Why are Republicans so successful at making their bizarre/idiotic ideas seem popular and mainstream?

[BurtWorm]

An item in the latest issue of Scientific American Mind suggests a reason.

Researchers have found that, when shown a tape in which a single idea, mixed among other ideas (including contradictory ones, presumably), is repeated by a number of speakers, subjects answer positively when asked later if the idea is "popular." That's not surprising. But they also answer positively if a single idea is repeated by a single speaker several times (in the context of other ideas from other speakers).

In other words, people seem to think an opinion is popular based, not on how many *people* hold the opinion, but on how many *times* they hear the opinion repeated.

This is exactly the psychology that American right wingers (and Stalinists and fascists for that matter) have exploited, and that the media have helped them exploit. Say something stupid, illogical or false a thousand times and you create the illusion of a popularly held idea.

Here's a little snippet from the article (the entire on is not online):

http://www.sciammind.com/article.cfm?articleID=18A0D179-E7F2-99DF-371CDDF5434A7794

Everyone Agrees
An oft-heard opinion seems popular even if it comes from only one person
By Melinda Wenner

With the 2008 presidential election only a year away, the merits of each candidate are becoming a common topic of conversation. But how do our brains, after hearing so many different opinions, gauge the popularity of each one? New research findings suggest that we judge a viewpoint’s prevalence by how familiar it is—regardless of whether we have heard it five times from one person or once each from five different people.

[mmonk]

1. We lack journalism in broadcast television.

[spanone]

2. because we have a complicit media....

for instance, my local newspaper this am; headline

bush withdraws troop due to success in iraq

[BurtWorm]

30. Infuriating!

:grr:

That's the kind of mindless headline that would have me writing an angry letter to the ed.

[rockymountaindem]

3. The first thing that popped into my mind was

because they repeat them over and over and over, like some sort of twisted Energizer Bunny.

[bdamomma]

12. catapulting the propaganda

[BurtWorm]

31. You got it.

[Hepburn]

4. They are successful cuz...

....the masses are asses.

IMO: Take a look around and realize that * at best is pitching to an 8th grade level audience...at least where political awareness and information is concerned.

Lately, I have been out in groups of "non-political" people and the level of awareness, IMO, is a negative number.

Frightening.

[abluelady]

9. Exactly

And even those who I think would know better don't. They listen to MSM and believe without question what they hear. It is amazing to me, how little the masses know or care.

[Mike Nelson]

5. Because most people really are are fools...

...or uninterested.

[leftchick]

6. "Iraq will explode into Chaos if the US leaves!!!"

I heard that idiocy again this morning by CBS's reporter Martin on C-Span. He reported it as fact instead of his opinion.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

32. its better than the truth: we made a chaos of iraq and now dont know what to do

[BurtWorm]

35. They never say "Iraq has exploded into chaos since the US arrived."

Which is the gods' honest truth.

[Stinky The Clown]

7. A nation of slackjaws has made willfull nondiscernment and wilfull stupidity the norm

[KG]

20. and all you have to do is observe pop culture in this country to know that

'a nation of slackjaws' as good a discription as any.

[blm]

8. The fascists didn't buy control of broadcast media in the 80s and 90s for nothing

They were going to get their GOP cronies and a few complicit Dems into the oval office, no matter what.

Even when they got CAUGHT rigging elections they could still cover it up through their control of newsmedia.

[Jim__]

10. The question that raises for me is:

What does the popularity of an idea have to do with its correctness? And if people accept ideas because they're popular, what does that mean for the efficacy of democracy?

[pampango]

16. Excellent and very fundamental question.

To believe in democracy you have to believe in the ability of the governed to make wise choices, at least more often than not. If one looks at the population as a collection of buffoons, with no collective wisdom, waiting to be led by those much wiser than they, then you don't believe in democracy. Both the RW and LW have those who view the populace in this way.

In the space of 10 posts on this thread (when I started this) posters (who I assume are not trolls) have called the American people "asses", "slackjaws", and "fools". This disheartens me because I spend too much of my day countering RW'ers at work who spout the line that liberals are elitists who think they are smarter than everybody else. Of course, I counter that conservatives think people are lazy slobs just waiting to be led by LW'ers who promise them free government services paid for by someone else.

I suppose all of us shake our heads at people who don't agree with us and figure they must have a screw loose. It just takes on a different dynamic when it comes before a larger audience. I try to remind myself frequently that those I don't agree with may (just the tiniest, most improbable, most infinitesimal, once-in-a-lifetime chance) have an experience or perspective worth considering. Not saying I succeed very often, but I try.

[warren pease]

42. You're talking about a functional marketplace of ideas...

... which assumes two non-optional components: The marketplace is free and open to all ideas, no matter from whom and no matter how weird. And the "consumers" are informed, intelligent and capable of discerning one idea from the others based on the validity of the idea itself -- no PR, no advertising, no positioning, no pandering, no spin.

