Disinformers & Friends

solderjunkie

Junior Member
Messages
26
I recently had a run in with someone who made the assertion it's was racist to question official pre-human history writ large, I'm not talking about recorded human history here, I'm talking about anthropology and the like. I paused to reflect upon the ridiculousness of the assertion, and while it is silly at face, much more silly things have now become mainstream or at least legitimized in recent years, so it's worth taking seriously.

Anyone whose spent any time at all studying propaganda knows that while propaganda operates at the tactical level it is employed strategically for the aim of halting a given line of inquiry or otherwise steering the logos onto the proverbial rocks of inanity and thereby castrating free discussion. The idea is to get those they seek to affect upon to engage with them on a topic of their choice and tangle them up in debate, in the above example the goal would be to tangle the discussion up surrounding racism and therefore derail discussion of the original point - inanity is the end goal, not to win the argument, see?. Walk up, throw accusations, debate the accusations - goodbye original discussion.

The answer to why this new application of accusation is being levied is simple - it's worked elsewhere, maybe it will work here. The reason it's being done however isn't at all murky, its crystal clear that there are those who wish to see the status quo - and its financial and power structure - preserved for their benefit, these are the thought leaders in official space. The low-end bad actors we encounter at the periphery are simply aping what they hear from scared official sources and they gladly regurgitate it in an effort to shut down discussion.

I'm curious what you guys see going on in paranormal space in general, is this trend picking up, what other applications of propaganda methods do you see?
 

TimeFlipper

Senior Member
Messages
13,705
I recently had a run in with someone who made the assertion it's was racist to question official pre-human history writ large, I'm not talking about recorded human history here, I'm talking about anthropology and the like. I paused to reflect upon the ridiculousness of the assertion, and while it is silly at face, much more silly things have now become mainstream or at least legitimized in recent years, so it's worth taking seriously.

Anyone whose spent any time at all studying propaganda knows that while propaganda operates at the tactical level it is employed strategically for the aim of halting a given line of inquiry or otherwise steering the logos onto the proverbial rocks of inanity and thereby castrating free discussion. The idea is to get those they seek to affect upon to engage with them on a topic of their choice and tangle them up in debate, in the above example the goal would be to tangle the discussion up surrounding racism and therefore derail discussion of the original point - inanity is the end goal, not to win the argument, see?. Walk up, throw accusations, debate the accusations - goodbye original discussion.

The answer to why this new application of accusation is being levied is simple - it's worked elsewhere, maybe it will work here. The reason it's being done however isn't at all murky, its crystal clear that there are those who wish to see the status quo - and its financial and power structure - preserved for their benefit, these are the thought leaders in official space. The low-end bad actors we encounter at the periphery are simply aping what they hear from scared official sources and they gladly regurgitate it in an effort to shut down discussion.

I'm curious what you guys see going on in paranormal space in general, is this trend picking up, what other applications of propaganda methods do you see?

Propaganda: A mode of "communication" used to manipulate or influence the opinion of groups to support a particular cause or belief...
Over the centuries, propaganda has taken the form of artwork, films, speeches and music, though its not just limited to these forms of "Communication"...Quote Wiki..

I believe this short story was the forward to a book called The Structure Of Magic that became the beginning of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)...

Many centuries ago a castle was surrounded by a large Army of men...Fortunately the castles defences was on top of a hill with a large moat around it and was impregnable...The captain of the army decided to wait for the castles inhabitants to run out of food...After several months the Army was already running out of food for its soldiers and needed to be else where with other battles to win...

During this time, the castle was down to its last deer and a few handfuls of grain...But the King of the castle knew the Army must also be running out of food, and decided upon a very risky strategy...He asked for the deer to be stuffed full of the last remains of grain, which horrified his people...The King then went himself to the top of the castles battle embankment and threw over the deer stuffed with grain to the Army down below..

The Army Captain believed the King of the castle still had large amounts of food available, and decided to leave very quickly as he was almost out of food for his own Army, and already a month behind his own battle plans!!...
 

Yeats

Member
Messages
281
I recently had a run in with someone who made the assertion it's was racist to question official pre-human history writ large, I'm not talking about recorded human history here, I'm talking about anthropology and the like. I paused to reflect upon the ridiculousness of the assertion, and while it is silly at face, much more silly things have now become mainstream or at least legitimized in recent years, so it's worth taking seriously.

Anyone whose spent any time at all studying propaganda knows that while propaganda operates at the tactical level it is employed strategically for the aim of halting a given line of inquiry or otherwise steering the logos onto the proverbial rocks of inanity and thereby castrating free discussion. The idea is to get those they seek to affect upon to engage with them on a topic of their choice and tangle them up in debate, in the above example the goal would be to tangle the discussion up surrounding racism and therefore derail discussion of the original point - inanity is the end goal, not to win the argument, see?. Walk up, throw accusations, debate the accusations - goodbye original discussion.

