Obama staffer wants 'cognitive infiltration' of 9/11 conspiracy groups

Obama staffer wants 'cognitive infiltration' of 9/11 conspiracy groups

rawstory.com

By Daniel Tencer

In a 2008 academic paper, President Barack Obama's appointee to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs advocated "cognitive infiltration" of groups that advocate "conspiracy theories" like the ones surrounding 9/11.

Cass Sunstein, a Harvard law professor, co-wrote an academic article entitled "Conspiracy Theories: Causes and Cures," in which he argued that the government should stealthily infiltrate groups that pose alternative theories on historical events via "chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups and attempt to undermine

(visit the link for the full news article)

Well, could you get a bigger story than this for ATS!

The new head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Cass Sunstein, another one of those fun Harvard Professors who have found their way to Obama’s heart would like to have infiltration of chat rooms and social networks to undermine conspiracy groups!

Now of course a lot of us suspect or imagine this happening already on places here like ATS but could it be that we will be seeing even more of this in an even more aggressive way in the future.

It would seem that more people want to regulate our affairs than just our husbands, wives and significant others!

The good news is that Sunstein does not think that conspiracy buffs are mentally ill but suffering from ‘New Word of the Day”…’crippled epistemology’.

So I guess the next time you hear someone here on ATS say you are suffering from ‘crippled epistemology’ we will know exactly where they are coming from!


rawstory.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


I would like some new OS people here on ATS,

I think we all but converted the few we had already.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5263403eb86b.jpg[/atsimg]

Here is Mr. Crippled Epistemology himself Cass Sunstein.

Honestly his name sounds like a conspiracy in and of itself!

I am guessing mom and dad really loved Cass Eliot and the Mamma’s and the Pappas?

Evidently crippled epistemology is when you don’t trust traditional news sources and rely on to few that you personally favor.

I think Mr. Sunstein might be suffering from that himself now that I think about it.

Evidently he favors non-government experts to rebut conspiracy theorist’s theories as actual government employees shouldn’t be telling us what to say or think!

Originally posted by Sean48
reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler

 

I would like some new OS people here on ATS,

I think we all but converted the few we had already.

As the staff would say hit the alert key and let them know! They can work wonders but you have to tell them first!

I don't know about you but stories like this really perturb me!

Thanks for posting.

I hope it backfires on them.

Exposing their "infiltrators" to the truth is a risky move...

And what do they hope to achieve by this? Converting people? Or creating a database of "cyber terrorists"?

[edit on 14/1/10 by NuclearPaul]

reply to post by NuclearPaul


It's just a distraction, keep us busy and continue to point fingers like it's a game.

They have databases for a lot of things, are you sure they don't already have the name NuclearPaul, next to a scary pope face in one right now?

[edit on 14-1-2010 by Nematode]

Originally posted by NuclearPaul
I hope it backfires on them.

Exposing their "infiltrators" to the truth is a risky move...

This guy seems pretty dangerous in my book. Some Republicans here in the U.S. accuse him of wanting to rewrite the 2nd Amendment.

He wants to hold web sites accountable for the things that posters say on them and make it easier for people to be sued for libel for the things that they say online.

Definitely not a good guy to have in the Administration if you ask me, not that anyone is!

Originally posted by Nematode
reply to post by NuclearPaul

 

It's just a distraction, keep us busy and continue to point fingers like it's a game.

They have databases for a lot of things, are you sure they don't already have the name NuclearPaul, next to a scary pope face in one right now?

[edit on 14-1-2010 by Nematode]

Deflect, deflect, deflect and divide and conquer.

That's what the government is best at here in the United States.

Thanks for posting.

This is a joke though.

It proves we were right all along.

No one would ban us if we were not onto something.

Instead they would just laugh at us.

Big difference.

Each "theory" he tries to attack, means its totally TRUE. LOL

This is from a New York Post Piece done earlier...

Cass Sunstein, a Harvard Law professor who has been appointed to a shadowy post that will grant him powers that are merely mind-boggling, explicitly supports using the courts to impose a "chilling effect" on speech that might hurt someone's feelings. He thinks that the bloggers have been rampaging out of control and that new laws need to be written to corral them.

Advance copies of Sunstein's new book, "On Rumors: How Falsehoods Spread, Why We Believe Them, What Can Be Done," have gone out to reviewers ahead of its September publication date, but considering the prominence with which Sunstein is about to be endowed, his worrying views are fair game now. Sunstein is President Obama's choice to head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. It's the bland titles that should scare you the most.

