Curtis Dahlgren
B.S. - Packaging and marketing the War on God (on dissent and believers)
By Curtis Dahlgren
"Constant talk builds the impression that public opinion is at least divided on the subject, and that a sizable segment accepts or even practices [XXX]." – Kirk and Madsen ("After the Ball")
PUBLIC RELATIONS EXPERTS AREN'T ALWAYS wicked people, but sometimes you wonder (and they sure make a lot of money at it). I can explain from personal experience how it works:
A small town school district was trying to pass a humongous building referendum, and it was about to go down for the third time. Then a communications expert at a local P.R. firm volunteered to package and market the $50 million high school. Nothing personal about that, as the people at the firm were neighbors and business clients of mine, but I must use the example as a teaching moment.
A public hearing was held at which almost every "witness" read from a script crafted by P.R. professionals. It was like a green light went on in the audience's collective mindset. Some people who had opposed the referendum changed their minds, they said, because "it sounds like the majority is in favor."
A light bulb went off in my head: So that's how P.R. works; you don't try to persuade anyone with facts. You simply have to convince them that OTHER people think such-and-such; the sheep will follow. To borrow a basketball term, it's a "backdoor" play into the heads of just enough people to tip the scales.
Fast-forward to 2015: so-called "debates" have nothing to do with facts. Even facts and stats could be distorted, of course, but most candidates don't even make a pretense of using substance. It's all about T.P. – talking points – and they more or less admit it. The Left makes the most of it, while at the same time the Pretorian pop media experts trick the Right into shooting itself in the foot, by using "experts" who are stuck in the old scripts (try to be all things to all people and don't "scare" anyone).
It's an ugly thing to watch and we go from the sublime to the ridiculous to the plain old ludicrous (political correctness on parade, a "pride" parade). Then the logical "second step" is to try to shame and silence anyone who gets out of lock-step with the approved advice of the consultancy professionals. The Donald and The Doc are the only ones who "get it." They're not SHEEP. Both of them have been saying things the lay people have been seeing for a long time (the Emperor has no clothes, sharia law and the Constitution are defacto enemies, etc.). The PC police thus drop the hammer on them.
I found at item on the Huffington Post today that sounded like it came from The Onion:
"The Medical Boards for all 50 States in the Union announced today that they have revoked Ben Carson's medical license and will no longer allow him to operate as a brain surgeon any where in the U.S. And they cited as their reason Carson's mental and intellectual challenges – otherwise known as the propensity to sound like a total and utter nutcase.
"In a joint statement, the Medical Boards said: We have been increasingly concerned about the gibberish emanating from Mr. Carson's cerebrum. We cite by way of example his belief that the holocaust could have been prevented by armed German citizens, that straight people go into prison and come out gay, and that Obamacare is the worse thing to happen to the country since slavery."
In other words, if you can't out-debate him, just distort what he's actually been saying for years! He never said the whole holocaust could have been prevented; he said that things could have turned out differently for a lot of people, and Hitler wouldn't have had such an easy time walking all over Eastern Europe. I'll have to research this "medical Boards of all 50 States" thing; it must be satire.
Regarding the War on God and believers, back to the book "After the Ball." That was a 1989 follow-up on an article in Guide magazine entitled "The Overhauling of Straight America" by a neuropsychiatry researcher and a public relations consultant. The subtitle of the book: "How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90s."
"The first order of business is desentisitization of the American public concerning gays and gay rights. To desensitize the public is to help it view homosexuality with indifference."
As an old geezer now, I can remember when we really did view it with indifference; it was the time before strident gay militancy. When we hardly knew of anyone who was "gay" and when no one but no one I knew had "hatred" for hardly anyone! But anyway, to continue the story (just for the record, for history's sake):
"In the early stages of any campaign to reach straight America, the masses should not be shocked and repelled by premature exposure to homosexual behavior itself . . . First let the camel get his nose inside the tent – only later his unsightly derriere!"
One "tent" used by the Gay-street Lobby is Hollywood and television. By 2014, there were 32 "gay" characters in primetime, with another 64 appearing in cable TV shows (USA TODAY, 10-1-14). Something tells me this picture doesn't really "look like America," but a few quotes more:
"When conservative churches ['condemn'] gays, there are only two things we can do to confound the homophobia of true believers. First, we can use talk to muddy the moral waters. This means publicizing support for gays by more moderate churches, raising theological objections . . to interpretations of biblical teachings, and exposing inconsistency [etc]."
