BURLESQUING HAW=HAW SIR,—I cannot help thinking that Mr. Stokes's suggestion
to burlesque Lord Haw-Haw in place of refuting him is not without an element of danger.
Why, in the first place, do peOPle listen to Haw-Haw? My own obserVation leads me to divide these listeners into three groups : (r) Those who listen for pure amusement and take no harm ;.(2) anxious souls who suspect that our own official bulletins may be too optimistic or may conceal, at least for a time, bad news (Haw-Haw has often deliberately suggested this) ; and (3) news-addicts, who must be supplied with news all day. and every day from whatever source it comes, or are impatient of the necessary delays consequent upon tactical or strategical considerations.
Class (r) would, no doubt, greatly appreciate a burlesque ; but if there are,persons foolish enough to be disturbed by the man's infernal assurance (and there are), these are unlikely to be comforted by a following burlesque. They may recall the story of the man who always whistled when passing a cemetery to keep up his spirits!
As to the news-addicts, these are not seldom rather un- critical persons who may believe at least an important fraction of what they hear if it is repeated often enough.
As Mr. Christopher Stone has said in one of his broad- casts, Haw-Haw's " news " bulletins are, and are meant to be, poison. Now poison calls for a prompt and efficient antidote.
To change the metaphor: it is a well-recognised law of economics that bad money tends to drive out good. In the moral sphere, counterfeit truth, that is lies stiffened with a backing of truth, may drive out the pure coin of truth. Hitler
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