Cognitive Infiltration: an Obama Appointees Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory Pdf

FREE COGNITIVE INFILTRATION: AN OBAMA APPOINTEES PLAN TO UNDERMINE THE 9/11 CONSPIRACY THEORY PDF

Remember me. Forgot your password? Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama Appointees Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory today to gain access to every Research Intelligencer article we publish as well as the exclusive daily newsletter, full access to The MediaPost Casesfirst- look research and daily insights from Joe Mandese, Editor in Chief. How did America become a nation of conspiracy theorists? To make matters worse, lots of the old, crazy conspiracy theories are now coming to light as being, well, not so crazy. For years, the existence of the Bilderberg Group was a much-mocked conspiracy theory; nowadays, The Guardian has a dedicated reporter covering it. Flat earth is big again. The Clintons kill everybody. Sunstein is one of the great propagandists of modern history. And the embrace of his political philosophy for mass communications management of an increasingly diverse and disgruntled society is one big reason things are so fucked up in the country and the media. Sunstein, who is married to former U. The white paper notes several potential approaches to conspiratorial analysis and the risks associated with each. Sunstein and Vermeule set out five hypothetical responses a government can take toward conspiracy theories:. Create opposing counterspeech from official government sources, who deliver arguments to discredit conspiracy theories. Instigate informal government communication with private parties encouraging counterspeech. Of course, this is exactly how state-sanctioned propaganda works, and it was noted as such by Glenn Greenwald, who in was the first to sound the trumpet on Sunstein in Salon. As Greenwald notes in his piece, what Sunstein advocated at the time was illegal, Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama Appointees Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory to the Smith-Mundt Act of and Foreign Relations Authorization Act in But Greenwald also notes that Sunstein is tight with Obama, and people need to be vigilant to make sure it stays illegal. The amendment was successfully inserted into the defense authorization bill and passed. Since then, the media—both corporate and social media —has degenerated into a crazy, cacophonous circus sideshow. So keep this in mind: Propaganda is now legal. Nothing you read, Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama Appointees Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory or pay to see in a movie theater should be taken at face value —though sometimes it is totally true! Same spike happened after Watergate. Funny that of the 5 tactics that Cass suggested the government employ, he missed the most obvious - prosecute bad government actors. Conspiracy theories are always there, the question is not production but distribution. Distribution rises when the medium is fertile - meaning that if people trust the government, they naturally bottle up the theories as "crazy". When they don't trust the government, they amplify. A case in point - US doctors were immunizing in places like Africa and Pakistan, and they were welcomed. Then the CIA realized that these trusted agents doctors could be used to infiltrate hostile populations for covert activities in Pakistan, and it was discovered. Tweet your love and hate: TomSiebert. Toggle navigation. Free to qualified media, marketing and advertising professionals. Advanced Search. Username Password Remember me Forgot your password? While other MediaPost newsletters and articles remain free to all Become a subscriber today! Become a free MediaPost member now to read this article Unlimited articles every day Keep up-to-date with media, marketing and advertising news Invitations to exclusive industry events and research. Subscribe to MediaDailyNews. Check to receive email when comments are posted. Matthew Roche from OffermaticaFebruary 26, at p. Comment Next story loading. About the Author. More from MediaDailyNews. An Obama Appointee's Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory | Practical Ethics

According to them, this involves governments developing and disseminating arguments against conspiracy theories, governments hiring others to develop and disseminate arguments against conspiracy theories and governments encouraging others informally to develop and disseminate arguments against conspiracy theoriesp. According to this theory the two planes that were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center were not the actual cause of the collapse of these buildings. Rather, these collapsed because they were pre-wired to be demolished. The planes that were flown into the buildings were, instead, part of an elaborate cover-up to mislead people as to the nature and purpose of the event Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama Appointees Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory September 11th This is a silly exaggeration. What Sunstein and Vermeule are proposing is that the government takes steps to ensure that people are exposed to a diversity of opinions. I am skeptical about the extent to which the introduction of cognitive diversity actually will have the effects that Sunstein and Vermeule hope. Most hardened conspiracy theorists are aware of alternative viewpoints, even if these are promulgated on websites that they do not often visit, and are able to explain away to their own satisfaction at least these alternative viewpoints. People can point out in internet chat rooms that it is implausible to think that the twin towers could have been pre-wired for a controlled demolition a job that would take weeks and would be highly visible to workers without anyone noticing and reporting this fact. To someone not Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama Appointees Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory to the controlled demolition theory this fact, as well as others, is likely to be seen as significant evidence against the controlled demolition theory, but to someone who is committed to the controlled demolition theory, the fact that others are arguing this way is liable to be seen as evidence that they are participating in the cover-up. If people are aware that their