Conservative Propaganda 101: Write Articles On 4th Grade Level

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David Corn of Mother Jones Magazine has published another epic investigative report uncovering a super-secret right-wing cabal formed to shape public opinion via coordinated messaging and organized smear campaigns.

Groundswell is an amalgamation of conservative activists and politicos including Ginni (Mrs. Clarence) Thomas, John Bolton, Frank Gaffney, Allen West, and many more. They also count as members folks from the media including Fox News, Breitbart News and the Daily Caller. They use Google Group correspondence and regular meetups to brainstorm their schemes. Corn obtained some of the emails distributed through their network and what they reveal is at turns frightening and funny. His article is a must read, but here are a few excerpts:

A certain amount of secrecy cloaks Groundswell’s efforts. Though members have been encouraged to zap out tweets with a #GSW hashtag, a message circulated to members of its Google group noted that the role of certain advocates should be kept “off of the Google group for OPSEC [operational security] reasons.” This “will avoid any potential for bad press for someone if a communication item is leaked,” the message explained.

Apparently they were engaging in activities that they themselves considered to be potentially embarrassing if discovered. And apparently they were right on that score.

The participation of journalists in coordinating messaging with ideological advocates and political partisans raises another set of issues. Conservatives expressed outrage when news broke in 2009 about Journolist, a private email list where several hundred progressive-minded reporters, commentators, and academics exchanged ideas and sometimes bickered.

Interestingly, the allegations that JournoListers engaged in message coordination were never substantiated, but the Groundswellers emails prove they were doing exactly that. Also interesting is the fact that Fox News went ballistic when the JournoList was revealed, however, they have not had a single report about Groundswell.

From a secret Groundswell email: “Our country is in peril. This is a critical moment needing critical leadership. We want to protect the strategic collaboration occurring at Groundswell and build on it. Please be careful about bringing guests and clear them ahead of time. […] What Groundswell is not is a room of note takers. The goal of Groundswell is to sync messages and develop action from reports and information exchanged.”

There’s your smoking gun with regard to their coordinated propaganda goals.

The Groundswellers feel that they too often lose the political narrative to their progressive rivals. One memo that circulated among members declared, “We must reclaim the language and put ‘a face’ on our messages; tell stories. Write articles on 4th grade level!”

Yeah, that’s their problem. They have been reaching over the heads of their constituents by communicating at 5th grade levels and above. What were they thinking? Or perhaps it’s the other way around. Maybe they were communicating at a 3rd grade level all along and this is a directive to bump it up a notch. Considering the rampant idiocy of some of what we hear from the right, that seems like the more likely scenario.

Groundswell has forged a particularly close relationship with Breitbart. Matthew Boyle, one of Breitbart’s more prominent reporters, has attended Groundswell meetings, used the group as a source for tips and a mechanism to promote his stories, and joined in its efforts to whip up coordinated bullet points to be deployed by conservative advocacy shops.

“…conservative advocacy shops…” like Breitbart, Fox News, Daily Caller, etc. Corn’s piece contains many more bits of prime right-wing posturing and paranoia. The discovery of Groundswell is not particularly earth-shattering in and of itself. It has been clear for years that the right was clandestinely harmonizing their attacks. But by putting out this formerly classified data, it affirms what we’ve known and adds some juicy details to the mix.

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2 thoughts on “Conservative Propaganda 101: Write Articles On 4th Grade Level

  1. Here are their ALEC predecessors:

    One of the tragedies in the anti-democratic reforms currently taking place across the spectrum of American society is the cynical manipulation of mainstream Americans’ belief in the presumed integrity of democratic processes and the disbelief that blatant lying, maneuvering, misinforming, and disinforming for the sake of corporate hegemony can happen in the good ol’ U.S. of A.

    More attention needs to be paid to a deliberate strategy of chaos that is being played out. While ALEC (and its other affiliations and associations) can show that it does not always have a direct connection to the agendas currently being wielded, indirect links and influence are often discovered.

