McCarthyism In The Form Of COINTELPRO On ATS?

Lately I have been reading about the accusations of different people or groups being part of a known program called COINTELPRO. These accusations have been made loosely and recklessly. Its becoming more and more apparent as more and more people accuse other people or sites of being part of this program, COINTELPRO. It is quickly growing out of control and is turning into a form of McCarthyism.

NOTE: This differs from subz thread in how to stop the accusations and conduct ourselves appropriately rather then falling for the agenda. It takes a different approach then his and I feel takes a proactive role in stopping the accusations made against eachother.

COINTELPRO, an FBI program between the year of 1956 and 1971 officially. Even today the idea that the program could still be running is very plausable. The fact that such programs were around are without a doubt threatening to all those looking to make change or seek truth. Unfortunately its become a disease to suspect and accuse people of being part of such a program. Accusing people of being part of this program is quickly becoming a form of McCarthyism.

In order to prevent this from going on we need to address the facts. We need to understand what McCarthyism is and how COINTELPRO is related. By understanding this, we will be able to understand just what it is we are suppose to be watching out for in the first place. By not understanding the background behind it, we are setting ourselves up for a mistake we don't need to make.

McCarthyism is to accuse some one of being something without any credible evidence. Further more its attacking opposition of your opinion as being part of that group. In a sense McCarthyism is to accuse something without any real evidence or just a lack of understanding what the term even means. When you make an accusation and don't understand what the term actually means, you yourself have no idea whether its true. By engaging in these actions, you are destroying the crediblity of others, or yourself when you cannot provide the evidence. To better stop yourself from doing such a thing, you should understand the true definition of the accusation your making.

COINTELPRO is something thats definition has been twisted and misunderstood to the point where you make the accusation that they are part of it, and dont understand what it actually is. COINTELPRO was a program designed by the FBI to combat certain groups that J. Edgar Hoover felt was a danger to the American way of life. This program was made to suppress dissent among people in america. This was to stop change and disruption of plans. They used many tactics, but the three main tactics are these:

Infiltration: Agents and informers did not merely spy on political activists. Their main function was to discredit and disrupt.

this means that they would come in, and do a sense of McCarthyism themselves. They would make accusations on people to hurt their credibility. The things didnt have to be proven true because the mere accusation can hurt the credibility of a person. This is where the usual definition comes from. People tend to associate people who do this with COINTELPRO. If they oppose the view of the person, sometimes that person will be accused of being part of this program or something similar. That is a form of McCarthyism.

Other forms of deception: The FBI and police also waged psychological warfare from the outside--through bogus publications, forged correspondence, anonymous letters and telephone calls, and similar forms of deceit.

People in COINTELPRO also make up things to further their own agendas. People who accuse others of being part of COINTELPRO rarely actually investigate their own accusation. They will claim that the person, along with their sources are all just part of the program.

Harassment, intimidation and violence: Eviction, job loss, break-ins, vandalism, grand jury subpoenas, false arrests, frame- ups, and physical violence were threatened, instigated or directly employed, in an effort to frighten activists and disrupt their movements. Government agents either concealed their involvement or fabricated a legal pretext. In the case of the Black and Native American movements, these assaults--including outright political assassinations--were so extensive and vicious that they amounted to terrorism on the part of the government.

Harrassment and intimidation can also be seen from people accusing another of being part of COINTELPRO. They rarely actually look into the fact that they are engaging in many of the actions they claim others are engaging in.

In short, many that accuse people of being part of COINTELPRO engage in almost every form of action that COINTELPRO engages in. They attack, discredit, and insult the people that they accuse of being part of COINTELPRO. COINTELPRO itself engages in forms of McCarthyism as a way to hurt the credibility of others. Our members are engaging in McCarthyism and hurting their own credibility and the sites credibility by doing so.

In order to stop this we must understand that COINTELPRO is made to engage in McCarthyism to discredit, insult and harrass to discourage, and engage in spreading misinformation about topics to confuse. If you engage in McCarthyism and accuse without evidence you are not helping root out misinformation, but hurting the credibility of yourself and the site.