Media consolidation murdered the first component -- and Murdoch is busily killing off the few survivors.

As to the second: public apathy, lowest-common-denominator pop culture, a hideous public educational system, newsotainment passing as information, extreme ideological polarization of the population, the diminishing time people have to do anything but work, pay bills and "put food on their family," the absolute dominance of the AM and FM bands by Clearchannel and a couple of other media giants, the rapid rise of fundie religious insanity -- consider all these factors, and probably dozens more, and I suggest the average American idea consumer lacks both adequate information and the basic critical thinking skills necessary to separate spun hogwash from fact.

Or, to put it another way, we live in Dumbfuckistan, where intellect is suspect, paleo-religiosity is the happening thing and machismo is always looking for a fight.

wp

[pampango]

44. I may be a bit arbitrary here, but is sounds like you may be one of the founding

members of my group that views the population of "Dumbfuckistan" as buffoons waiting to be let by those much smarter than they. In all fairness I should warn you that there are some Freepers already in the group who share your attitudes on public education, pop culture, and the intelligence of Americans, though you may have some animated discussions with them on the political slant of the media and the role of religion in society.

[warren pease]

48. Sounds like fun, but series discusion with these peepul is usuly tuf becuz of the languij barier n/t

[La Lioness Priyanka]

19. people dont like to think. all my life i have heard that i think too much

people dont like to analyze complex issues at all.

[pampango]

28. Perhaps as the world gets more complex, with changing

technology, science, communications and global issues than ever before, perhaps democracy becomes less viable.

In earlier agrarian societies, when issues were simpler, it was practical, and idealistic, to believe in and trust that using their collective wisdom the people would make better political choices than a royal elite would. Perhaps today there are too many complex issues that are interrelated in too many ways for the "collective wisdom" to handle adequately. The alternative would be to foster a "smarter" population that can understand and value the complex issues.

Of course, I suppose that every generation has had those that believed that life had become so complicated and beyond the grasp of the average person, that some type of elite should make political decisions rather than trusting the common peasants. ;)

[La Lioness Priyanka]

29. or we could invest in education.

[pampango]

34. Agreed. Hence my statement

"The alternative would be to foster a "smarter" population that can understand and value the complex issues."

Having been a teacher, though, I don't want to put the entire burden the schools. They can do better and, with more resources, would do better. There are many ways that society can prepare kids for school and supplement what they learn in the classroom with "real life" lessons in complex issues. That does not even touch the issue of the continuing education of adults who will probably never see another classroom, but will have to deal with tremendous changes in technology, communications, and global interdependency that surpass anything they will have learned in school many years ago. ;)

[Skittles]

11. I was wondering that myself yesterday

how are they able to make an issue as critical as global warning a POLITICAL ISSUE instead of a HUMAN issue?

[BurtWorm]

49. Damn good question!

I think they use this trick of just saying it over and over and having their media stenographers repeat it yet more. It becomes "normalized" through unanalyzed repetition.

Now instead of panicking and demanding action on climate change, the American people are being trained to think of global warming as just more entertainment on the TV that the network will do something about. When it becomes too unpleasant a subject, you can just change the channel, or it will just be canceled and forgotten.

[Ganja Ninja]

13. I can answer your question in one key stroke - $

All the more reason to tax the shit out of the rich.

[ShortnFiery]

14. Because our main stream media is owned by Mega Corporations who profit - BIG TIME - from WAR ...

and increased media consolidation. :wow: Government and industry are quickly morphing into one entity as billions are pissed away each month. If we don't stop the gravy train to the Military Industrial Complex soon, The USA will fully embrace FASCISM. :scared:

[hadrons]

15. "Think Tanks", corprate owned media and public relations savvy ....

along with a public that wants to believe in simple solutions

[msongs]

17. the "media" does not control votes by dems in congress, only individual dems do nt

[ShortnFiery]

21. But the media can make a politician's life "a living hell" when they hyper-focus.

They CONTROL the message, i.e., the corporate M$M. The message is Pro-War and Pro-Corporations. They're more vicious than Marie Antoinette: Us "little people" even have to pay (tax dollars, lives of our youth) for THEIR cake, i.e., all those death and destruction machines and pretty weapons. :thumbsdown:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

18. because people like simple solutions: BOMB THEM ALL is a simple solution to a complex problem.

[ProfessorGAC]

23. We Have A Winner!

Spot on, lionness.

The repubs have willfully targeted the most base instincts of our least and dimmest for the last 30 years. The ideas are idiotic, but there are so simple to comprehend that the dumbest out there can at least grasp them. They sound good, and without any critical thinking skills, the transparent flaws in execution are missed.

Your post is a perfect capsule summary.
The Professor

[La Lioness Priyanka]

24. thanks.

