Will We Allow "Whoever Tells the Best Story" to Win?

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The title link above takes you to a website that discusses strategies for "changing the narrative" to counteract the progressive narrative.  Barrack Obama has become the personification of this narrative and we must understand what the real "story" is in order to make our narrative heard. 

I like the name of the website: "esthermoment.com"  For those of you who are not familiar with Esther of the Bible, she is the woman who found the courage to save the Jewish people from genocide. It is a good story; check it out.  The title of the blog is "Manipulation Watch."  Telling a good "story" can lead people to truth, but it can also be used to manipulate.  I've taken a closer look at a few parts of the progressive narrative.


The Demonizing of the Tea Party

I discussed in a previous post "teapartyphobia." That irrational fear of individuals who self-identify as a Tea Party member.  The first real world observation I can recall was a news story (complete with video) about some tea party members protesting in Quincy, Illinois, in a location close to where President Obama was scheduled to make a speech.   As a group, which included seniors in lawn chairs, sang "God Bless America" the riot police marched in in full gear.  I felt like I was watching a Monty Python episode!  The link above includes a response to a Quincy Herald Whig report that apparently misrepresented the incident.  I also found a blog post by someone who calls herself "uppity woman" (I like it!)  Her post also includes a Monty Python clip about "senile delinquents."  It is definitely worth watching!

It is also emphasized frequently that the Tea Party is predominantly white.  One would think there is no diversity in the many groups of people who want to restore the integrity of our Constitution.   That is not reported because it is not consistent with the "story" being told.  Did you know that there are "Tea Parties" being formed in other countries, such as Italy? Again, this does not fit the narrative, so you probably do not.

This is happening in a world where our Department of Justice dismisses voter intimidation charges against Samir Shabazz (see my July 8, 2010 post on Social Justice.) Even more disturbing to me is the response by Chairman (New Black Panther Party) Malik Zulu Shabazz.  Please watch this four minute interview and ask yourself, "In what context IS it acceptable to 'kill white cracker babies'?"  In what context IS it acceptable to kill police officers?

Insulting and assigning violent intentions to stroller-pushing moms and lawn chair toting seniors fits with the progressive narrative, punishing Samir Shabazz and getting tearful about the dangerous rhetoric of Malik Shabazz does not. 

Restoring Honor and One Nation Rallies

In my post regarding the meaning of "Restoring Honor" I pointed out some of the claims; it was going to be a pit of hate, it was just a bunch of racist white people.  He was mocked.  The fact that there are "people of color" there is not reported.  The videos and the pictures do not fit the script of the progressive narrative.

Historically the strategy of using and inciting violence has been a progressive/leftist tool.  If you create chaos you can create a situation where the government "must swoop in" and save the day.

The One Nation Rally organizers included individuals and groups that have advocated and/or used violence in the past and some that advocate the use of violence now.  Roz Pelles, the Steering Committee Liaison" was involved in the Communist Workers Party, which was previously known as the Workers Viewpoint Organization.  This was a radical Maoist group that considered the Communist Party USA "lacking in militancy."  Many of the other groups who supported the October 2nd rally are socialist or communist organizations.  Communist and Socialist organizations whose members have said:

"If you can't open their minds, open their heads." Ben Becker

"We are living in a time that is going to dwarf the McCarthy era...the internment of WWII....they are coming and they are coming after you."  Bertha Lewis (at winter conference for Young Democratic Socialists)

"We have to bring this government down.  We have to help destroy this system and that requires increasing the alienation that working class and oppressed people feel.  The way change is going to happen in this country is through the destruction of what we call the United States of America."  Jed Brandt at Brecht Forum

Progressive World View vs. Reality

The progressive narrative implies a sequence and causality of events that does not fit with the real world.  It also creates a victim mentality often expressed as "oppressed peoples."

Consider this from Vice President Joe Biden:

"Every single great idea that has marked the 21st century, the 20th century, and the 19th century has required government vision and government incentive."

Does that fit with your reality?  My reality tells me that, as Ronald Reagan said, "Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem."

Also consider something Florida Congressman-elect West said recently:  "It's not about being a victim." This definitely does not fit with the progressive narrative.

