Never as New as You Think

Special Message to the Congress Proposing a Comprehensive Health Insurance PlanFebruary 6, 1974

To the Congress of the United States:One of the most cherished goals of our democracy is to assure every American an equal opportunity to lead a full and productive life. In the last quarter century, we have made remarkable progress toward that goal, opening the doors to millions of our fellow countrymen who were seeking equal opportunities in education, jobs and voting. Now it is time that we move forward again in still another critical area: health care. Without adequate health care, no one can make full use of his or her talents and opportunities. It is thus just as important that economic, racial and social barriers not stand in the way of good health care as it is to eliminate those barriers to a good education and a good job. Three years ago, I proposed a major health insurance program to the Congress, seeking to guarantee adequate financing of health care on a nationwide basis. That proposal generated widespread discussion and useful debate. But no legisla ...read full document

.....today is still the 6th, yes?

The good ideas are never original, but this explains why no one wanted to get behind this idea. Anything from Nixon, couldn't be good -- right? 

A Brief but Relevant  History of Propaganda 

Excuse Me? Check this Box? Are you Six?

Dear Democratic Party whose email list I would like to leave....

So, your Opt-Out page, instead of being just a click, like professionals do it, is asking me why I'm leaving. Fine.

You don't engage me. I dont' know. Maybe its because I'm countering propaganda from these activists against CCSS or the research I do, ... maybe I'm jaded. But I really get the impression that you don't care about what you are doing, or why. I get this mental image of a blue/gray office and half-hearted interests. I get the vision of "screw this.." blasting off the emails. But seriously...I was close to shutting down on this one...


Do you believe that we should give middle-class families a tax break by closing corporate tax loopholes?

And then two buttons? Yes? No?

This is the political version of "Do you like me? Check the box if you do." from grade school.

To the members of the meeting you had, who dedicated all of their skill to produce a  message, designed to make an emotional connection, and be convincing -- I must say, well done. I am deffinity feeling an emotion. And It is convincing.

It convinces me that if you do care about what you are doing, you certainly don't give a damn about what I'm doing. Because, despite the fact that what I'm doing is actually directly affecting the chances of the Democrats doing better in the next election... you have interrupted my work to look at a childish note displaying a brazen declaration of insecurity.


I can't take this message seriously -- especially the question. So there is no way I can take you seriously. If I take that question, as it is presented, seriously, I'll stop what I'm doing and tell you to "F-off you are on your own". If you are so far out of touch with the democratic voters of this nation that you have to ask that question in that manner, then you are not a party I want any where near the house of congress or the white house. This email, and that ad you did about education... my god.

This -- right here, this email, is the reason the Republicans, who had a 9% approval rating, swept with a 94% success in November. Yes, I'm basically democrat, but ... how can I take you seriously?

Now... I'm trying to do a diagnostic on these, rather sophisticated propaganda messages I discovered last week, which from every source are militarized words designed to insure you lose even more in a couple years -- with the public's blessing. I feel it is important for people to be able to think. -- But honestly, judging by the messages I'm getting and the actions I'm seeing  (or actually NOT seeing) whoever is making these is wasting their money. They won't need them.

So, grow a spine, get someone who can create a real message or ask me a real question which demonstrates that you might give a &%( about this country, and maybe I'll join back up.

Glenn Hefley
www.ghefley.com

Moments to Cherish Where is The Line?

It was Oct 30th, 1938, and young Orson Wells came through the doors of his studio with a grin on his face. It wasn't exactly a grin born of humor, or good will. It wasn't the kind of grin you would reciprocate. In fact, anyone could tell just by looking at him he was up to no good. Unfortunately, this was radio, and none of his listeners would be able to see that grin.

The Mercury Theater on The Air began right on time. Yes it did. A time when families would gather around the radio in the evening to enjoy their favorite shows. And they were gathering, They were getting popcorn and drinks. They were getting pillows and hushing each other because the show was starting. And even though they were all aware that the show was beginning, many people (a few hundred thousand), didn't hear, the little tag line at the end of the announcer's introduction. "H.G. Wells, the War Of The Worlds"

Apart from his admittedly imperfect methods of estimating the audience and assessing the authenticity of their response, Pooley and Socolow found, Cantril made another error in typing audience reaction. Respondents had indicated a variety of reactions to the program, among them "excited", "disturbed," and "frightened". Yet he included all of them with "panicked," failing to account for the possibility that despite their reaction they were still aware the broadcast was staged. "Those who did hear it, looked at it as a prank and accepted the performance in that manner," recalled researcher Frank Stanton.

… In order to take advantage of the accepted convention, we had to slide swiftly and imperceptibly out of the 'real' time of a news report into the 'dramatic' time of a fictional broadcast. Once that was achieved — without losing the audience's attention or arousing their skepticism — once they were sufficiently absorbed and bewitched not to notice the transitions any more, there was no extreme of fantasy through which they would not follow us.

Bartholomew grants that hundreds of thousands were frightened but calls evidence of people taking action based on their fear "scant" and "anecdotal". Indeed, contemporary news articles indicate that police were swamped with hundreds of calls in numerous locations, but stories of people doing anything more than calling authorities mostly involve only small groups. Such stories were often reported by people who were panicking themselves.

Later investigations found much of the alleged panicked responses to have been exaggerated or mistaken. Cantril's researchers found that, contrary to what had been claimed, there were no admissions for shock at a Newark hospital during the broadcast; hospitals in New York City similarly reported no spike in admissions that night. A few suicide attempts seem to have been prevented when friends or family intervened, but there was no record of a successful one. A Washington Post claim that a man died of a heart attack brought on by listening to the program could not be verified. One woman filed a lawsuit against CBS, but it was soon dismissed.

What You Know And the Pain It Causes Cognitive dissonance

"Before we try to explain something, we should be sure it actually happened."--Ray Hyman


My son mentioned today that everyone dies of the same thing, a  loss of homeostasis. Which is true. Our bodies rely on many variables to remain within strict parameters, which maintain our homeostasis. Any one of them: body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, breathing capacity and activity -- any of them losing their required value and we are dead. The rest is merely details.

Cognitive dissonance arises when external information contradicts an already held belief.

The way all of us normally deal with this is NOT to rationally compare two competing theses and resolve conflicts using reason and available evidence. Rather, we react in the same way we react to a physical threat. We instinctively fight against information that threatens our beliefs, inventing any means of defense possible.