Political Mind Games

doesn’t seem to matter that a 2013 analysis from a presidential task force concluded that meta-data collection has played no essential role in the prevention of even a single terrorist attack.85

If a crisis environment exists, we’re all the more responsive to forceful guidance about what must be done “for our own protection.” This is true even when the recommended steps involve relinquishing rights and values we hold dear.

Representatives of the 1% are adept at highlighting purported dangers that await if we fail to act upon their policy prescriptions. In many cases, they scare us and then offer an answer to our fears: Do exactly as we tell you. What they don’t tell us is that their “fixes” will benefit big-money interests at the expense of those who are already disadvantaged.

Our concerns about vulnerability are central to how we see the world around us. When our security is in jeopardy, nothing else matters as much. The mere prospect of danger can consume all of our focus and energy. Not surprisingly, then, the desire to ensure our own safety—and that of people we care about—is a powerful force in determining the policies we support and the actions we take.

The greatest remedy for fear is to stand up and fight for your rights. —Henry A. Wallace

The 1% have created a daunting environment for collective action by those who oppose their aims. But the rest of us have key resources of our own

progress depends upon combating the destructive propaganda of today’s self-aggrandizing plutocrats.

the mainstream media outlets—owned by a handful of mega-corporations—that help establish the news agenda in this country.53 They decide what’s newsworthy, what’s worth knowing more about, and what’s unimportant—and their choices usually favor the interests of the 1%.

an engaging narrative can change the way we think about things, regardless of whether it’s labeled fact or fiction. Th

Years of research—by psychologists such as Elliot Aronson, Robert Cialdini, and Anthony Pratkanis, among others—have gone a long way toward illuminating the key elements of effective persuasion.49