POLITICS--The Science of the Possible
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BOOK 8 “. AND GULLIVER RETURNS” --In Search of Utopia-- HOW WE MANIPULATE AND ARE MANIPULATED --POLITICS--The Science of the Possible-- by Lemuel Gulliver XVI as told to Jacqueline Slow © 2010 ISBN 978-0-9823076-0-1 Dear friends—Obviously I wrote this series to be read from Book 1 to the end, but silly me! Readers often begin with what sounds interesting to them. This may leave them unaware of the characters, my friends and I. So let me introduce us. We were boyhood friends, as wild and as close as geese heading south for the winter. But our university educations split us philosophically like a drop of Quicksilver hitting the floor. But like those balls of mercury, when brought together, they again become one. As have we. Ray became a Catholic priest and moved far to the right of where our teenage liberalism had bound us. Ray calls himself a neo-conservative. We think he is a reactionary. Lee slid to the left of our adolescent leanings, and somewhere along the line became an atheist. Lee is a lawyer. Concannon, Con for short, retired from his very successful business. I guess his business experience moved him a bit to the right, to conservatism—a conservative just to the right of the middle. Then there’s me. I think I’m pretty much a middle of the roader—except for my passion to save our planet by reducing our population before global warming, massive poverty and far-reaching famines decimate our humanity. Hope this introduction makes our discussions make a bit more sense. By the way, as most of you know, we have put our photos before every bit of dialogue. This should make you more familiar with us. So the books read more like plays. Since most of you read 2 the books in PDF or EPUB format it is no problem. But if you read them in RTF or TXT you will probably lose the photos. This will make the transitions of the conversations more difficult to follow. LG Table of Contents WHAT IS POLITICS? ..................................................................................................................................................... 12 POWER ................................................................................................................................................................ 18 IF YOU HAVE THE POWER ......................................................................................................................................... 19 PROTECTING YOUR PERSONAL POWER ............................................................................................................... 22 IF YOU WANT POWER ................................................................................................................................................. 24 COMMON POLITICAL TECHNIQUES ............................................................................................................ 26 WHO DO YOU WANT TO INFLUENCE ..................................................................................................................... 29 INFLUENCING AN INDIVIDUAL ................................................................................................................................ 32 INFLUENCING A GROUP .............................................................................................................................................. 35 INFLUENCING RELIGIOUS THEORY ........................................................................................................................ 38 HUMAN RIGHTS ............................................................................................................................................................ 40 POLITICS IN RELIGIONS ............................................................................................................................................. 40 GOVERNMENTAL INFLUENCING .............................................................................................................................. 46 PRACTICAL POLITICS .................................................................................................................................................. 47 INFLUENCING AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC LAW MAKING .................................................................................. 47 POLITICAL TECHNIQUES ............................................................................................................................... 50 VIOLENCE AS A MAJOR POLITICAL TECHNIQUE .................................................................................... 51 REVOLUTION ..................................................................................................................................................... 52 CAPITAL PUNISHMENT .............................................................................................................................................. 53 COMMITTING GENOCIDE WHILE ADVANCING AN ABSOLUTE TRUTH ....................................................... 54 AGGRESSIVE BUT NON-VIOLENT POLITICAL TECHIQUES .................................................................. 58 WITHHOLDING SERVICE (STRIKES AND SANCTIONS) ..................................................................................... 58 LAYOFFS AND LOCKOUTS .......................................................................................................................................... 59 SANCTIONS ..................................................................................................................................................................... 59 NON-VIOLENT DEMONSTRATIONS, RALLIES AND MARCHES ........................................................................ 59 PHYSICAL REWARDS, MONEY, BRIBES, SEX ........................................................................................................ 62 INDIVIDUALS ................................................................................................................................................................. 62 PHYSICAL--ACCOUTREMENTS, CLOTHES, FOOD, STATUS SYMBOLS .......................................................... 63 TECHNOLOGICAL METHODS .................................................................................................................................... 65 SURVEILLANCE AND SPYING .................................................................................................................................... 66 NEGOTIATION AND TRADE-OFFS ........................................................................................................................... 67 POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL TECHNIQUES ................................................................................................ 68 APPEALING TO ONE’S PRIDE .................................................................................................................................... 68 SYMPATHY ..................................................................................................................................................................... 70 APPEAL TO HONOR ..................................................................................................................................................... 71 DUTY ................................................................................................................................................................................ 73 HOPE ................................................................................................................................................................................ 73 NEGATIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL TECHNIQUES .............................................................................................. 76 FEAR ................................................................................................................................................................................. 77 PROTECTIONISM --REDUCING IMMIGRATION ................................................................................................... 79 SOCIAL ISSUES ............................................................................................................................................................... 80 THREATS ......................................................................................................................................................................... 82 HARASSMENT ................................................................................................................................................................ 84 INTIMIDATION AND RIDICULE ................................................................................................................................ 86 3 FINANCIAL REWARDS, GREED AND CORRUPTION ........................................................................................... 87 GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION ................................................................................................................................... 94 CORRUPTION IN EDUCATION .................................................................................................................................. 95 OTHER MENTAL TECHNIQUES-- VERBAL AND NON-VERBAL PLOYS .......................................................... 96 LYING OR HIDING INFORMATION ........................................................................................................................... 97 STATISTICS 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