I suggest before anyone make any accusations and engage in the same acts that COINTELPRO uses to keep us from finding the truth, we seek the truth through facts and evidence. We are suppose to deny ignorance here at ATS, and that means avoiding this McCarthyism type agenda. I address this because I see way too many members attack and insulting one another in attempts to discredit eachother rather then seek the truth through fact/evidence.

I hope this gives everyone a better understanding of what they are doing when they are insulting and accusing, they are being a part of the COINTELPRO agenda to further disrupt this sites cause, to find truth.

Admin edit: Moved from ATSnn.com submissions to this forum. Removed ATSnn tags.

[edit on 5-6-2006 by SimonGray]

hmm ok i guess this was wasted time lol. might as well just delete the topic mods.

No i don’t think your time has been wasted. It was something you clearly feel strongly about and you let us all know about it.

The past few weeks have made me think a little differently about the internet, conspiracy and abovetopsecret.com. At worst everything we read could be disinfo, no truth at all, to anything. But the fact that im making this post reassures me this is not the case, because it is me who is making this post, and if im making a post, then there are others to who are doing the same, others with good points, others with truth.

I think in a forum such as the internet where people can say what they believe from where ever they want i.e. a different country, a hidden location, it is inevitable that somewhere someone has told the truth. So the idea of disinfo agents [which was already a contested subject on ats before COINTELPRO/Red Pill arrived] would most definitely fit in, as there are going to be those who would rather keep the truth a secret.

So the flooding of the internet with so many bizarre claims and hoaxes again reassures me that somewhere along the line i, and many others, probably have read the truth, its just that we may not know it until one day someone puts it all into perspective. Which is one of the fine characteristics of ats members.

It is never a good thing to make accusations at people and imo much better to question and then deduct from it what you believe to be true.

But i can assure you this grimreaper and ats, i am but one man in a room [with no affiliation to any agency] in the uk scratching his head and thinking, hmmmm.

Make of it what you will.

kode

You have voted grimreaper797 for the Way Above Top Secret award.

About time we put a stop to these divide and conquer tactics.....

Excellent post, not much to add here.

thanks for the responses. I just think its about time we stop the insulting and mccarythism tactics of disruption, and focus on the topics at hand. Only then can we accomplish the most, when we put our differences aside and debate the topic with facts rather then our own personal bias.

Don't let the lack of replies get to you, I have at least 1,000 posts with out one reply but hundreds of views if that. Serious, I under stand that aggrivation, but have figured at least it is being read. Some times I think about going to BTS and joining the thread killers club. Imagine it, something like this;

Hello I'm advisor and....um...I kill my own threads.


*every one in room*
Hello advisor

You know the thing is, it happens to everyone. Some times there just is not much more that needs be said. That was pointed out to me when I felt that way.
Also with so much that is posted on this site it is easy to not see posts right away. Often now I spend more time bringing my self back up to speed from what I have missed, when once I remember being able to read every thing posted, in one sitting.

This is a very valuable post that does pair up well with the others of the same topic.
I just read for the first time myself before posting this, perhaps you just need allow it more time. Not every one is on ATS 24/7, many members are not even active posters. But one thing is for sure;

Patience is a virtue, and virtue is always flourishing.

[edit on 5-6-2006 by ADVISOR]

thanks for the advice advisor. I dont know, it just bothers me when you post something meaningful, you get a lack of replies, yet if some one posts something like "george bush is a moron, he should burn in hell and die" it has over a page of replies like 20 minutes later.

grimreaper, I think we all feel the same at one time or another. It's happened to me too.

But to your well written post. Thank you.
I feel you aptly describe the current atmosphere found on this and many other communities and sites on the web. Imo, you have to consider that the internet is the greatest threat to government, however it is also an easy tool. Slowly many of the basic features of the internet are being "cracked" down in order to "protect" us. But other tactics are also being used, dumbing us down with tv, organized propaganda efforts and the internet is just another way to "get" at us.

McCarthyism may not be at it's peak yet as it was in the cold war, but as we continue this worldwide war on terror, we continue to see it's ugly head surfacing very publicly without much regard if people don't learn the lessons of the past.