Categories
Historical

Persuade by Bludgeoning

As I continue through the discovery process of Rule By Secrety, I am struck by the author’s methods of persuasion. He actually utilizes a multi-pronged approach, attempting to overwhelm the reader with citations, out-of-context, that bolster his case and lead to the appearance of support. The validity of his quotes and their intended meaning combined with the accuracy of some of his sources definitely calls in to question his methodolgies. He also relies heavily on secondary sources, including biographies and newspaper accounts, which may or may not be true, while providing little in the way of more “original” sources. He also attempts to “name-drop”, including many passages such as the following (from page 105):

These members include many past and present media corporate leaders such as Laurence A. Tisch and William Paley of CBS; Robert McNeil, Jim Lehrer, Hodding Carter III, and Daniel Schorr of Public Broadcast Service; Katherine Graham, Harold Anderson, and Stanley Swinton of Associated Press; Micahel Posner of Reuters; Joan Ganz-Cooney of Childern’s TV Workshop (Sesame Street); W. Thomas Johnson of CNN; David Gergen of U.S. News & World Report; Richard Gelb, William Scranton, Cyrus Vance, A. M. Rosenthal, and Harrison Salisbury of the New York Times; Ralph Davidson, Henry Grunwald, Sol Linowitz, and Strobe Talbott of Time; Robert Christopher and Phillip Geyelin of Newsweek; Katherine Graham, Leonard Downie Jr., and Stephen S. Rosenfeld of the Washington Post; Arnaud de Borchgrave of the Washington Times; Ricard Wood, Robert Bartley, and Karen House of the Wall Street Journal; William F. Buckley Jr. of National Review; and George V. Grune and William G. Brown of Reader’s Digest. Furthermore, sitting on the boards of directors of the corporations which own the media are secret society members.

On the whole, his attempts at “journalism” come across as nothing more than an attempt to overwhelm and infuriate, with heavily sourced accounts of questionable value, one-liners that are then unsubstantiated at all and poorly constructed arguments. In fact, the passage above is a perfect example. After simply overwhelming the reader with the top editors from the mastheads of several major publications, he drops the one liner, without substantiation, that the boards of major media corporations are “secret society members.” I assume he feels that by the time you choke down the preceding sentence, you won’t care what he has to say in the follow-up.

In fact, the one aspect that has become exceedingly clear is that at heart he appears as an isolationist, angry at the rise of globalization more than anything else. The whole subtext is most clearly (to date) displayed on page 101, where he writes the following regarding the 2000 election:

Once again, the American electorate was to choose between a globalist-supported Bush or a globalist-support Gore. Obviously, the globalists will be the winner, regardless of the election outcome.

In late 1999 globaloism suffered a slight setback when more than sixty thousand demonstrators, representing an odd mixture of unionists, enviromentalists and strict constitutionalists (what about those anarchists?), protested the loss of United States sovergeinty and jobs during a meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle. Predictably, the corporate-controlled news media styled the protests as unruly rioters although other accounts calimed that trouble began only after heavily armed police began clubbing and gassing participants.

Simply, the controversial General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) renamed in 1995, the WTO was widely seen as nothing more than a vehicle to further the Bilderberger goal of removing all trade barriers.

Unfortunately, there is no citation in this instance regarding where exactly these other accounts come from, which would have offered a dash of credibility to his account. After all, he can certainly read staff rosters, so I’m sure he could have found a Greenpeace newsletter somewhere to reference that would support his account of the WTO riots. Heck, I’ve even heard that that has been true in some of the anti-globalization riots over the past several years.

I did read a survey given on a semi-global-basis that essentially presents the view that the anti-globalization movement has been a failure, and that in the Third-World there is strong support for the benefits of globalization. If I can find that, or links to articles on the jobs created since the adoption of NAFTA, I’d be more than happy to post them.

Categories
Historical

Rule by Secrecy: Monetary Policy

The author, in attempting to argue that the Federal Reserve system is a giant conspiracy designed to enrich the banking elites at the expense of the citizenry, makes the following argument (p. 76):

Consider that when a person deposits $50 in a bank, this is in effect a loan to the bank since it must be repaid on demand. Therefore, on the books the $50 is considered a libaility. However, the bank then loans the $50 to someone else who must repay it with interest. Now the $50 is considered an asset. The same $50 is both an asset and a liability, thus counteracting each other, proving that money is essentially worthless.

Does anyone else that actually reads this want to comment on this argument before I do? I’m having a very difficult time swallowing it, as I can’t help but feel that in making this argument, the author is neglecting an important philosophical principle. If only I had paid more attention in my philosophy classes…

Categories
Historical

The crazy things people do for football stars!

The Beckham stlying only confirms what a nifty country Japan is.

Categories
Historical

Harry Potter! Oh if only I were in Brooklyn the other day…

A lucky handful were able to pick up the new Harry Potter book earlier this week!

Categories
Historical

Social Calls

I’m so excited! Friday Ram’s coming over, and on Tuesday Jess invited me over and is cooking dinner. I can’t wait to catch up with her; I just hope she’s not planning any seafood dishes…

Categories
Historical

Who costs more: NYC or SF?

Contrary to the opinion I often here expressed, New York does cost more than San Francisco, which coincides with what I thought. Mercer’s annual survey is available here for those interested in discovering more about the most expensive places to live.

Categories
Historical

Paranoid?

I did some additional reading in Rule by Secrecy last night, through the section where the author accuses the Council on Foreign Relations of being a secret society whose members are bent on world domination through a new global government. While the over-the-top paranoia strikes me as extreme, I will concede a moderate score for the author. The links between career politicians and bureaucrats of both parties through these organizations would, through the exchange of opinions and information, account for a partial narrowing of the differences in our political spectrum. Because much of the discussion is taken offline to these kinds of forums, the political response is already calculated by the time it reaches public discussion.

Categories
Historical

More anecdotal evidence about Japan

An article in the NY Times on the topic of Tokyo being the world’s most expensive city contains the following:

Hundreds of Americans, largely in finance and banking, are moving back to the United States this summer from Tokyo, often ordered home by stateside managers who don’t think Japan’s stagnant economy is worth the high cost of maintaining workers there.

Categories
Historical

WHO has SARS? No one!

The WHO today announced that travel restrictions related to SARS are being lifted to all but Beijing. Hong Kong is looking up!

Categories
Historical

Fact checking for the paranoid

I’ve started reading a book called Rule by Secrecy lent to me by my aunt. As I read this, I will be more than happy to post incorrect facts and amusing theories, as this book strikes me as a delight in insanity. Who knows, maybe I’ll even find myself paranoid by the end.

Page 8: In 1991, newly installed President Bill Clinton appointed his close friend and golfing buddy Webster Hubbell associate attorney general of the Department of Justice. Response: The fact checkers missed the date, and I’d definitely love to read Hubbell’s account of the rest of the exchange between himself and Clinton. According to the author, Hubbell was charged with finding out the truth about aliens and JFK, which obviously leads to the conspiracy connection!