In the world of asymmetrical warfare the old adage of “Let no crisis go wasted” has been a time honored maxim for strategists and tacticians. The
premise is a simple one; seize the wave of public emotion in the aftermath of a tragedy to institute a corrective remedy that suggests this will help
prevent a similar reoccurrence in the future. Typically this corrective measure would be something that people would normally reject as excessive or
intrusive or unwieldy in normal and the best of times, but become much more amiable to while in a state of shock, anger or sorrow over a tragedy.
Now I am no alarmist, nor am I the paranoid type. I tend to chuckle at the more paranoid posters who think just posting on this site will get you on
some government list, investigated by shadowy secret agents, targeted for some secret prison, or FEMA internment camp.
No, the truth is that the Government through it’s controversial information czar, former University of Chicago and Harvard Law Professor Cass
Sunstein who has for at least a year now been pushing for what he refers to as ‘Cognitive Infiltration’ of conspiracy oriented Web Sites, to
counter the claims by people he theorizes suffer from ‘crippled epistemology’ might soon be infiltrating the site.
What is Crippled Epistemology?
In a nut shell it’s the belief that you are relying on to few and the wrong sources for your news, opinions and views.
Sunstein’s theory is that people prone to believe in and investigate conspiracies become more or less ‘isolated’ on sites like ATS and end up
developing opinions and views by over reliance on too few sources of information, where to be fair to the premise of the theory, the information being
put forth is poorly researched, or deliberately incomplete to paint a false and misleading picture.
To be sure, in all fairness, some of the theories published here on ATS are not particularly well researched or complete. To be even fairer though
this is something that many critical and skeptical minded ATS Members point out again and again in such threads.
That though doesn’t stop those people who want to believe. A great example being the Nuclear False Flag Thread in Three Days published back in
November that the only research and sole source of information was a YouTube video comprised of some Fox Network TV Shows and some Hollywood Movie
Snippets.
A good portion of the more seasoned, critical and skeptic minded members dismissed it as nonsense out of hand, stating politely in most cases why (as
Terms of Service conscious and polite members are prone to do), but of course that didn’t stop the more paranoid amongst us from desperately wanting
to believe the credibility of the theory and the information it was based upon. Amazingly even after the three days expired and the prediction
didn’t pan out, another member seizing on its popularity, reworked the date, and kept the fear mongering going for another month.
Even in the face of it not happening, those who truly had a need or overwhelming desire to believe simply told themselves that the thread itself had
been enough to frighten off the would be plotters, and in that fashion determined that the whole premise and theory was credible and valid even once
failed.
Now I share all this not to be disparaging of the Original Poster or the members who excitedly followed the thread, after all Conspiracy Theories no
matter how wild, or poorly thought out or researched are what ATS is in essence about at it’s core.
No I point this out to show how some people do end up suffering from crippled epistemology, and why some people in the government believe that poses a
real threat to the safety and security of the government and sometimes people.
I also point it out for another important reason, and that is that particular thread turned a lot of lurkers (people who read ATS but aren’t members
who can post) into members.
Big Events Drive New Membership
What happened in Arizona was a real tragedy, the vast majority of us believe violence is never a solution or an answer and deplore and denounce it,
but the truth is when such crisis happens, it leaves a lot of people with questions.
Though it’s often derided and scorned in mainstream news media and government circles, when people can’t always find answers through those more
traditional sources of information they end up here on ATS looking for answers.
When big events happen, especially ones related to conspiracy circles, it drives a lot of new lurkers, many of whom become members, who want to pose
questions, share statements and take part in the ongoing discussions regarding the topic.
The influx of new members is great for ATS, but at times can be a real chore for the Staff as well as the existing members.
Examples would be during the New York City so called Ground Zero Mosque Crisis a few months back, as a host of the new members turned out to be rabid
anti-Muslim, pro-Israel minded posters, who joined in mass quite likely from another site, who weren’t to particular or keen to follow the ATS Terms
of Service in their posting habits.
They would copy and paste to thread after thread the same debunked information, avoid intelligent questions and discourse as they engaged in
methodical often coordinated efforts with one another to dominate the conversation, derail the thread, and deploy ad hominin attacks towards the
posters who didn’t agree with them, or their information sources.
Most of them managed to get banned after being given a fair number of chances to clean up their act by the staff, but of course they made the posting
environment a far less productive and more challenging one in their brief run.
What is Cognitive Infiltration?
Simply put, what I just described above, an organized group of politically motivated posters with an agenda, invading a site, in a coordinated effort
to put their information out there and to try to discredit or diminish all other opinions, views, and sources of information in the process, and to
discredit, frustrate, stymie, or otherwise manipulate posters opposed to their political agenda, or sources or tactics, into a emotional outburst that
might result in them violating the terms of service agreements themselves and getting banned from posting.
Other well documented examples of organizations infiltrating sites, would be the group of neoconservative republicans who were using twitter to bury
or promote news stories they didn’t like or like, and the well known Israeli Internet Defense Force.
Cass Sunstein would like to take this to a whole new level, by hiring people to basically post the government’s official story on everything, and to
employ the above tactics and others to counter the threat of people with alternative views and opinions and sources of information from popularizing
them, by bogging down the critical internet conversation process where they are popularized by conspiracy theorists and other critically minded
people.
Let no Crisis go Wasted
Let’s face it the perpetrator of the heinous events in Arizona likely was a member of this site, and definitely posted a series of controversial
videos on YouTube that have him labeled a conspiracy theorist.
