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> but you've apparently deciphered the evil scheme of this master of media manipulation. Uh. He paraphrased, but could've just copy-pasted for same effect. Jee

by patcon 10y ago

> but you've apparently deciphered the evil scheme of this master of media manipulation. Uh. He paraphrased, but could've just copy-pasted for same effect. Jeez man, just do a search before you challenge... > “I’m a Leninist,” Mr. Bannon was quoted as saying by a writer for The Daily Beast who met him at a party in 2014. He later said he did not recall the conversation. “Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal, too,” the site quoted him as saying. “I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.” http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/15/us/politics/stephen-bannon-breitbart-words.html http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/15/us/politics/stephen-bannon...

aetherson 10y ago
Okay, so here's the deal: Bannon shot his mouth off at some point and made some grandiose claims about his goals. There's no particular reason we should believe them, and no particular reason we should think he's capable of those goals even if he does actually hold them, rather than being something he said to sound cool at a party. But, if we accept for the moment that Bannon really is going to destroy the state by manipulating the media, and that we should take seriously for just one second that he might be capable of that, we find immediate direct evidence that he is in fact not capable of directing a secret conspiracy to manipulate the media after all: because he told people he was going to do it, got quoted by the media, and ended up in the crosshairs of people like you, who are now presumably going to be watching his sinister schemes and warning other people.
- bbctol 10y ago
  What's with this belief that the only way something can work is if it's kept secret? It's not a "sinister scheme": it's a plan. And it works not because of deception, but because plenty of people believe in it, or are willing to follow it. "Warning" people about manipulation doesn't stop manipulation at all, especially not when the goal is simply to reduce trust all around. Dismantling institutions will not be done secretly, it is being done openly (which is what you initially seemed to doubt.) There's no secret conspiracy. Secret conspiracies are not the only thing a person could possibly be worried about.

by patcon 10y ago

aetherson 10y ago

Okay, so here's the deal: Bannon shot his mouth off at some point and made some grandiose claims about his goals. There's no particular reason we should believe them, and no particular reason we should think he's capable of those goals even if he does actually hold them, rather than being something he said to sound cool at a party. But, if we accept for the moment that Bannon really is going to destroy the state by manipulating the media, and that we should take seriously for just one second that he might be capable of that, we find immediate direct evidence that he is in fact not capable of directing a secret conspiracy to manipulate the media after all: because he told people he was going to do it, got quoted by the media, and ended up in the crosshairs of people like you, who are now presumably going to be watching his sinister schemes and warning other people.

bbctol 10y ago
What's with this belief that the only way something can work is if it's kept secret? It's not a "sinister scheme": it's a plan. And it works not because of deception, but because plenty of people believe in it, or are willing to follow it. "Warning" people about manipulation doesn't stop manipulation at all, especially not when the goal is simply to reduce trust all around. Dismantling institutions will not be done secretly, it is being done openly (which is what you initially seemed to doubt.) There's no secret conspiracy. Secret conspiracies are not the only thing a person could possibly be worried about.