    The late Paul Weyrich, co-founder of ALEC, helped Eric Heubeck write the manifesto for the New Traditionalist Movement in 2001. While The New Traditionalists and the Dominionists have been encouraged not to draw additional unneeded attention to themselves, their manifesto, nonetheless, illustrates, in part, HOW rapid change is taking place in the U.S. If such a manifesto were written by a group outside the U.S. trying to influence U.S. policies and institutions, it would be considered terrorism, which is what it is — domestic terrorism.

    Here are some excerpts:

    “This essay is based on the belief that the truth of an idea is not the primary reason for its acceptance. Far more important is the energy and dedication of the idea’s promoters—in other words, the individuals composing a social or political movement…”

    “There will be three main stages in the unfolding of this movement. The first stage will be devoted to the development of a highly motivated elite able to coordinate future activities. The second stage will be devoted to the development of institutions designed to make an impact on the wider elite and a relatively small minority of the masses. The third stage will involve changing the overall character of American popular culture…”

    “Our movement will be entirely destructive, and entirely constructive. We will not try to reform the existing institutions. We only intend to weaken them, and eventually destroy them. We will endeavor to knock our opponents off-balance and unsettle them at every opportunity. All of our constructive energies will be dedicated to the creation of our own institutions…”

    “We will maintain a constant barrage of criticism against the Left. We will attack the very legitimacy of the Left. We will not give them a moment’s rest. We will endeavor to prove that the Left does not deserve to hold sway over the heart and mind of a single American. We will offer constant reminders that there is an alternative, there is a better way. When people have had enough of the sickness and decay of today’s American culture, they will be embraced by and welcomed into the New Traditionalist movement. The rejection of the existing society by the people will thus be accomplished by pushing them and pulling them simultaneously.”

    “We must create a countervailing force that is just as adept as the Left at intimidating people and institutions that are used as tools of left-wing activism but are not ideologically committed, such as Hollywood celebrities, multinational corporations, and university administrators. We must be feared, so that they will think twice before opening their mouths…”

    “We will be results-oriented rather than good intentions-oriented. Making a good-faith effort and being ideologically sound will be less important than advancing the goals of the movement…”

    “We will use guerrilla tactics to undermine the legitimacy of the dominant regime. We will take advantage of every available opportunity to spread the idea that there is something fundamentally wrong with the existing state of affairs. … contribute to a vague sense of uneasiness and dissatisfaction with existing society. … We need to break down before we can build up. We must first clear away the flotsam of a decayed culture.”

    “We need more people with fire in the belly, and we need a message that attracts those kinds of people…We must reframe this struggle as a moral struggle, as a transcendent struggle, as a struggle between good and evil. And we must be prepared to explain why this is so. We must provide the evidence needed to prove this using images and simple terms…”

    Support of an Elite More Valuable than Support of the Masses

    “We will initially operate according to the belief that it is more important to win over the elites (or create a new, better one) than to build up a mass movement. Furthermore, it is more important to have a few impassioned members than a large number of largely indifferent members. The amount of energy, élan, and self-assurance that we are able to inculcate in the leaders of our movement will ultimately determine its success or failure.”

    “The new movement must be, in part, exclusive and elite. It must not be afraid to pass along a body of knowledge that is not readily accessible to and understandable by everyone. The strong appeal of a feeling of exclusivity and superiority will give our members a reason to endure the slings and arrows of popular disapproval.”

    “The New Traditionalist movement will appeal to the masses, but not immediately. The ideas of the masses never come from the masses. To the extent that the masses are more conservative than the elites, this is primarily because the masses have a long collective memory, and they still value the beliefs articulated by a long-lost elite. The conservative instincts of the American people will continue to erode unless a new elite is formed to refresh that memory.”

    “We must recognize that literature and philosophy do not appeal to the masses. This is why we must develop ways to spread our philosophy using non-rational means–especially the moving image.”

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Integration_of_Theory_and_Practice

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/01/1021676/-A-Rant-against-ALEC-and-Koch-everyone-should-read-before-it-s-too-late

    If we could be flies on the wall of the backroom meetings and deals being made in the decision-making circles, this is the language we would hear and the strategies being put forward. This is the language that is covered up when proponents of the underlying strategies make PUBLIC pronouncements.

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