Know Your History and Decide for Yourself
Things to do:
*I encourage you to watch the Glenn Beck 5-part special "Revolutionary Holocaust"available at Youtube.  Find out why Marxism, Socialism, Communism and Progressivism are not the answer; they are the problem.  Then watch the Young Turks describe the presentation as a distortion of history.  Then, as Glenn implores frequently, do your own research and decide for yourself.

*Read Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg. Then read critiques of the information presented therein. 

*I also encourage you to watch The History of Political Correctness at the NewZeal blog.

*Check out the "Obama Chart" for a visual presentation of how the systems of our Constitutional Republic is being destroyed.

*Finally when you think about the request for "compromise" in the next couple of years consider the concept of the "Overton Window." Knowledge is power.  Know what you believe.  Know where you will stand and say, as Gandalf said in The Lord of the Rings:  "You. Shall. NOT.  Pass!" 

Teapartyphobia

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The title link will take you to an interesting article:  So You Want to Join the Tea Party?"  It's one of many out there, but I liked it because it gives you a flavor of the different kinds of people who found themselves at a Tea Party rally.  As I pointed out in an earlier post, there is "rhetoric" (or maybe to be more accurate, "propaganda") flying around that is meant to minimize, demonize, and, in some cases, silence the people who are self-identified with these movements.  I use the plural because the various groups cannot really be lumped into one "type."  There are some general similarities, but no complete agreement on every point.  I actually think it should stay that way.  More on that in a later post.... :-)

I've attended Tea Party rallies twice now.  The first time was because I believed that our government representatives were not adhering to the principles that have made this country great.  I also believed that if we abandoned those principles and fail to remain vigilant and vocal that we would lose our cherished freedoms and liberty.  I have to add, though, that it was not me I was necessarily worried about.  It was my children.  What kind of circumstances would they have in order to pursue their happiness?  And what was the result?  I've been referred to as a "teabagger" (warning: definition is quite graphic) and called a "racist, straight up" by Janeane Garofalo.  I think some of her statements qualify her for a diagnosis of "teapartyphobia."  What really frightens me, though, is her neuroscientific claim that "those people's limbic brain is pressing against their frontal lobes...."  That coupled with a bumper sticker I saw about a year ago that said:  "Frontal lobotomies for all Republicans: it's the law" makes me even more frightened.  Yeah, you could get a laugh out of that; call it comic relief, but I don't really think it is funny.  The youtube video that the link in her name above takes you to is done by someone who obviously disagrees with her and presents their own view of the situation that some will call propaganda also.  So be it.  At some point, though, you need to decide what your real world experiences tell you.  Any of you who know me at all know in your heart that I am not racist, I am not violent, and I strive to be an honest and honorable person.  Straight up, that's who I am and so are many other "tea party" members.  Are there "bad" people involved in this movement.  Yes.  Are there "bad" people in every group of people on the face of the earth?  Yes.  Generalizing about any "group" of people is, to me, a form of racism.

The link in the word racism takes you to the Anti-defamation League site.  I direct you there because there is a good discussion of what racism is as well as to point out the link to "homophobia."  The "phobia" designation is what prompted this post.  I have learned recently that I am also "Islamaphobic" if I find building a Mosque near Ground Zero to be insensitive and in no way conducive to building dialogue.  ADL defines homophobia as:  "hatred or fear of homosexuals--sometimes leading to acts of violence and expressions of hostility."  Are there people who qualify for this label?  Yes.  Some people who identify themselves as Christians have done hateful and vile things.  Carrying signs that say "God hates gays" qualifies.  Believing that, according to the type of life I believe Christ wants us to lead, homosexuality is not a good thing for the individuals or for the society does not qualify.  "I disagree" does not automatically translate to "I hate you."


When people say "this is the greatest country in the world" most of them do not mean "we are better than everyone else."  What I believe most people mean is that our Constitutional Republic offers the greatest opportunities for people to experience "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."  This does not mean everyone succeeds equally; just that they have the opportunity.  The word "happiness" is difficult to pin down.  I understand it to mean something closer to "happenstance." This, to me, means creating the circumstances that will lead people to achieve their dreams, not guaranteeing that they will succeed.  Who has not, at some point, thought, "Just give me a fair chance"?