:hi:

[OHdem10]

22. One Reason and One Reason ONLY

This is not to bash Democrats.

The Reason GOP gets away with their bluser--there are
no Democrats ready willing and able to take the air
in front of a camera and directly confront the GOP.

No Democrat is willing to call them out. Therefore,
up until now the GOP has been able to smear "Liberals
and anything associated with the Democratic Party"
essentially unchallenged. This is why they do it--They Can.

Could it be that some in our party are right of center
themselves and keep the rest down??? Just asking?
It is difficult to condemn somehting you sorta believe
yourself--I would think.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

25. many dems come forward and offer resolutions. however our resolutions typically arent catchyslogan

[Beetwasher]

26. "This is not to bash Democrats."

:rofl:

Sure it's not. :eyes:

There is one thing I know for certain, that when someone begins a post w/ that sentence, then that's EXACTLY what it IS. Give me a fucking break. Why don't you just repeat that over and over and over again while you're at it. :eyes:

[Skittles]

50. dunno Beetwasher

there's a lot of truth in what was said there - and Democrats certainly deserve some bashing for not vehemently fighting back....just this morning I watched a so-called Democrat on Washington Journal not ONCE address the fact that her opposing guest AND callers repeatedly called her "the anti-American left" - for not supporting that g.d. piece of SHIT war

[Avalux]

27. People are stupid.

Republicans have become experts at repeating the same lies over and over and over enough so that they becomes truth. It's what they do best. They keep the lies short and sweet, knowing that most Americans can't comprehend much more than that.

Another side of it though - these lies go unchallenged. Neither the media nor the opposing party do a good job at countering what they say.

[SoCalDem]

33. Propaganda & a readily available media to spread it..

and a virtual black out of any opposing ideas on said media..

if you can ONLY hear ONE side, and you hear it day in and day out..with NO opposing voices, you would assume that it was truthful..

[BurtWorm]

36. Here's more evidence that the catapulting the propaganda theory is fact

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x307557

[Vinca]

37. Their base is insane and you don't need a majority when you

can steal elections at will. Plus, the media is owned by the same people who own the politicians. It's a giant, corporate, shell game.

[porphyrian]

38. Marketing.

They've got the best advertisers/propagandists money can buy.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

39. true.

they sell a war much like someone sells prozac.

[porphyrian]

45. It may even be the same marketing outfit. - n/t

[leftofthedial]

40. Murkans are pavlovian idiots,

happily drooling whenever the teevee tells them to.

The repukes OWN teevee, lock, stock and barrel. they also own radio. They also own the print media, although that is virtually irrelevant now.

They also have a trained army of talking-head, think-tank "experts" mobilized to spew the excrement-du-jour 24X7 whenever the repuke cabal decides to take another shit on America. All while the "democrats" stumble around looking for a large enough piece of toilet paper to wipe the whole universe.

[coco77]

41. Because there are a lot of uninformed people and..

there are a lot of older vets who think that they are still fighting world war 1,2,Korea and Vietnam.

[jpgray]

43. That General Petraeus is a straight shooter

How many times do we have to hear it? :eyes:

[librechik]

46. until the spring goes off on the catapult

and it flies OVER the propaganda into Conventional Wisdom Land.

[uppityperson]

47. It is called the "Big Lie".Something repeated oft enough gains a veracity of its own, regardless of

reality.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Big_Lie
Big Lie tactic is a propaganda device often associated with the Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. Simply, it is this: if those in authority repeat an outrageous falsehood over and over, and there is no countervailing voice exposing this big lie to the public, or if that voice is censored by the media, the big lie is likely to be believed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Lie

http://www.house.gov/mcdermott/sp040618a.shtml

The Big Lie
House of Representatives - June, 18 2004

Mr. Speaker, this administration is out of control. They have made obeying the law a thing of the past.

They have implemented "the big lie" theory of communications. This theory takes propaganda to a whole new level.

Under the big lie, you fabricate a story and call it the truth. You disseminate the story as widely as possible. You wrap the propaganda in the mantle of national symbols, and you prey upon the fears and emotions of your citizens. You repeat the propaganda every day in every way. You say it over and over and over again, knowing if you say it long enough people will believe it.

Anyone who dares to question the propaganda becomes the enemy. Any evidence to the contrary is hidden, called tainted or dismissed as the work of your enemies.

This is a portrait of America today painted by this administration. In the face of overwhelming evidence presented by members of its own party, the administration keeps reporting the same old false story. They say anything, and they have....(more@link)

[MisterP]

51. same way Randroidism is packaged: nobody wants to return to the Gilded Age,

where a "pension" meant having your remains scraped out of the power loom and the bill for "litter removal" sent to your survivors--
but everyone loves to scream "Freedom" like Braveheart, or "Me" like millions of Hausfraus since some Russian exile decided the Bob Murrays of the world were gods made flesh