Divide and Rule Exhibit A: ATS

I find it concerning how easily the ATS folks use terms like “sheep”, “wake up”, and “deny ignorance” when discussing issues pertaining to the US. There are discussions about how the general population is being played a fool, and is blissfully ignorant of it. But I am starting to believe that the US members of the ATS population could be considered a small sampling of the entire population. And if you look closely at the ways that people respond and react on here, you will see a much smaller version of what is happening on a larger scale within the entire population.

In my opinion, many people here on ATS have forgotten about that long existing strategy known as “Divide and Rule”, also known as “Divide and Conquer”. Divide and Rule in politics is defined by Wikipedia (there are also credible sources that elaborate on this definition, this is just a simplified one for ease of reading) as follows:

gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into pieces that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy. The concept refers to a strategy that breaks up existing power structures and prevents smaller power groups from linking up

Do we really believe that the information presented to the public by mainstream media is their own investigative reporting? That they aren’t on a leash held by the government? We are spoon fed exactly what they want us to have.

And the reasons can be seen clearly in the sampling of the US population right here on ATS: we react exactly how TPTB plan for us to react. We become divided, distracted, and begin bickering, completely losing sight of the wrongs happening right in front of our faces. Which is what is meant to happen to the majority population.

Military Information Support Operations (MISO):

persuades rather then compelling physically, they rely on logic, fear, desire, or other mental factors to promote specific emotions, attitudes or behaviors

MISO is the latest terminology for psychological operations, but the essence is the same. Wiki defines psychological operations as:

planned operations to convey selected information and indicators to audiences to influence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of governments, organizations, groups, and individuals. The purpose of psychological operations is induce or reinforce behavior favorable to US objectives

There are, as of June 2013, 1,162,825 enlisted personnel in the military.
And, there is a total US population of 317,924,671. (Obviously, many of these are young or elderly, but I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this.)

The military alone (not counting governmental agencies, alphabet agencies, etc) is vastly outnumbered, so it seems to me to make tremendous sense to apply the idea of Divide and Rule. It seems pretty favorable to TPTB’s objectives to keep the population divided.

Open any of the current Bundy threads, and you’ll see the perfect example of this strategy in play.

I’m pretty disappointed at how quickly some ATS members succumb to propaganda.

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a reply to: MojaveBurning

It is truely saddening that people prefer to argue over things that are of less importance than the things that effect us all.

a reply to: MojaveBurning

It is my belief that the membership of this website is comprised of people who want to talk about the issues, not people who have buried their heads in the sand. No matter where they are from, no matter their individual political stances and beliefs about the world, the universe, and their own corners of it, membership of this website marks a person out as being interested in getting to the root of things.

We are all human beings (even the ones who think they aren't), and therefore fallible however, which means sometimes we may indeed fall into the odd trap here and there. But by and large, the membership of this site are more aware of the dirty tricks used against them by their governments, than the average person in a given country.

Also, you need to remember that this site has an international membership, and that the tactic of divide and conquer is applied globally, not just nationally. This is a by product of the way international finance operates, and who is running the big scam that banking and currency represents.

The way I see it, we are all here to discuss the issues, and learn from one another's points of view and experience. Where you see division, I see people merely having differing views. It is all very well to call any difference of opinion a division, but I think that is a rather limited way to look at it. We share common aims here as members, and we are not divided in those aims, but united as a group of people, despite our differences politically. That is what I love about this website. This place is the very definition of thinking globally, and acting locally. Tis a thing of beauty in my eyes, and I am honoured to be amongst its members.

a reply to: TrueBrit

Very well thought out reply, thank you! I do see your point, and I somewhat agree. In some threads, you can clearly see exactly what you are talking about: differing opinions. But I've noticed that in those threads which are high profile and heated, the posted replies go from being simply differing opinions to being blind emotions (anger, mostly). That's the type of thread that I'm specifically talking about in my original posting.

And your reply to me is an example of the way that things SHOULD be. I could tell immediately that it was logical and meaningful. That's the type of post that I like to see on ATS, and what originally brought me to signing up for the site. A lot of the time though, people slam out responses that come across as being knee-jerk reactions, which is the type of response I was addressing with the idea of Divide and Rule.

I also do realize that this is a concept that is applied globally, and that ATS is international (which I love). I was merely focusing on the US because I found the recent Cliven Bundy threads to be a perfect example that might be able to help people get what I was trying to say, especially the US folks who have seemed to have a more profound interest in the subject.

I also appreciate the diversity within ATS, and am glad to be a part of it. I just don't like seeing shallow posts that seem to forget what "Deny Ignorance" is all about, make sense?

I am often surprised how quickly people tend to fall to their own Bias.

Especially on a place like ATS.

Divide and conquer is definitely at play, that's what the media does.

You think people would know that by now, They will obfuscate the issue as best they can.

simplifying it to sell an agenda.

When that doesn't work they attack the character, not the ISSUE.

First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win. - Gandhi

ATS and Conspiracy people in general, are marginalized.

They wouldn't be marginalizing if it was not some threat of being able to effect change.

originally posted by: benrl

They wouldn't be marginalizing if it was not some threat of being able to effect change.

That's exactly what I'm getting at! When I saw the first thread about the Bundy racism comments, I just knew exactly what was going on. And after reading some members' responses to that, I was compelled to write my thread. I'm a little shocked at how people can in one breath talk about TPTB manipulation, and in the next breath succumb to the very same manipulation!

