The Noble Lie

I've been trying to find a way to articulate why I am not posting nearly as much as I used to, and this article might do it for me. These are poisoned wells we drink from, and this is nothing new to the Obama administration. It's nothing new, I've been reading stories about angry Muslim kids getting suckered into doing stupid things by FBI provocateurs for ages now. The most effective way to neutralize a resistance movement is to run it yourself.

• Glenn Greenwald - Obama confidant's spine-chilling proposal
• Raw Story - Obama staffer wants 'cognitive infiltration' of 9/11 conspiracy groups
• Infowars - List of published Cass Sunstein papers and books

The first and most important thing to say about this is that nothing in this paper is new or radical. What he calls "cognitive infiltration" is, despite the denial in the paper, only different in available technology from COINTELPRO and other techniques used in the past to bust up wrongthink and ownlife strategies.

The main thesis of this short paper is that conspiracy thinking is caused by "crippled epistemologies", that so-called "conspiracy theorists" carefully filter out all but a few sources and harden themselves against any orthodox or official sources of correction. He posits that conspiracy thinking is largely a product of closed, authoritarian societies, and that conspiracy thinking in an open, free society with a transparent, accountable government such as ours (I'm sure you can sense the smirk in these words) is destructive because it corrodes our ability to trust our benevolent institutions uncritically. He also suggests that laws like the Freedom of Information Act might do more harm than good, suggesting that the best way to protect our supposed open society is to close it.

My experience has taught me that, if anything, the conspiracy-minded got that way because they were more open to taboo sources of information, not that they were necessarily closed off from the mainstream. The truly "crippled epistemology" is one which does not think critically and engage skeptically any source of information, be it Alex Jones or the Department of Defense. Those people are ripe for "cognitive infiltration."

PS: "Sunstein" translates to "Sun Stone".

PPS: Obama should be given credit for his commitment to diversity. What other president would have an academic slinging vitriol at conspiracy theorists as well as an outspoken 9/11 truther working for him? Of course, who still has their job..?