Posted by Searcher
(here)
I've been researching manipulation of the narrative by various actors and players and came across this insightful analysis of how a clique of "thinkers", working to a programme, are able to manipulate opinion.
It's not exactly media manipulation, but some of the drama takes place in the media. It's more a kind of "captured" academic/thinker strategy....
This is Carroll Quigley (author of
Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time,
The Evolution of Civilizations and
The Anglo American Establishment and former lecturer at Georgetown University, USA) on how "consensus" is manufactured:
By the interaction of these various branches on one another, under the pretense that each branch was an autonomous power, the influence of each branch was an autonomous power, the influence of each branch was increased through a process of mutual reinforcement. The unanimity among the various branches was believed by the outside world to be the result of the influence of a single Truth, while really it was the result of the existence of a single group. Thus a statesman (a member of the Group) announces a policy. About the same time, the Royal Institute of International Affairs publishes a study on the subject, and an Oxford don, a Fellow of All Souls (and a member of the Group) also publishes a volume on the subject (probably through a publishing house, like G. Bell and Sons or Faber and Faber, allied to the Group). The statesman’s policy is subjected to critical analysis and final approval in a “leader” in The Times, while the two books are reviewed (in a single review) in The Times Literary Supplement. Both the “leader” and the review are anonymous but are written by the members of the Group. And finally, at about the same time, an anonymous article in The Round Table strongly advocates the same policy. The cumulative effect of such tactics as this, even if each tactical move influences only a small number of important people, is bound to be great.
~ Carroll Quigley, The Anglo American Establishment, New York: Books in Focus, 1981, pp. 114 (or 96-pdf)
I was wondering how many policies and initiatives were created and "sold" in this way... my guess would be upwards of 75% of them.
I am sure there are many examples this strategy or playbook in use.... GMO "science", the CDC's vaccine danger obfuscation, are ones that I think have not succeeded.
What are the ones that have succeeded?