In "On Rumors," Sunstein reviews how views get cemented in one camp even when people are presented with persuasive evidence to the contrary. He worries that we are headed for a future in which "people's beliefs are a product of social networks working as echo chambers in which false rumors spread like wildfire." That future, though, is already here, according to Sunstein. "We hardly need to imagine a world, however, in which people and institutions are being harmed by the rapid spread of damaging falsehoods via the Internet," he writes. "We live in that world. What might be done to reduce the harm?"

He's worried that our beliefs will be framed by social networks instead of the government and the mainstream media?

Americans thinking for themselves, we can't have that now can we...

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


Man, this paper that this guy has written is really something:

papers.ssrn.com...

Our main though far from exclusive focus – our running example – involves conspiracy theories relating to terrorism, especially theories that arise from and post-date the 9/11 attacks. These theories exist within the United States and, even more virulently, in foreign countries, especially Muslim countries. The existence of both domestic and foreign conspiracy theories, we suggest, is no trivial matter, posing real risks to the government’s antiterrorism policies, whatever the latter may be. Terrorism-related theories are thus a crucial testing ground for the significance, causes, and policy implications of widespread conspiracy theorizing. As we shall see, an understanding of conspiracy theories has broad implications for the spread of information and beliefs; many erroneous judgments are a product of the same forces that produce conspiracy theories, and if we are able to see how to counteract such theories, we will have some clues about how to correct widespread errors more generally.

I just downloaded the whole thing and am reading it now ... very interesting stuff.

Once again, the strategy of associating the nomenclatures "conspiracy theorists" with "terrorism" seems to be their way forward ... why mess with an effective deflective strategy I guess.

Ty for this story.

edit to add example

[edit on 14 Jan 2010 by schrodingers dog]

reply to post by muzzleflash


It all boils down to control. These control freaks can't stand the fact that they can't completely control the message.

That's what it is really all about, as the government and the corporations get further and further out there, they really depend on the vast majority believing all the lies they put out there.

At some point the reality is that if enough people stop believing and it reaches a critical mass...?

Thanks for posting.

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler

PT, my guess is that you'll be one of the first to be "cognitively infiltrated" (that's gotta hurt)

Wow. Big surprise that Sunstein is a Zionist Jew.



What kind of idiot would declare all this stuff in public documents?

He wants to use non-government sources to discredit the Truth movement.

And this is why we don't trust anybody.

We didn't even have to infiltrate the government to find this information out. They are just that stupid. LOL

[edit on 14-1-2010 by seattletruth]

[edit on 14-1-2010 by seattletruth]

Well if he can break the law and get this through.

That means no more laws apply to me. And I can do anything I want.

And this will cost them big $.

So, how about we keep Free Speech instead of turning me and 150million other people into nut cases with nothing to lose?

Hope that is vague enough. But I bet you know what I mean.

Originally posted by schrodingers dog
reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler

 

Man, this paper that this guy has written is really something:

papers.ssrn.com...

I just downloaded the whole thing and am reading it now ... very interesting stuff.

Ty for this story.

What is really even more frightening is some pundits actually like this guy for a slot on the Supreme Court!!!

Cass Sunstein for Souter slot?

WASHINGTON – The announced retirement of Supreme Court Justice David Souter could result in Barack Obama's nomination of a man who has been an outspoken proponent of tough restriction on gun sales and ownership, a ban on hunting, animal rights and what has been characterized as a "Fairness Doctrine" for the Internet.

Cass Sunstein, a law professor friend of the president and his current nominee to be regulatory czar, is on a list of eight possible names, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to replace Souter in an article in Atlantic Monthly.

Talk about from bad to worse.

Please let us know what you think when you get done reading his paper.

Thanks for posting!

Originally posted by seattletruth

What kind of idiot would declare that in public documents?

He wants to use non-government sources to discredit the Truth movement.

Be careful with that one st ... sometimes the most effective strategy is to to be semi-open about their ambitions. They almost have to if their position is that we're all out of our minds.

Idiotic perhaps to us ... but we're not its intended targets.

Originally posted by GoldenFleece
reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler

 

PT, my guess is that you'll be one of the first to be "cognitively infiltrated" (that's gotta hurt)

You know my friend, some days I think they have a whole department in Tel Aviv and Washington D.C. dedicated to me!

It's kind of flattering in a way.

But we all know there are no disinformation agents on ats, just passionate debators!

Thanks for posting my friend.

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


OMG!!! Now we might have Mr. Big Brother as the next Supreme Court Justice??


Talk about "conspiracy theory of the year award"... And this is only the 2nd week of Jan.

Oh yeah. Did I mention that Sunstein is also a Zionist Jew?

Win win situation, tell ya what