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| Home Front: Politix |
| Obama's Enemies List: Orwell Told Us So |
| 2009-03-06 |
| Character assassination is a favorite Democratic political tactic. Barack Obama echoes themes in George Orwell's novel 1984 in his "Two Minutes Hate" style attacks on private citizens. |
| Posted by:Age Of Pericles |
| #9 Seems to me, that Alinsky's rules would work just as well against the Left if properly applied. Maybe we should just start applying their own tactics against them. It would be only fair. |
| Posted by: Black Charlie Clinegum5078 2009-03-06 23:34 |
| #8 After listening to pelosi and reid and gibbs, the only thing I can come up with why Obama is considered charismatic is because the previously mentioned set the bar so low. Listen to his speeches - it has all the zeal as a grade school English classroom book reading exercise. He is the only democrat who can move their eyebrows so he stands out. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2009-03-06 12:46 |
| #7 Jack -- thanks for that! -- I've often considered doing a search for Alisnky's rules, and just never did. Thanks again |
| Posted by: Sherry 2009-03-06 10:40 |
| #6 I know this is long and should probably be a separate posting under non-WOT but it is on topic and very relevant to The One's MO: Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" out of print. Look particularly at rule 5 and 10 as they apply today. RULE 1: "Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have." Power is derived from 2 main sources - money and people. "Have-Nots" must build power from flesh and blood. (These are two things of which there is a plentiful supply. Government and corporations always have a difficult time appealing to people, and usually do so almost exclusively with economic arguments.) RULE 2: "Never go outside the expertise of your people." It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone. (Organizations under attack wonder why radicals don't address the "real" issues. This is why. They avoid things with which they have no knowledge.) RULE 3: "Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy." Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.) RULE 4: "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules." If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules. (This is a serious rule. The besieged entity's very credibility and reputation is at stake, because if activists catch it lying or not living up to its commitments, they can continue to chip away at the damage.) RULE 5: "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." There is no defense. It's irrational. It's infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions. (Pretty crude, rude and mean, huh? They want to create anger and fear.) RULE 6: "A good tactic is one your people enjoy." They'll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They're doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones. (Radical activists, in this sense, are no different that any other human being. We all avoid "un-fun" activities, and but we revel at and enjoy the ones that work and bring results.) RULE 7: "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag." Don't become old news. (Even radical activists get bored. So to keep them excited and involved, organizers are constantly coming up with new tactics.) RULE 8: "Keep the pressure on. Never let up." Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new. (Attack, attack, attack from all sides, never giving the reeling organization a chance to rest, regroup, recover and re-strategize.) RULE 9: "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself." Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist. (Perception is reality. Large organizations always prepare a worst-case scenario, something that may be furthest from the activists' minds. The upshot is that the organization will expend enormous time and energy, creating in its own collective mind the direst of conclusions. The possibilities can easily poison the mind and result in demoralization.) RULE 10: "If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive." Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog. (Unions used this tactic. Peaceful [albeit loud] demonstrations during the heyday of unions in the early to mid-20th Century incurred management's wrath, often in the form of violence that eventually brought public sympathy to their side.) RULE 11: "The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative." Never let the enemy score points because you're caught without a solution to the problem. (Old saw: If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Activist organizations have an agenda, and their strategy is to hold a place at the table, to be given a forum to wield their power. So, they have to have a compromise solution.) RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.) |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2009-03-06 09:47 |
| #5 just make sure if you throw a tea party it is a green tea party; better for the environment. (poor attempt at snark/off) |
| Posted by: Whineper Prince aka Broadhead6 2009-03-06 09:05 |
| #4 Any reference to Orwell or "Nineteen Eighty-Four" should include the footnote that the police state concepts of the novel never stopped, but continued to develop. In the year 1984, IBM sold the PC-AT. Computers are more advanced today, so why not the technologies, and viciousness, of the police state? |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-03-06 09:00 |
| #3 The interesting connection here is that Nixon's list was the subject of much swooning and handwringing amongst the elite left, and Obama's is not, even though they are equally repugnant by any objective standards. The irony? Nixon was hated and pursued with an inhuman gusto by the elite in the press and the academy because they never forgave him for taking out Alger Hiss - the politician who the left had hoped would be the Obama-like figure to lead this country into socialist paradise fifty years ago. How the worm turns. |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2009-03-06 08:05 |
| #2 Perfectly normal behavior in African politics. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-03-06 04:26 |
| #1 "HE does not know what HE is talking about" Gibbs. |
| Posted by: newc 2009-03-06 02:23 |