Divide and Control

[s243a]

I'm posting some comments to a blog story which basically tries to deny the extent of wealth inequality and tells the occupy protesters to just suck it up.
411mania.com: Politics - The Government Cannot Fix Income Inequality (and It’s None of Your Business Anyway)

The first comment talks about sources used for particularly dogmatic conservatives.


"Man, do you guys never get tired of using AEI as a source. The problem, he points to a number of papers, but never the critiques of these papers. For example, he cites a Robert Gordon study, but doesn't mention how Gordon manipulates his results by using a different method to adjust for basic costs than the previous studies that it supposedly debunks."
American Enterprise Institute - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

People like to read views which support their biases. Well, it is not wrong to look for evidence to confirm ones beliefs you must equally look for evidence which falsifies your beliefs and see if contrary evidence has merit. This is of course difficult and we take many mental shortcuts to try to filter what information is the most relevant to us based on how consistent it is with what we believe to be true. However, if we already know how things are then why do we need to find information which confirms these beliefs? In the extreme case were a large group of people draw all or most of their information from a common source there is a large amount of group think and clustering of beliefs. Such conformity gives cohesiveness to a group and makes it easier for people to lead and control them.

Not only does common sources of information give unity to beliefs but people mimic the behaviors and beliefs of the groups they identify with. This is basic social identity theory.
Sociology 150A - Lecture 12: Film and Roles and Identity 1 Video Lecture, UC Berkeley Psychology videos | Free Online Course
Sociology150A - Lecture 13: Roles and Identity 2 Video Lecture, UC Berkeley Psychology videos | Free Online Course
Sociology150A - Lecture14: Social Identity Theory 1 Video Lecture, UC Berkeley Psychology videos | Free Online Course
Sociology 150A - Lecture 15: Social Identity Theory 2 Video Lecture, UC Berkeley Psychology videos | Free Online Course

By identifying an, in-group we can give credence to a view. Biologically this is likely based on the need to trust ones tribe for protection. By identifying an out-group we can create opposition to a view. Biological this is like due to the fight or flight response. Historicaly different tribes could pose threats to our safety such as raids and wars. The division of people into two groups helps to create a dichotomy in views. Our biological tendency to identify with a group and their views creates a dichotomy when their are only two dominant groups. The belief that one and only one of these world views is correct is known as a false dichotomy and is a logical fallacy.

The media helps to reinforce this dichotomy by parroting the views of people who are largely consistent with one of these world views. Everyone who's views contrary to both of these opinions is identified as "fringe". The media further reinforces this effort through disengagement. That is they focus largely on celebrities and scandals and focus little on the legislation which our government writes and passes into law.

Dave Meslin: The antidote to apathy | Video on TED.com

The laws are written in long and confusing legal jargon, creating ominous bills which are often not even read by the legislators let alone a good fraction of the people. We here more about the contents of these bills through blogs then the main stream media. Some would argue that the bills are dilibertly confusing. One supposed rationalization of this diliberate confusion is the view that governments believe that the best social outcomes are achieved by managment though experts rather then letting people participate in deciding what is best for their own interest. In the essay by Kevin A. Carson, "The Thermidor of the Progressives
Managerialist Liberalism's Hostility to Decentralized Organization" he gives the following JFK quote in support of this thesis:

"As a New Republic editorial put it, "the business of politics has become too complex to be left
the pretentious misunderstandings of the benevolent amateur."27 This was to become a leitmotif in 20th
century politics. FDR's proclaimed that "[t]he day of the Politician is past; the day of the Enlightened
Administrator has come."28 JFK,"
http://c4ss.org/wp-content/uploads/2...ogressives.pdf

I do not know the context or how authentic this quote is.

The Ominious bill introduced by Obama to suposedly adress wallstreet correptuption is called dob-frank:

Thank you, Mr. President. Just to follow up on Jackie’s question, one of the reasons why so many of the people at the Occupy Wall Street protests are so angry is because, as you say, so many people on Wall Street did not follow the rules.
....

Originally Posted by Barack Obama

Well, first, on the issue of — on the issue of prosecutions on Wall Street, one of the biggest problems about the collapse of Lehman’s and the subsequent financial crisis and the whole subprime lending fiasco is that a lot of that stuff wasn’t necessarily illegal, it was just immoral or inappropriate or reckless.


Physics Forums - View Single Post - Occupy Wall Street protest in New-York
Wall Street Corruption, Solyndra, and Fast & Furious: Today’s Q’s for O – 10/6/2011 - ABC News






The next reply to the article of which I am posting about exemplifies how fear about the supposed beliefs of the outgroup creates misunderstandings and hurts the potential for finding common ground which could be used to achieve mutually beneficial political change.





"Posted By: Guest#9894 (Guest) on October 27, 2011 at 04:56 PM

You don't actually know any liberals, do you. You're entire picture of a liberal seems to have been taken from Rush Limbaugh misrepresentations.

Go watch the Victoria Jackson video where she tries to do a Breitbart, but ends up in conversations with real liberals who explain that actually they are really concerned about Obama for exactly these reasons.

Go to the Professional Left podcast and listen to their strategy for talking about the tax rates, where they suggest pulling out a dollar and explaining how this is more in tax than GE paid last year.

Go to Daily Kos, where one of the leading conversations at the moment is how to avoid becoming an arm of the Democratic Party when the Democratic Party decides to try and assimilate the movement.

If you watch Maddow, Olbermann, Maher, Hayes you know what you hear? Criticism after criticism of the Obama administration over every thing from corporations to, yes, the continuing wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan. (Funny you bring this up when Obama declares we're leaving).

Facists? Your first criticism of OWS was that they were hippies who didn't have a clear message playing in the park. Now they're facists? You really have to pick a criticism and stick to it, because two weeks ago these were people you felt the need to point and laugh at. Now you're scared that the protestors, the ones getting hit by pepper spray and rubber bullets and tear gas. You hold your jackboots on their neck and complain about the violence of their screaming. You want to talk about hypocrisy?

Posted By: Ray Church (Guest) on October 27, 2011 at 08:16 PM"
411mania.com: Politics - The Government Cannot Fix Income Inequality (and It’s None of Your Business Anyway)

Attacks through fear, Ad hominess, guilt by association,attacks of credibility, character and just basic ridicule help to reienforce these divisions. The unimportant issues are debated heavily in the media well the real work gets buried deep inside of ominous bills often without the attention of the media.