In the Geography of Bliss, Eric Weiner travels the world to find the happiest countries.  He makes the statement on page 252 that:  "...let's not forget that the government is already in the happiness business.......Besides, what is the role of government if not to make citizens happier?"  Earlier in the book he makes a comment to the effect that "happiness" is in our founding documents.  I disagree and this is where the need to "define the terms" becomes important. We need to be speaking the same language.  Our government is not set up to guarantee happiness or success, but it is set up to create the best possible environment for everyone to succeed.  Equal chances and opportunities, not a guarantee of equal results. 

Finally, the articles below may be of interest.  The Huffington Post and the Dailykos articles, to me, are examples of propaganda.  In the "White Pride" article there is an individual identified as "the founder of the Tea Party."  There is no one founder of this movement.  If you find racist elements in this group it does not mean everyone is.  A generalization like that does not benefit anyone.  If you have a phobia; an "irrational fear" of something or a specific group of people then the cure is to find out why your fears are not rational.  We only get to do this if we talk to each other about the "hard stuff" and do it in a way that we actually hear and understand each other.

I leave you with another quote from The Geography of Bliss (page 327):

We base our happiness on the state of our relationships, and on those stolen moments where, for a brief shining instant, we lose ourselves in the pure joy of being.

Relationships are valuable, but they involve hard work at times.  Let's get to work.  Are you with me?

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What is free will?

Do you remember when it became illegal to use subliminal suggestion to alter people's behavior?  The issue I remember involved advertisements in movie theaters.  The ones you had to watch over and over again until the show began.  It seems that in some of those advertisements, some of which were not even about those refreshments being sold, would flash very quickly the words "Drink Coke" on the screen.  This was done so quickly that the viewer did not even realize they had read it.  Shortly after many of them said. "I'm thirsty, I think I'll go get a Coke."  Well, that was outlawed as a misuse of the power of subliminal suggestion.

The article below by Greg Beato pretty much comes to the conclusion that the use of what is now called "behavior placement" in the media is pretty much nothing to worry about.  I disagree.  As a trained behavior analyst I know that, as with all things, it can be used for purposes that are not at all benign. The world view that concludes that the flaws in human nature are not a result of humans making decisions and acting as real moral agents, but as a result of their response to social, economic and environmental conditions (stimuli.)  B.F. Skinner proposed that these conditioned responses were learned and could be unlearned so that we can all be re-programmed to be happy and living in harmony.  Kinda like a "re-education program." Yes, our upbringing, our social environment, our experiences have profound effects on our behavior, but we are still able to CHOOSE how to respond. 

Eliminating that ability to choose in your world view means that no one is ever responsible for any of the crimes they might commit.  Clarence Darrow in 1902 declared that there is no such thing as a crime as the word is generally understood.  Individuals, according to his world view, end up in jail because they cannot avoid it on account of circumstances which are entirely beyond their control and for which they are in no way responsible.  In other words, "it was because I ate too many Twinkies." (Source of Darrow remarks come from, "How Now Shall we Live" by Colson, who cites "Clarence Darrow, Attorney for the Damned by Arthur Weinberg (1957)

Take the recent Shirley Sherrod incident.  Some reacted to a portion of a video that made Shirley appear racist.  It was taken out of context and you would indeed conclude that she is racist.  However, the portion of the story in question was part of a larger story of a pivot point in her thinking.  She goes on to say it's not race that divides us it's the class system created by the oppressors of the "have-nots."  Saul Alinsky would be proud of her, but I digress.  Shirley goes on to say she took the white farmer in question to a lawyer who was "one of his own kind" to help him.  If you listen to the whole thing you begin to get at the whole truth.  Not the truth presented by the NAACP or Andrew Brietbart but by listening and finding out the whole story.  My question is:  if a white person referred to an African-American  lawyer where they referred an African-American as "one of his own kind" what would your reaction be?

Now to an even more distressing example.  The link provided in the title above takes you to a video that the Center for American Progress (sounds nice, huh?) presented as evidence that the Tea Party is full of racists.  Well, if you search further you find that the 50 second video contained, among other things, a man wearing a swastika and yelling that he is proud to be a racist.  Another Tea Party attendee is seen saying Obama is too black.  The site shows the full story.  The first idiot was a party crasher who was being asked to LEAVE the Tea Party.  The second was referring to the blackness of Obama's heart.  This guy was at the tea party with his African American wife and bi-racial son. 

