communicate moral obligation

The enemy is evil and to do nothing in the face of such evil would amount to dereliction of moral duty.We must stop them. If we do not, then we are no better than them and evil will prosper. “They are against god”…Tony Abbott

Step 3. Deny enemy’s humanity

“the propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human”. Death Cult, Medieval, a cancer

Step 4. Say intervention is for the people

if you are averting a humanitarian catastrophe then you can act. We have to protect the civilians and civilian-populated areas under threat of attack. Salvation is a just cause.

Step 5. Raise threat to national security

Illustrate that this far-away, evil regime constitutes a threat to national security, here and now. The danger becomes localised. Military action is urgent. ISIS “would come to hit us here very quickly –indeed there have already been plots.”

However much technology and times may change, the techniques of propaganda and persuasion remain largely the same. Today even more so in your face.