The tl; dr version is that a great deal of psychological research has questionable reproducibility because the research subjects are students, predominantly (not exclusively) having White Educated Industrialised Rich Democratic backgrounds (WEIRD)
You could equally use the terms PMC (Professional Managerial Class), Washington Village, Westminster Village (and there's many others).
My suspicion, and I can't elaborate upon this here, is that this 'flawed' methodology is not in fact flawed at all. Allow the bought-and-sold institutions to churn out one or two generations of WEIRD sheep. They go on to form the dominant sociopolitical class, tomorrow's advisers, doctors, and presstitutes (etc). Knowing how to activate their switches, and then delegating the task of dominating the discourse to them, is about as deep as you really need to go in advancing the 'science' of psychology.
Actually, I believe that one of the earliest examples of that type of flawed methodology was the famous "study" identifying the Authoritarian Mind (not sure the actual title) with political conservatives. It's the origin of the propagandistic rhetoric that's still trotted out about the supposed scientific fact that the "right" is a threat to freedom. I remember participating in that in college days, run by the Psych department (in which my father taught).
“Or maybe the Ruling Class saying, So what if people get upset? Screw ‘em, we’ll steal it in plain sight.” I’d argue that already happened once and it worked so yes, why not just do it again? Unleash Lawfare in the swing states to hold up ballot counts, import pre-printed mail in ballots, deploy legions of illegal migrants to vote blue, enlist corrupt judges to issue orders throwing out votes, until Orange Man Bad is defeated. And no one will do anything about it, and if they do they will get the J6 treatment. The template is there right in front of us. Worrisome for sure.
So just like they’re going to pin the most extreme and unpopular moves on Zelensky before discarding him like the used condom he is, they’ll implode the economy on Trump’s watch, blame the evil conservatives who _obviously_ caused it all, parley that into some kind of constitution/republic-ending pitchfork frenzy and then lord over the ashes of America from their new position of absolute power? Sounds like a plan just stupid enough for them but they’ve overplayed their hand. There are not as many NPCs as they think. The level of cooperation from enough of the money men will not come because there will be riches to be made in that chaos and it won’t be. Y demolishing one’s own house. The true elite go along with this so long as it enriches them. This implosion will very much not.
Thanks very much for treating this essay, Mark. I do believe that "the decline of traditional values triggered the slide towards managerial technocracy, and to nihilism." I have witnessed this progression my entire life and so I have no doubt of it. I agree that the corrective action of re-instituting spirituality is a generational process. The attack on free speech is something I never could have imagined in my earlier years but that is now in full force. I am glad Turley is a champion against that effort.
The idea that the Dems and Progs would lay all the political and societal ills they have caused on Trump has certainly crossed my mind and I am glad others see it, too. I don't doubt that he is aware of it. And what better remedy than to elect him to correct those ill effects? He will certainly have the power of persuasion to assign those ill effects to their causes in the minds of the public.
Tulsi Gabbard is a lieutenant colonel in the US Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command. She is in a Civil Affairs Brigade, which stands alongside the 4th Psychological Operations Group and the 8th Psychological Operations Group.
Good to know and concerning to say the least. At the same time I would not want to condemn her or her motives just based on that. I DO hope (if she is designated as Trump's VP or appointed to some other high position) someone makes this connection explicit and questions her about it.
The fact that Trump has met with Orban multiple times must be alarming to the Deep State and The Israel Lobby. The business about Russia is self explanatory, but Hungary and Czechia are countries that Netanyahu and other Israeli war criminals are avoiding because they'd be arrested. Who's the real Trump? The war monger or the peace monger who hangs out with people who recognize Netanyahu is a war criminal?
What a fantastic summary!