But the most disturbing issue is that between what appears to be hateful speech a picture of a woman holding a sign is flashed for a few seconds.  Her sign reads:  "Thank God for Glenn Beck." Glenn Beck now becomes associated with the hateful speech that was taken out of context.  Where is the outrage about this?  This is manipulation using a behavioral technique that most of the people watching don't even know about, much less how powerful it is.



A Progressive, Walter Lippman in his book Public Opinion stated:
"The common interests very largely elude public opinion entirely and can be managed only by a specialized class whose personal interests remain beyond locality."  He also said: "News and Truth are not the same thing."  Maybe Arianna Huffington should read Lippman.

Edward Bernays of the Committee of Public Information (WW1) in his book Propaganda said:
"It was, of course, the astounding success of propaganda during the war that opened the eyes of the intelligent few in all departments of life to the possibilities of regimenting the public mind....only natural that, after war ended, that intelligent persons should ask themselves whether it was not possible to apply a similar technique to the problems of peace."

Our media is considered the fourth branch of government.  It's job to keep the government inside the bounds of our Constitutional Republic.  So Bernays comment:
 "The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society.  Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country" is in direct conflict with that notion.  No wonder Goebbels loved his books.

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Divide and Control

The NAACP does not condemn the New Black Panther Party's racist actions and statements, yet they perpetuate the myth that the Tea Party members are all racists that "want to return to a time when they were in power."

Wow, that really gets the anger flowing doesn't it?  This is such a blatant misrepresentation of the majority of the Tea Party that it's almost impossible to respond to.  But, that is what the Progressives want.  They want us divided and "at war" with one another so that they can present themselves as the saviors for the "oppressed."  Tell someone often enough and long enough that they are a victim and they start to believe it.  Point the finger at the opposition to your plans and label them as the enemy and the Progressive elite take control and tell everyone their lives are now better.  Have you read 1984 recently?  Just because someone says shoe production is at an all time high doesn't make the holes in your shoes disappear. Read the book to learn what that means.  Also, if you think the Ministry of Truth is fictional do some homework on Cass Sunstein and the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

Another divide and control tactic that has bothered me for some time is that of the family; in particular children and their parents.  A number of years ago I began limiting my son's cartoon time.  Yes, getting him more active was part of that but the biggest issue was that most of the cartoons depicted parents as drooling idiots who had to be "saved" by their brilliant children.  I thought that was a dangerous direction to be going with our children and it's gotten even worse.

Consider the following video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zJ6m-W921E

Generation We.  Young people making it clear that they are smarter than their parents.

Also consider:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9WOod26BH0&feature=player_embedded

This link makes it very clear that these children believe they need to become the "parent" and treat their parents like "children" and have "the talk" with them to tell them how to vote.  And how to vote is purely Progressive in nature.

Did you ever wonder how the "Hitler Youth" movement came about?  A huge part of Progressive/Socialist/Communist strategy is to divide the children from their parents.  The State replaces the parent as the primary caregiver and nurturer.  Children are told to listen to adults, but they have to be the CORRECT adults.  Now, before you get your knickers in a twist thinking I'm comparing Obama to Hitler, that is NOT the point.  The point is that these movements take young children who do not have the broad frame of reference that most adults possess and tell them what to think, NOT how to think.  Al Gore tells a group of 12-13 year olds that they "know more than their parents" and they will have to take the lead.

To top it all off the Progressive playbook controls the information in a myriad of ways (textbooks, media control, etc.) in order to provide their version of the truth.  Which, if you think about it, is sort of ironic because they don't believe truth exists....it's all relative.  They shut down dialogue and debate by labeling a person or a group of people "racist."

Please view video of Arianna Huffington testifying about the "future of journalism."  The last 30 seconds:


  "The mission of journalism has always been 'truth seeking' not as it has too often become striking some fictitious balance between two sides"

Who determines what "truth" is?  Why the efforts to present only one side via "net neutrality" and marginalizing dissenting voices?   WHY did our founding fathers find freedom of speech and freedom of press so important?  If you don't have both sides of the argument you're not making a decision or a choice you are giving up power you don't realize that you possess.  Keep finding both sides of the debate about the type of government we need in order to continue to enjoy the liberties we cherish.  Do it now before it becomes harder or maybe even impossible to find the dissenting voices.