You and I might be able to see such people for the anti-social sociopaths that they are, but that is not how it’s going to be sold to most of the
public, or how most of the public is going to view it.
The notion that this person was influenced by alternative views, opinions and news sources, and that led to a psychotic break, and potentially can
lead to a psychotic break in anyone who subscribes to alternative views, opinions and news sources, is what they are going to sell the public through
the mainstream media and the politicians.
Why? Because it will allow them a favorable climate to officially do the next best thing to actual censorship and that’s cognitive infiltration.
People will reject the Internet being censored, or sites like ATS being shut down over the free speech clause, but in the emotional aftermath of a
shooting that will probably leave a popular Arizona Congresswoman tragically babbling and drooling all over herself on the house floor when they pass
a Internet Cognitive Infiltration Act it will be sold and viewed as the Government having the same right to free speech as every other person.
That might sound and come off as a bit tactless, but the truth is that is exactly what occured when the Congress passed the Brady Act in the wake of
the failed assissination attempt on Ronald Regan that left James Brady shot through the head also, close to a wheel chair bound vegetable. They did
wheel him on to the House Floor when they passed the Brady Act requiring all hand gun purchases be delayed three days from the time you purchase the
gun, until you can take retail delivery of it, allowing for both background checks of the pruchaser and a 'cooling off' period for the buyer, in case
they are buying the weapon to commit a crime of passion.
Let no good crisis go wasted.
So it’s likely coming, it’s been in the works, unofficially done in certain cases where public sentiment runs high like in the wake of G-20
protests, and many private groups have been doing it to push their causes for a while now.
New Members, New Posters, New Trends
I am relatively sure there has been a surge in membership in the past few days; I have seen a number of posts by people who just joined on 1/9 and
1/10.
Posts that prompted me to write this thread as a cautionary note, of what you might want to start being on the lookout for, posters dismissing any
conspiracy out of hand, posters promoting the official story that runs contrary to a conspiracy, posters contemptuous of conspiracy minded people, may
be in fact part of a cognitive infiltration effort by the government or ‘concerned’ private groups.
A Federal Judge has been murdered, a congresswoman critically wounded, and an aide, the Government is going to martial resources at it’s disposal to
get a handle on what they in fact do know is a worsening problem.
They know that uncertain economic and political times breed frustrations and resentment towards the government.
We certainly have been through one of the worst economic slumps I have experience in my 46 years living here in America. The general distrust of big
Government and big Business is at an all time high because of that.
The young like the alleged perpetrator of this incident are particularly hard hit, as desperate more experienced older workers; snap up the entry
level jobs that the young would normally fill. Youth unemployment is particularly high and many are chronically unemployed as a result. Unlike older
workers who often have up to 99 weeks of unemployment to draw on, younger adults with no prior work history don’t. With bleak economic opportunities
facing them, along with an uncertain world, and the brashness that often comes with youth fueling them, a mounting crisis is potentially developing
for the government, and while there is no trend here as of yet, when someone carries out an act this bold and brazen and egregious against the
government the government is sure to respond.
Why we are Entering a Dangerous Period as a Result
In the wake of 9-11, the TSA has quickly grown to a monster, in large part once again piggy backing off the crisis of 9-11, many Americans are
prepared to give up liberties at the airports because it’s not to hard to see themselves as a victim too on something as a vulnerable and precarious
as a metal box with wings hurdling through the sky thousands of feet off the ground at hundreds of miles an hour.
The potential threat is real enough to them to endure some indignities and inconveniences to enhance their desire to be secure and safe in the
passage.
Congress people and Judges are now going to believe a real threat exists to them too, and guess what, they are the ones that make the laws and impose
them and rule on them.
While conspiracy theorists are often derided and teased about being paranoid, our Congress People and Judges might soon be the most paranoid people in
town as a result of this.
Unlike conspiracy theorists, these people can take and make concrete steps and actions to alleviate their paranoia.
I would bet dollars to donuts that our friend Cass Sunstein is going to not miss this opportunity, and Cognitive Infiltration is likely ready to
officially arrive in the wake of this.
No, they won’t shut down ATS, no, they won’t censor the Internet but I highly suggest to be prepared for the newest member of ATS…
Big Brother
Information is power, and controlling the flow of information and how people view and react to it, is critical in forming the societal constructs that
form social behaviors amongst groups.
The Government and Big Mainstream Media has lost a lot of ground as alternative news sources have sprung up across the Internet, tragically for them
during a period where they have pushed and implemented a lot of controversial acts like the Patriot and Homeland Security Acts, the Bailouts and Obama
Care.
It’s been a rougher ride for them than they would have liked, a ride that for what ever tragic reason is turning deadly for Agents of the
Government, and it’s Political Officials.
They not only have wanted to cognitively infiltrate these sites, they know they need to if they are going to keep the upper hand and a firm grasp on
power moving forward.
They have just needed an opportunity to do so.
I believe that opportunity has arrived, Big Brother, might be posting in a thread along with you soon.
A year ago I was the first to break the story here on ATS regarding Sunstein's ambitions, in this ATS Thread:
www.abovetopsecret.com...
I do believe now presents the perfect opportunity for the Government to implement this, something we all might want to consider, study and review and
be on the look out moving forward.
edit on 11/1/11 by ProtoplasmicTraveler because: (no reason given)