government is actually hiring or otherwise encouraging others to go into chat rooms and argue against conspiracy theories then this fact will be taken as additional evidence of the extent of the cover-up. At most the strategy will succeed in preventing some people who have open minds from becoming conspiracy theorists. It is unlikely to be effective in converting conspiracy theorists and may well backfire by strengthening the case for there being government cover-ups of conspiracies. Think about it this way: if this kind of cognitive infiltration were justified, what else would be justified? Cognitively infiltrating the party out of power, for example? Second there is very careful, scholarly research documenting that the US government engages in heinous criminal activities for example, CIA involvement in narcotics trafficking and the anal rape by US agents of teenage Iraqis at Abu Gharib prison. Matt, you are right that there are tricky ethical issues here. Another issue that is relwvant here is deception. Interesting discussion. Practical Ethics Ethics in the News. Should we rid the world of carnivores if we could? Posted in Steve Clarke's Posts. September 21, at pm. September 22, at am. September 23, at pm. Thanks both for your comments. September 24, at am. November 4, at pm. What Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama Appointees Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory schizophrenics really are possessed by demons, after all? Measure on The Oxford Utilitarianism Scale. Select Author All Rights Reserved. String Theories: We're Living In Cass Sunstein's World, Get Used To It 02/19/

Washington CNN President Donald Trump and his allies added a new dimension this week to their "deep state" conspiracy theory, directly accusing former President Barack Obama of leading a supposed "coup" to sabotage the Trump presidency. More Videos Obama: Trump's Covid response is a 'chaotic disaster'. Voters receive threatening emails to vote for Trump. King: Biden has a significant lead right now. Listen to why some Republicans are endorsing Joe Biden. Former Trump associate says this is Trump's greatest con. She lost her husband to Covid Hear her tough words for Trump. How the push to increase Black voter turnout differs from Debate commission co-chair reveals final debate plan. President Trump abruptly ends interview with '60 Minutes'. Fauci channels 'The Godfather' in response to Trump. Clyburn: We want a fair shake out of stimulus deal. Former special ops commander says he's voting for Biden. Trump says Dr. Fauci is not Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama Appointees Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory 'team player'. Seizing on a viral hashtag, Trump dubbed the alleged scandal "Obamagate" and has been flooding the zone promoting exaggerated theories and false claims since the weekend. In the President's view, he was the victim of the "biggest political crime in American history" and the Obama appointees who he claims tried to undermine his administration deserve jail time for their misdeeds. Trump ramped up his rhetoric over the weekend after Obama criticized the Justice Department for dropping its criminal case against former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn. Trump's new focus Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama Appointees Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory Obama also served as a diversion from the coronavirus pandemic, as the nationwide death toll passed 80, and the unemployment rate tripled to a staggering For years, Trump has claimed without proof that Democratic partisans within the Justice Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama Appointees Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory and the FBI abused their powers to investigate members of his campaign and undermine his presidency. There is a pattern to Trump's messaging, and "Obamagate" is no different. The President is blending real findings of FBI misconduct with self- serving theories and cherry-picked information to weave together a much deeper and more sinister story. Read More. Obama's concerns about Flynn. Several factors recently sparked the chatter from Trump and right-wing media outlets about Obama's purported role in the Russia investigation and alleged "deep state" conspiracy. They've pointed to documents that were unsealed by Flynn's lawyers in the lead-up to the Justice Department's bombshell decision to drop the case against Flynn for lying to the FBI about his conversation with the then-Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak. The Oval Office meeting was convened to discuss the intelligence community's startling findings about Russian interference in the US election. Days later, the US intelligence agencies released a public report with their assessment, stating that Russia had launched a coordinated and sustained attack on the US election, in an effort to undermine American democracy and also help Trump win. According to recently revealed testimony from Yatesthe meeting included a discussion about Flynn's controversial phone calls with the Russian ambassador in late December The calls had been intercepted by routine US surveillance of foreign diplomats, and the content of the conversations raised concerns among US counterintelligence officials. On those calls, Flynn undercut sanctions that Obama had imposed as punishment for Russian meddling in and undermined Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama Appointees Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory US position on a United Nations resolution about Israel, according to court records. At the meeting, Obama asked Comey "whether the White House should be treating Flynn any differently" as they transitioned between administrations, according to Yates' testimony to special counsel Robert Mueller. She said she didn't remember Comey's response. Trump and his allies have pointed to that fact in recent days as they look toward Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama Appointees Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory "Obamagate" a campaign issue against Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. On Tuesday, Grassley sent a letter to the Trump administration asking for more documents about Flynn to be declassified, including transcripts of his calls with Kislyak. A "senior US government