The neo-Republicans thus have to walk on egg shells for fear of P.R. power, because they are quite well-acquainted with public relations people. RINOs have been poo-pooing the "Culture War" for 20 years while the War on God and believers is taking no prisoners. Moderates shoot the wounded after battle, but stay out of the fray themselves. Speaking of inconsistency, Kirk and Madsen wrote:
"We must forego the temptation to strut our 'gay pride' publicly when it conflicts with the Gay Victim image . . It almost goes without saying that groups . . such as NAMBLA . . must play no part at all in such a campaign: suspected child-molesters will never look like victims . . [and] to offset the increasingly bad press that these times [80s] have brought to homosexual men and women, the campaign should paint gays as superior pillars of society."
As someone said, Mission accomplished. But that was only the beginning. They wrote:
"At a later stage of the media campaign for gay rights . . it will be time to get tough with remaining opponents. To be blunt, they must be VILLIFIED . . we intend to make the anti-gays look so nasty that average Americans will want to dissociate themselves from such types . ." [my emphasis]
Kirk and Madsen advised the linking of "opponents" (i.e., defenders of real marriage) to the KKK, southern ministers drooling with hatred, and Nazi concentration camps [but God forbid that Dr. Carson dare to draw any lessons from the Warsaw ghetto?]! They go on to brag about infiltrating the news media for the cause.
"Because most straightforward appeals are impossible, the National Gay Task Force has had to cultivate quiet backroom liaisons with broadcast companies and newsrooms in order to make sure the issues important to the gay community receive some coverage."
By the way, that homosex "community" comprises somewhere between one and two percent of the population, so why are liberal politicians and theologians quaking in their boots? Even the "gay" population is divided right down the middle between the militants and the rest – those who probably yearn for quieter times when hardly anyone cared about your bedroom life, nor mine.
P.S. The Sept-Oct 2015 issue of Good News magazine says:
"Don't let your life be controlled by the clever marketing of evil as good and good as evil."
PPS: Some things "go without saying," but they must not be left unsaid! Enough said?
© Curtis Dahlgren
October 17, 2015
"Constant talk builds the impression that public opinion is at least divided on the subject, and that a sizable segment accepts or even practices [XXX]." – Kirk and Madsen ("After the Ball")
PUBLIC RELATIONS EXPERTS AREN'T ALWAYS wicked people, but sometimes you wonder (and they sure make a lot of money at it). I can explain from personal experience how it works:
A small town school district was trying to pass a humongous building referendum, and it was about to go down for the third time. Then a communications expert at a local P.R. firm volunteered to package and market the $50 million high school. Nothing personal about that, as the people at the firm were neighbors and business clients of mine, but I must use the example as a teaching moment.
A public hearing was held at which almost every "witness" read from a script crafted by P.R. professionals. It was like a green light went on in the audience's collective mindset. Some people who had opposed the referendum changed their minds, they said, because "it sounds like the majority is in favor."
A light bulb went off in my head: So that's how P.R. works; you don't try to persuade anyone with facts. You simply have to convince them that OTHER people think such-and-such; the sheep will follow. To borrow a basketball term, it's a "backdoor" play into the heads of just enough people to tip the scales.
Fast-forward to 2015: so-called "debates" have nothing to do with facts. Even facts and stats could be distorted, of course, but most candidates don't even make a pretense of using substance. It's all about T.P. – talking points – and they more or less admit it. The Left makes the most of it, while at the same time the Pretorian pop media experts trick the Right into shooting itself in the foot, by using "experts" who are stuck in the old scripts (try to be all things to all people and don't "scare" anyone).
It's an ugly thing to watch and we go from the sublime to the ridiculous to the plain old ludicrous (political correctness on parade, a "pride" parade). Then the logical "second step" is to try to shame and silence anyone who gets out of lock-step with the approved advice of the consultancy professionals. The Donald and The Doc are the only ones who "get it." They're not SHEEP. Both of them have been saying things the lay people have been seeing for a long time (the Emperor has no clothes, sharia law and the Constitution are defacto enemies, etc.). The PC police thus drop the hammer on them.