Some readers may be familiar with the research paper by Henrich, Hein, and Norenzayan (2010) The Weirdest People In The World
(lengthy) PDF here: https://www2.psych.ubc.ca/~henrich/pdfs/WeirdPeople.pdf
The tl; dr version is that a great deal of psychological research has questionable reproducibility because the research subjects are students, predominantly (not exclusively) having White Educated Industrialised Rich Democratic backgrounds (WEIRD)
You could equally use the terms PMC (Professional Managerial Class), Washington Village, Westminster Village (and there's many others).
My suspicion, and I can't elaborate upon this here, is that this 'flawed' methodology is not in fact flawed at all. Allow the bought-and-sold institutions to churn out one or two generations of WEIRD sheep. They go on to form the dominant sociopolitical class, tomorrow's advisers, doctors, and presstitutes (etc). Knowing how to activate their switches, and then delegating the task of dominating the discourse to them, is about as deep as you really need to go in advancing the 'science' of psychology.
WEIRD is a feature, not a bug, in other words.
Actually, I believe that one of the earliest examples of that type of flawed methodology was the famous "study" identifying the Authoritarian Mind (not sure the actual title) with political conservatives. It's the origin of the propagandistic rhetoric that's still trotted out about the supposed scientific fact that the "right" is a threat to freedom. I remember participating in that in college days, run by the Psych department (in which my father taught).
“Or maybe the Ruling Class saying, So what if people get upset? Screw ‘em, we’ll steal it in plain sight.” I’d argue that already happened once and it worked so yes, why not just do it again? Unleash Lawfare in the swing states to hold up ballot counts, import pre-printed mail in ballots, deploy legions of illegal migrants to vote blue, enlist corrupt judges to issue orders throwing out votes, until Orange Man Bad is defeated. And no one will do anything about it, and if they do they will get the J6 treatment. The template is there right in front of us. Worrisome for sure.
So just like they’re going to pin the most extreme and unpopular moves on Zelensky before discarding him like the used condom he is, they’ll implode the economy on Trump’s watch, blame the evil conservatives who _obviously_ caused it all, parley that into some kind of constitution/republic-ending pitchfork frenzy and then lord over the ashes of America from their new position of absolute power? Sounds like a plan just stupid enough for them but they’ve overplayed their hand. There are not as many NPCs as they think. The level of cooperation from enough of the money men will not come because there will be riches to be made in that chaos and it won’t be. Y demolishing one’s own house. The true elite go along with this so long as it enriches them. This implosion will very much not.
*by demolishing
Thanks very much for treating this essay, Mark. I do believe that "the decline of traditional values triggered the slide towards managerial technocracy, and to nihilism." I have witnessed this progression my entire life and so I have no doubt of it. I agree that the corrective action of re-instituting spirituality is a generational process. The attack on free speech is something I never could have imagined in my earlier years but that is now in full force. I am glad Turley is a champion against that effort.
The idea that the Dems and Progs would lay all the political and societal ills they have caused on Trump has certainly crossed my mind and I am glad others see it, too. I don't doubt that he is aware of it. And what better remedy than to elect him to correct those ill effects? He will certainly have the power of persuasion to assign those ill effects to their causes in the minds of the public.
Thanks Mark - fabulous article.
Tulsi Gabbard is a lieutenant colonel in the US Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command. She is in a Civil Affairs Brigade, which stands alongside the 4th Psychological Operations Group and the 8th Psychological Operations Group.
Good to know and concerning to say the least. At the same time I would not want to condemn her or her motives just based on that. I DO hope (if she is designated as Trump's VP or appointed to some other high position) someone makes this connection explicit and questions her about it.
OH!
Why am I not surprised?
Basically, they go off to global hot spots and try and make good PR (with the left hand, while the right hand is doing psychological warfare).
Like control the population with fear
Left hand and right hand. The very essence of gaslighting.
The fact that Trump has met with Orban multiple times must be alarming to the Deep State and The Israel Lobby. The business about Russia is self explanatory, but Hungary and Czechia are countries that Netanyahu and other Israeli war criminals are avoiding because they'd be arrested. Who's the real Trump? The war monger or the peace monger who hangs out with people who recognize Netanyahu is a war criminal?