The fact is, control rarely begins with force; it begins with a story. Across history, the most effective leaders, benevolent, oppressive, or anything in between, have understood that shaping the message is the first step toward shaping the mind. Influence doesn’t always require armies or chains. Sometimes, all it takes is deciding who speaks, what gets believed, and which truths are allowed to survive.
Today, this strategy is more sophisticated than ever, but its roots stretch deep into the past. When one controls the message, they can control the people. History is full of examples where those in power manipulated leadership and messaging to steer another group’s worldview.
During enslavement in the United States, enslavers often selected religious leaders for enslaved people, allowing only those who emphasized obedience, submission, and the idea that suffering was divinely ordained. Passages about liberation, justice, or equality were suppressed. What was presented to enslaved people wasn’t spiritual guidance; it was psychological warfare.
Yet, by the grace of the Most High, enslaved people resisted by creating “invisible churches,” secret gatherings where they preached freedom, sang coded spirituals, and reclaimed their humanity. Even under the harshest conditions, they refused to let their worldview be dictated by their oppressors.
Similarly, European empires and colonial powers across Africa and Asia frequently installed or endorsed “friendly” chiefs, kings, or local rulers. These leaders were expected to maintain order, promote colonial interests, and discourage resistance. By controlling who spoke for the people, colonizers controlled how the people understood themselves. The message was clear: Your future is ours to define.
During the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union supported leaders in other countries who aligned with their ideological goals. This often meant funding political parties, backing coups, or shaping media narratives. The goal wasn’t just influence; it was worldview engineering. If you can shape how a society interprets the world, you can shape how it behaves within it.
Today, modern tools and ancient strategies operate together, but the intentions to control and manipulate the message and the people remain the same. Leaders and governments use media platforms, diplomatic messaging, information campaigns, selective amplification of certain voices, and suppression or discrediting of others.
Sometimes the message is framed as promoting stability, supporting human rights, or advancing national interests. But the mechanism remains unchanged: shape the message, shape the mind. Once a foreign power shapes your mind, it shapes your future. We now live in an era where information moves faster than truth can keep up. Narratives spread globally in seconds. A single message can shift public opinion, destabilize a movement, or redefine a nation’s identity.
Modern tools may look new, but the intention behind them is ancient: to shape perception, steer public sentiment, and control the story of public life. This influence is even more powerful because so much of the media landscape is concentrated in the hands of a very few. In such a tightly controlled environment, even major technology acquisitions, viewed by many critics as attempts to influence the flow of information, reveal how fiercely contested the narrative battlefield has become.
Whether we are talking about the Islamic Republic of Iran or the nation of Burkina Faso, the pattern is strikingly similar: both seek to assert their sovereignty by resisting external domination, shaping their own narratives, and aligning with partners outside traditional Western spheres. Each has embraced a foreign policy built on self‑determination, anti‑colonial identity, and strategic autonomy. Their growing cooperation reflects a shared belief that controlling the message, internally and externally, is essential to controlling the future.
Recognizing the need to control your message is the first step for any emerging nation to control its collective voice and protect the integrity of its public discourse.
©Mansour Id-Deen – 04/01/2026