Note how crucial Authority figures are in the above.
The famous, and depressing, Milgram Obedience to Authority experiments proved the willingness of test subjects (~60% of test population) to (as they thought) torture people to death given the proper environment and immediate and personal positive feedback by an Authority figure. The results of these experiments, widely duplicated because of disbelief of the results, showed ~20% of the test subjects (torturers) were willing to continue even in environments where the Authority Figure's presence was minimal or absent.
Group Dynamics and socialization affects the results in regard to (perceived) In-Group members. However [from Techniqes of Persuasion by J. A. C. Brown, emphasis original]:
... most people want to to feel that issues are simple rather than complex, want to have their prejudices confirmed, want to feel that they 'belong' with the implication that others do not, and need to pinpoint an enemy to blame for their frustrations.
Clever propagandists feed these wants and needs. They construct a Message inside a Narrative so as to provide simple answers, confirm prejudices, provide a sense of belonging, and point at an enemy. They establish an Authority Figure to 'validate' the Message and Narrative. They isolate non-conforming Narratives and Messages by physical -- not allowing access to media by those with alternative views -- and psychologically -- 'locating' those with alternative views in the Out Group.
And they are very, very, good at all of this.
See My Near Death Panel Experience by Earl Blumenauer (D, Oregon) for one way of doing it.
Teaser quote:
Betsy McCaughey entered the fray. A former lieutenant governor of New York, Ms. McCaughey had gained notoriety in the 1990s by attacking the Clinton health plan. In a radio interview, she attacked the end-of-life provisions in the health care legislation, claiming it "would make it mandatory, absolutely require, that every five years people in Medicare have a required counseling session that will tell them how to end their life sooner." The St. Petersburg Times's fact-checking Web site PolitiFact quickly excoriated her: "McCaughey isn't just wrong; she's spreading a ridiculous falsehood." But in today's vicious news cycle, lies take on lives of their own on Web sites, blogs and e-mail chains and go viral in seconds. Ms. McCaughey's claims were soon widely circulated in the thirst for ammunition against the Democrats' health care reform plan.
But in today's vicious news cycle, lies take on lives of their own on Web sites, blogs and e-mail chains and go viral in seconds. Ms. McCaughey's claims were soon widely circulated in the thirst for ammunition against the Democrats' health care reform plan.