The answer to why this new application of accusation is being levied is simple - it's worked elsewhere, maybe it will work here. The reason it's being done however isn't at all murky, its crystal clear that there are those who wish to see the status quo - and its financial and power structure - preserved for their benefit, these are the thought leaders in official space. The low-end bad actors we encounter at the periphery are simply aping what they hear from scared official sources and they gladly regurgitate it in an effort to shut down discussion.

I'm curious what you guys see going on in paranormal space in general, is this trend picking up, what other applications of propaganda methods do you see?

That's curious, because I recently saw a discussion here where one participant -- whose assertions were clearly debunked by another -- misinterpreted (either though willfulness or ignorance) the debunking as an attempt to smear him with the "racist" label.

Perhaps, instead of becoming emotionally invested in crackpot theories, people should instead check to see if those who disagree with them do so for a reason. Also, it may be helpful if people keep their arguments on a single thread, rather than starting another simply to antagonize those with whom they have a quarrel.
 

Witch Hunt

Senior Member
Messages
1,218
I for one am very happy that the word racist has been thrown around as much as it has. And the more ridiculous the claim, the better. What the left doesn't realize is that the claim of racism is starting to be tuned out to some degree by society. Because if everything is racist...then nothing is.
 

solderjunkie

Junior Member
Messages
26
That's curious, because I recently saw a discussion here where one participant -- whose assertions were clearly debunked by another -- misinterpreted (either though willfulness or ignorance) the debunking as an attempt to smear him with the "racist" label.

Perhaps, instead of becoming emotionally invested in crackpot theories, people should instead check to see if those who disagree with them do so for a reason. Also, it may be helpful if people keep their arguments on a single thread, rather than starting another simply to antagonize those with whom they have a quarrel.


If your referring to my human hypothesis thread I won't lie, that did indeed contribute to my thinking about writing this post, but no, I dont think Harte was directly labeling me a racist per-se so much as my hypothesis being racist. I've never been accused of being overly emotional, but considering the time of year, I'll take your warm hearted comments as overzealous holiday cheer.
 

solderjunkie

Junior Member
Messages
26
Propaganda: A mode of "communication" used to manipulate or influence the opinion of groups to support a particular cause or belief...
Over the centuries, propaganda has taken the form of artwork, films, speeches and music, though its not just limited to these forms of "Communication"...Quote Wiki..

I believe this short story was the forward to a book called The Structure Of Magic that became the beginning of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)...

Many centuries ago a castle was surrounded by a large Army of men...Fortunately the castles defences was on top of a hill with a large moat around it and was impregnable...The captain of the army decided to wait for the castles inhabitants to run out of food...After several months the Army was already running out of food for its soldiers and needed to be else where with other battles to win...

During this time, the castle was down to its last deer and a few handfuls of grain...But the King of the castle knew the Army must also be running out of food, and decided upon a very risky strategy...He asked for the deer to be stuffed full of the last remains of grain, which horrified his people...The King then went himself to the top of the castles battle embankment and threw over the deer stuffed with grain to the Army down below..

The Army Captain believed the King of the castle still had large amounts of food available, and decided to leave very quickly as he was almost out of food for his own Army, and already a month behind his own battle plans!!...


I've always questioned NLP's legitimacy as a science, not because it's wrong at it's core, but because many practitioner($) are financially motivated.
 

Yeats

Member
Messages
281
Since I have received a couple of PMs concerning the meaning of my previous post, I will make my position a bit more clear.

In the thread, Human History Hypothesis, solderjunkie's assertions were challenged by Harte. Harte made an offhand comment about such theories being racist. (This, by the way, was true. Such theories were common amongst "anthropologists" in the Nazi regime in order to "prove" the superiority of the so-called "master race".)

Solderjunkie then latched onto Harte's comment, thus derailing his own thread. After doing so, he started this thread -- no doubt with the intention of antagonizing Harte further.

I have nothing against theorizing -- even if the theories in question leave much to be desired. After all, if it were not for crackpot theories, most of this forum would not exist. However, I am opposed to a long-time member being raked over the coals unfairly, and am also opposed to childish attempts at continued sniping.
 

solderjunkie

Junior Member
Messages
26
I fail to see how I levied any such attacks against any such member, here or elsewhere - even in my thread, which was indeed derailed from its original intent, as any reader can plainly see. But, given my original topics points, does this surprise anyone?, I'm not shocked.
 

TimeFlipper

Senior Member
Messages
13,705
I've always questioned NLP's legitimacy as a science, not because it's wrong at it's core, but because many practitioner($) are financially motivated.

I take your point regarding NLP, although I was primarily responding to your invitation for other types of "propaganda" which are actually forms of psychology that's written into a communication process...Just like that King who threw his last deer stuffed full of grain over the top of his castle, to the enemy below ;) :D..
 

solderjunkie

Junior Member
Messages
26
I take your point regarding NLP, although I was primarily responding to your invitation for other types of "propaganda" which are actually forms of psychology that's written into a communication process...Just like that King who threw his last deer stuffed full of grain over the top of his castle, to the enemy below ;):D..

Good point, I believe that story (in a similar form at least) was in at least one edition of Grimms Fairy Tales, although the version I read the king threw a stuffed pig or a poison pig - blah, gotta go searching now...
 

Top