Joseph Goebbels, who from 1933 to 1945 served first as the chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, then as Reich Minister of Propaganda, was undeniably an evil man. Yet it’s equally undeniable that he was good at his job. Running the Nazi propaganda machine was a task that required a detailed understanding of the nuances of human behavior. Specifically, he knew, and put to deadly purposes the psychological power of blame shifting. He is quoted as summarizing his theory by saying that the goal was to “Accuse the other of that you are guilty.”