The problem is that what takes over will possibly be a lot worse than what we have presently. The belief of Society majorly structures the government. Consensus of the time rules. We usually elect the same sort of people with the same type of expectations to the government. The parties are far apart in the beliefs. This is because a majority of people in a state believe the same way.

I don't know if that makes much sense.

I do know that there are a lot of people who would like to run this government that would not be good to all the citizens, their personal interests would dictate society. I would not like to see them get in charge, even if it would personally benefit me, I would feel guilty that I was treated better than others and would be mad if I was treated like crap. Our system isn't near perfect, but having a government this large is never going to run smoothly. There are major differences in people's beliefs and desires. Some radical group getting ahold of our military would not be good for anyone in the world. We are also not the only beings on this planet, we have to respect the other inhabitants of this world even if they taste good.

a reply to: MojaveBurning

I hear what you are saying.

I think it is worth considering the following when looking at the more divisive topics on ATS...

Sometimes, you will read a thread, in which many responses are reactionary, rather than thought out, and you will wonder to yourself at the state of things when a member could be driven to such a low point as to throw out a hideous one liner, rather than put together a decent rebuttal, or a well sculpted supporting post.

But in another thread, that same day, sometimes in the same hour, that same member will have posted gold, cut through all the veils and curtains drawn up around a thing and seen to its very heart, with laser like precision. People are flawed. Even the best of them have moments of madness, when they forget themselves and the world for a second, inspired to paroxysms of rage by matters close enough to their hearts to bypass reason, and jump straight for the throat.

I have my kryptonite, and I am sure that you do too! The thing that matters most, is that the overarching scheme of separating us from our fellow man in ALL arenas, simply is not working on this membership the same way as it would on a national population, because we all have this desire to work things out for ourselves, this rebellion against the programming if you will, at our core. That is the very thing which, for all the divisive topics here, keeps this ATS family operating.

The other thing is, that it is not necessary to agree with someone, in order to respect them. I do not agree with many things that are said here. Many other things that are talked of here however, inspire my interest and the threads which cover them contain theories and thoughts which echo my own, but I value all of it equally, because one can never have too much data!

This site offers a unique opportunity to a canny user, to learn about the world outside their own habitat. I, for instance, am not a well traveled fellow, just well read. This site offers me a valuable insight into the political and cultural aspects of life around the whole world, in a much more interactive way than a news segment might, and offers others the opportunity to learn as much from me. I could wax lyrical about the benefits of being a member here till doomsday and not cover one tenth of the bonuses which come from being associated with this esteemed collective.

Therefore, if a member or a thread occasionally descends into chaos, then I am happy to think of it as letting entropy have its way, because when compared with the vast bulk of the commentary, and user generated opinion and content here, it means very little.

a reply to: rickymouse

My intention was not to suggest or advocate revolution. It was to suggest that people remain aware of the bigger picture, and remain vigilant for the subtle manipulations that are present in most of the activities of our government. By being aware, we can hopefully limit the continuing growth of an overreaching government. Each day that governmental entities are given militaristic powers, they are creating another layer of power over the population.

When people become concerned about the activities of the government, they respond with a bit of slight of hand to distract. Many people (unfortunately) have a very short attention span, and they use this to their advantage. The concept of checks and balances is a good one, but it only works if people do not become complacent or distracted.

People are mostly bipolar (figuratively), and this is detrimental to society. They say "Free speech zones are unacceptable... oh wait, he's a racist, never mind. Screw him, and whatever we were upset about in the first place". THAT is what concerns me. Make sense?

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: MojaveBurning

Therefore, if a member or a thread occasionally descends into chaos, then I am happy to think of it as letting entropy have its way, because when compared with the vast bulk of the commentary, and user generated opinion and content here, it means very little.

I try to view it that way. I try to be understanding, but I suppose that's one of my flaws. I'm a serious person! It drives me batty when I see threads that have great potential devolve into madness. Usually I have the strength to keep scrolling, but some days I see so much of it that it's hard to not let it affect me. I find it disheartening. There's so much potential for greatness in humans, but our fallibility as you mentioned, seems to get the better of us more often than not.

a reply to: MojaveBurning

I know a lot of people who know this is happening but do not have an answer as to how to fix it. I have discussed this subject with many people over the years and it seems most know it but have no idea how to repair the system. I even remember my father talking to his brothers about this sort of thing, they talked but did nothing. I think people are more afraid of something worse taking over. They see the crap being fed us and know this is such a mess it will take a lot of work to fix. Someone overpowering and greedy with a lot of confidence and no common sense will just take charge.

This is the main reason I think people remain quiet about it. This does happen all over these days, it is not a thing of the past. Look at the other governments that changed, the new governments are mostly messy and plagued with problems for a long time. If something is broken we must fix it, not cover it with a blanket or get a new one. There are some good people in congress, but they have to play by present policy and are forced to either follow the incorrect path or not go down any path at all. This leaves the people they represent with no reason to elect them again, and gets them mad at them.

We need a good well thought out plan to fix this mess, local communities have been spoiled, getting all sorts of money for projects that do not need to be done. They back someone who will play the game to get money for their projects that are of no need except to make a few jobs in the community......and the US goes farther and farther in debt.