Comments on: Big Bad Baby Killers http://www.maxpersuasion.com/big-bad-baby-killers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=big-bad-baby-killers A school dedicated to Mastering the Art of Persuasion Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:10:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Alex Cole http://www.maxpersuasion.com/big-bad-baby-killers/#comment-2 Alex Cole Mon, 27 Aug 2007 11:07:24 +0000 http://maxpersuasion.com/blog/big-bad-baby-killers/#comment-2 I've been following (bemusedly) the political framing of acts, resolutions, statutes for the last 30 years or so. You've hit the nail right on the head. It started by giving these things names that were related more or less loosely to their actual intent. Over time the naming (framing) process had less and less in common with the real intent, until today (culminating in "Patriot Act" and "Homeland Security") the framing is the exact opposite of the intent. It seems to me that we were being "broken in" slowly to accepting the increasing level of cognitive dissonance of these naming practices so that we could eventually be conditioned to accept more and more manipulation over time...think about it- if America of the mid-fifties would have been subjected to the Patriot Act there might have been a revolution- today, barely a whimper. Anybody who does care enough to speak out is automatically an enemy of the state. After all, anybody who is against a patriot act, or homeland security, MUST be an enemy of America and our freedoms, right? It could be argued that the House UnAmerican Activities committee was the sole owner of the most heinous unAmerican Activities up until that time. But it didn't last long exposed to daylight. I doubt that the Patriot Act will ever go away. We have been successfully conditioned. On 9/11 we were attacked mostly by Saudis, following the orders of a Saudi demi-god (Yet Saudi citizens still have free ingress/egress to the US?)- so we fixed it by: Limiting American freedoms and due process through Patriot Act 1 & 2 ( yes PA2 did pass into law quietly as riders on unrelated legislation after public outcry defeated its passage) Creating Homeland Security ( A big black box vital to our ongoing freedom and security? Think about it- it's effective as long as nothing happens, and if something DOES happen, they'll just need more money and more suppression of freedoms to set it right. And it can be questioned only at one's great peril.) Attacking Afghanistan (probably a good idea to attack the Taliban, but related to the 9/11 attack? Not a bit.) Attacking Iraq- when Intelligence knew there was no credible evidence to WMDs ( In the 911 attacks, approximately 3000 American Lives were lost- more than that number have now been lost in Iraq, along with hundreds of billions of dollars) In my opinion, the War on Terror was lost on the day the Patriot Act was passed. That was the day of proof beyond doubt that the American people could be manipulated at will with very little effort. I’ve been following (bemusedly) the political framing of acts, resolutions, statutes for the last 30 years or so. You’ve hit the nail right on the head. It started by giving these things names that were related more or less loosely to their actual intent. Over time the naming (framing) process had less and less in common with the real intent, until today (culminating in “Patriot Act” and “Homeland Security”) the framing is the exact opposite of the intent.
It seems to me that we were being “broken in” slowly to accepting the increasing level of cognitive dissonance of these naming practices so that we could eventually be conditioned to accept more and more manipulation over time…think about it- if America of the mid-fifties would have been subjected to the Patriot Act there might have been a revolution- today, barely a whimper. Anybody who does care enough to speak out is automatically an enemy of the state. After all, anybody who is against a patriot act, or homeland security, MUST be an enemy of America and our freedoms, right?
It could be argued that the House UnAmerican Activities committee was the sole owner of the most heinous unAmerican Activities up until that time. But it didn’t last long exposed to daylight. I doubt that the Patriot Act will ever go away. We have been successfully conditioned.
On 9/11 we were attacked mostly by Saudis, following the orders of a Saudi demi-god (Yet Saudi citizens still have free ingress/egress to the US?)- so we fixed it by:

Limiting American freedoms and due process through Patriot Act 1 & 2 ( yes PA2 did pass into law quietly as riders on unrelated legislation after public outcry defeated its passage)

Creating Homeland Security ( A big black box vital to our ongoing freedom and security? Think about it- it’s effective as long as nothing happens, and if something DOES happen, they’ll just need more money and more suppression of freedoms to set it right. And it can be questioned only at one’s great peril.)

Attacking Afghanistan (probably a good idea to attack the Taliban, but related to the 9/11 attack? Not a bit.)

Attacking Iraq- when Intelligence knew there was no credible evidence to WMDs
( In the 911 attacks, approximately 3000 American Lives were lost- more than that number have now been lost in Iraq, along with hundreds of billions of dollars)

In my opinion, the War on Terror was lost on the day the Patriot Act was passed. That was the day of proof beyond doubt that the American people could be manipulated at will with very little effort.

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