official" leaked the existence of Flynn's calls to The Washington Post, a possible felony because the information was classified. Since the earliest days of his presidency, Trump has decried what he said were "illegal leaks" that fueled suspicion about Russia. As Trump's team scrambled to respond, Flynn lied to senior officials and denied that he had discussed the sanctions with Kislyak, according to the Mueller report. At this pivotal time before Trump's inauguration, the scale and scope of Russia's election interference were just coming into focus. The Obama administration became concerned that Flynn was a national security risk because the public lies about sanctions made him vulnerable to blackmail by Russia -- which more than likely had its own tapes of the calls. After debates within the FBI on how to handle the situation, Comey sent two agents to interview Flynn shortly after Trump took office. Breaking protocol, Comey didn't give a heads-up about the interview to Yates, by then the acting attorney general. There is no evidence in the public record that Obama knew about it either, though Trump Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama Appointees Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory tried to pin the blame on him. In the FBI interview, Flynn told at least four distinct lies about the Kislyak calls, according to court filings. He pleaded guilty in December to one count of lying to the FBI, and became a marquee cooperator in the Mueller investigation. But he reversed course last year, hired aggressive new lawyers who support the "deep state" conspiracy and tried to withdraw from his guilty plea. Trump recently seized on Obama's meeting with Comey to promote his suspicions about the Russia investigation. He has routinely suggested that Obama-era officials should be in jail, but he would not identify which crime he believes Obama committed when he was asked by a reporter on Monday. As Trump has alluded to in recent comments, the saga is far from over. Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, a loyal Trump ally, recently declassified a list of former Obama administration officials who had allegedly requested the "unmasking" of Flynn in classified intelligence reports where the identities of Americans are typically hidden. Trump retweeted a story from a conservative website Tuesday morning about the declassified list, which isn't public yet. The unmasking of officials has long been part of conservative claims that the Obama administration tried to bring down Trump. It is a routine part of how administrations handle intelligence-gathering, but some top Republicans charge that the Obama administration abused its powers in this instance and others, though the number of such requests is much higher under the Trump administration than the Obama administration. Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee under then-Chairman Devin Nunes of California investigated the matter in andthough sources from both parties told CNN that they didn't see evidence of anything illegal or unusual by Obama officials. It's already known that both Susan Rice, Obama's national security adviser, and Samantha Power, Obama's United Nations ambassador, used the unmasking process in their positions, according to congressional testimony from the former officials. It was not out of the ordinary for Rice and Powers, who dealt with national security, to unmask the names of Americans. Much of their testimony about unmasking is redacted in the transcripts. But CNN reported in that Rice gave an explanation for why she had unmasked senior Trump officials during the transition: She was trying to understand why the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates was in New York in latewhen the UAE did not tell the Obama administration that he was coming. Some influential House Republicans have previously said they were satisfied by Rice's explanation as to why she had done the unmasking. It's not clear if or when Grenell will release the list of Obama administration officials, and it's unknown whether the disclosure will provide any context for why the unmasking was considered necessary. If it is just a list of names, Trump could easily fill the void with speculation about his "Obamagate" theory. This wasn't the first time Grenell used his temporary powers over the intelligence community to give Trump a boost. Last month, he declassified footnotes from the Justice Department inspector general report that raised new questions about the veracity of the opposition research dossier compiled by retired British spy Christopher Steele. Grassley publicly released the footnotes, giving Trump more fodder to critique the Russia probe. Trump's latest rhetoric about "Obamagate" matches a well-established pattern. Some misconduct related to the Russia investigation has been uncovered, and several former FBI officials have been chided for their handling of certain aspects of the probe. But Trump has Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama Appointees Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory exaggerated the breadth of the wrongdoing or latched onto unproven accusations that even some members of his own administration have struggled to publicly explain or defend. The inspector general also concluded that the most salacious claims about Trump and Russia, first made in the Steele dossier, had not been proved. To Trump's credit, he said early on that there were improprieties with FBI surveillance. But when the watchdog report came out in latemany of the President's specific claims were debunkedeven if he was right about the big picture. Much like his current messaging, Trump called this kerfuffle "Spygate," and said in that it "could be one of the biggest political scandals in history. For instance, the inspector general found that the FBI's decision to investigate several Trump campaign associates was legally justified and unaffected by bias. Yet even after the report came out in December, the President has continued to claim that the Russia probe was illegal and Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama Appointees Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory. Attorney General William Barr also disputes that conclusion from the inspector general, and previously ordered a review of the Russia probe, led by US Attorney John Durham. That investigation is ongoing.