a mystical möbius — curating facts, ideas, text, and media to create a contemplative space.

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Autocrats hack American politics

Grievance Grift (part 1)   ||    Grievance Grift (part 2)

The “stop the spread” illustration above really summarizes the theme of these Grievance Grift missives, e.g., flattening the disinformation curve in the political space by enlisting the help of others in the task of boldly challenging politicians directly; and generously affirming the perspectives’/expressions’ of those others who speak truth to power. 

Again, “Political technologies” [PT]—a mostly unfamiliar phrase in the West—is the figure of speech commonly used in the former Soviet states for a highly developed industry of immoral political manipulation. “Immoral” because PT intentionally work against shared truth and facts, and, so, is consciously anti-democratic. DJT focused the PT form to run on cultural outrage. Many Republican leaders have adopted DJT‘s PT approach to political messaging. 

Autocratic hack of democracy: two necessary aspects

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Outlet for disinformation (propaganda platform) 

One key factor in a political technologies approach is having a dependably available media platform with a readymade constituency of alternative-fact consumers—e.g. Fox, Newsmax, OANN, on the right (in Senator Roger Marshall’s instance).  

Tools for political technologies

How does a person (DJT), or movement (MAGA), deal with a constant flow of millions of loud, critical voices aimed directly at them over all-manner of concerns? The answer is: with ‘tools’ of PT.

So, for instance, one such tool is TDS (“Trump Derangement Syndrome”) as political technology. It’s a diabolical strategy that often works to dismiss discussion/accountability. How? Easy, TDS simply states that any concern anyone might have about DJT is a product of their hatred of him, so TDS. With three little letters, and in one stroke, all DJT cult-followers are able to categorically discount and dismiss any/all concerns/critiques raised about DJT/MAGA yet never give it (whatever it may be) even one single thought. 

Another popular PT tool is the “I’m rubber, and you’re glue, whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you” defense—the IRYG defense popularized by DJT.

Cult methodologies

Perhaps we’ll have more on the cult dimension in a possible part 4, however, TDS and IRYG are prime evidence that DJT heads a cult (Is MAGA a death cult?). One of the primary definers of a cult is that it is headed by a person who is unaccountable to any authority. TDS and IRYG, in part, accomplish that for DJT/MAGA. 

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Two groups

One group sees unity in homogenous traditional conformity [Blue] and another group sees unity in diverse progressive plurality [Green]. With the meme war in U.S. cultural space as proxy, the two major American political parties reflect a near complete sorting for that (e.g., Blue||Green cultural antagonism) along the contours of just about any issue one can name.

Native to both groups is a key to PT political manipulation, although it’s far more predominant in the more conventional, dogmatic, Blue group. World religions of every stripe have categories and descriptions for this human characteristic and basic need for spiritual growth/transformation—e.g., ‘being born again,’ and ‘death and resurrection’ in Christianity, for instance. “Conversion” is a general term that captures the developmental/transformative movement of ‘primary state‘ to ‘advancing-growth state‘ in consciousness related to this ‘key to PT.’ These states are basically arrested and open, respectfully.

The ‘primary’ vs. ‘advancing-growth‘ threshold is a simple matter of the ‘locus’ of one’s perspective (and commitment to it). One significant key to successful PT: followers with primary state consciousness.

The primary state is one in which an individual holds their own experience and perspective to be normative. It’s the state of consciousness in which one believes that the way they experience, perceive, and describe reality is the only way any reasonable person could possibly see it. The primary state is one of essentially self-locused consciousness and operates from that state in straight-forward ways. —Ultimately, the primary state essentially locks one inside of an outside-in mirror ball gazing at oneself. 

In clear distinction, the advancing-growth state of consciousness begins from a place of humility (open), a grounding state that allows room for many different experiences and perceptions others have. Ultimately, the advancing-growth state liberates one to be simply one among many (I-It —> I-Thou). 

Politicians using political technologies depend upon, leverage, and cynically exploit constituents who occupy the primary state of consciousness. Form-letters and emails strategically use hyper-charged terms like “socialism” or “border” that, now, (magically) seem custom tailored to those who are fed a steady diet of tactical PT.

Two participants on Marshall’s The-facebook page expose the sad fact that certain terms in the form-letter are custom-fit to the PT reality that some have been groomed to perceive. 

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tl;dr

Senator Roger Marshall, et al., have adopted DJT‘s political technologies in the socio-political space. They engage autocratic attacks on their opposition that are toxic to democracy itself. 

Please help flatten the disinformation curve! Please boldly challenge Marshall and other immoral politicians. Please affirm voices who challenge politicians who deploy disinformation.

Next week: Part 4? …. Come and see. 

[this post approx. 850 words (3 min. read)]

Your thoughts? 

I never know what I’ve said till I hear the response. What did you hear me say? 

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