I found at item on the Huffington Post today that sounded like it came from The Onion:
"The Medical Boards for all 50 States in the Union announced today that they have revoked Ben Carson's medical license and will no longer allow him to operate as a brain surgeon any where in the U.S. And they cited as their reason Carson's mental and intellectual challenges – otherwise known as the propensity to sound like a total and utter nutcase.
"In a joint statement, the Medical Boards said: We have been increasingly concerned about the gibberish emanating from Mr. Carson's cerebrum. We cite by way of example his belief that the holocaust could have been prevented by armed German citizens, that straight people go into prison and come out gay, and that Obamacare is the worse thing to happen to the country since slavery."
In other words, if you can't out-debate him, just distort what he's actually been saying for years! He never said the whole holocaust could have been prevented; he said that things could have turned out differently for a lot of people, and Hitler wouldn't have had such an easy time walking all over Eastern Europe. I'll have to research this "medical Boards of all 50 States" thing; it must be satire.
Regarding the War on God and believers, back to the book "After the Ball." That was a 1989 follow-up on an article in Guide magazine entitled "The Overhauling of Straight America" by a neuropsychiatry researcher and a public relations consultant. The subtitle of the book: "How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90s."
"The first order of business is desentisitization of the American public concerning gays and gay rights. To desensitize the public is to help it view homosexuality with indifference."
As an old geezer now, I can remember when we really did view it with indifference; it was the time before strident gay militancy. When we hardly knew of anyone who was "gay" and when no one but no one I knew had "hatred" for hardly anyone! But anyway, to continue the story (just for the record, for history's sake):
"In the early stages of any campaign to reach straight America, the masses should not be shocked and repelled by premature exposure to homosexual behavior itself . . . First let the camel get his nose inside the tent – only later his unsightly derriere!"
One "tent" used by the Gay-street Lobby is Hollywood and television. By 2014, there were 32 "gay" characters in primetime, with another 64 appearing in cable TV shows (USA TODAY, 10-1-14). Something tells me this picture doesn't really "look like America," but a few quotes more:
"When conservative churches ['condemn'] gays, there are only two things we can do to confound the homophobia of true believers. First, we can use talk to muddy the moral waters. This means publicizing support for gays by more moderate churches, raising theological objections . . to interpretations of biblical teachings, and exposing inconsistency [etc]."
The neo-Republicans thus have to walk on egg shells for fear of P.R. power, because they are quite well-acquainted with public relations people. RINOs have been poo-pooing the "Culture War" for 20 years while the War on God and believers is taking no prisoners. Moderates shoot the wounded after battle, but stay out of the fray themselves. Speaking of inconsistency, Kirk and Madsen wrote:
"We must forego the temptation to strut our 'gay pride' publicly when it conflicts with the Gay Victim image . . It almost goes without saying that groups . . such as NAMBLA . . must play no part at all in such a campaign: suspected child-molesters will never look like victims . . [and] to offset the increasingly bad press that these times [80s] have brought to homosexual men and women, the campaign should paint gays as superior pillars of society."
As someone said, Mission accomplished. But that was only the beginning. They wrote:
"At a later stage of the media campaign for gay rights . . it will be time to get tough with remaining opponents. To be blunt, they must be VILLIFIED . . we intend to make the anti-gays look so nasty that average Americans will want to dissociate themselves from such types . ." [my emphasis]
Kirk and Madsen advised the linking of "opponents" (i.e., defenders of real marriage) to the KKK, southern ministers drooling with hatred, and Nazi concentration camps [but God forbid that Dr. Carson dare to draw any lessons from the Warsaw ghetto?]! They go on to brag about infiltrating the news media for the cause.
"Because most straightforward appeals are impossible, the National Gay Task Force has had to cultivate quiet backroom liaisons with broadcast companies and newsrooms in order to make sure the issues important to the gay community receive some coverage."
By the way, that homosex "community" comprises somewhere between one and two percent of the population, so why are liberal politicians and theologians quaking in their boots? Even the "gay" population is divided right down the middle between the militants and the rest – those who probably yearn for quieter times when hardly anyone cared about your bedroom life, nor mine.
P.S. The Sept-Oct 2015 issue of Good News magazine says:
"Don't let your life be controlled by the clever marketing of evil as good and good as evil."
PPS: Some things "go without saying," but they must not be left unsaid! Enough said?
© Curtis Dahlgren
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