Obama Linked to OWS, or How to Create a Faux Outrage
If you want to foment the faithful, stir up the sycophants and charge up the crazies all you have to do is switch the bait.
There is an art to creating a headline capable of drawing the faithful to a story, an art many news editors practice well, but there is craftsmanship in taking the story beyond its humble reality to truly manipulative piece of propaganda. A devious craftsmanship, but a craftsmanship none the less.
1. Start slow and just hint at collusion between known criminals and your target. Make sure to group the criminals into one all inclusive evil group, no matter the severity of the crime.
Here’s Fox* making sure we know the OWS are a bunch of criminals (and street thugs by implication) and that Obama, through association, has pro-OWS sympathies.
The Obama administration told law enforcement authorities to go easy on Occupy Wall Street protesters, even though they were violating local laws, according to documents obtained by watchdog group Judicial Watch.
2. Gradually walk up the implied severity of the crime, by pointing out outlying violence or focus on the preparation of law enforcement agencies. Step up the connection between the criminals and the target. If necessary to cover your ass and lend authority to the piece, cite someone high up in a research/think tank organization.
Here is Fox, showing us how dangerous the OWS members are, through the Portland police preparations. The link between Obama and the OWS is now being developed in more active terms - going from the passive role of ‘going easy’ on the OWS to actively protecting the OWS from the police and prosecution.
The arrests Peck referred to were carried out by Portland police in riot gear. Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said the emails show the White House was protecting Occupy protesters.
3. Now is the time to create the collusion. The well has been poisoned, the authority has been set up, the followers have been led down the twisted path and are now in position to swallow the lie whole.
Here it is, Fox playing the audience with some words from the authority about the collusion. The twists and turns are awesome. Obama apparently gives violent criminals permission to break the law.
“We now have a new GSA scandal — one that involves the Obama White House,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “These documents clearly show that federal agencies colluded with the Obama White House to allow the Occupy Wall Street protesters to violate the law with impunity. These documents tell us that the GSA and DHS can’t be relied upon to protect federal workers or property.”
4. The final step is to fix the severity of the crime and the connection between the criminals to the target in the minds of the readers.
Fox doesn’t fail to complete the process. They throw in a nice twist by implicating the Obama administration through what happened before they got involved - criminals were arrested. After Obama’s involvement, there were no arrests.
Occupy Portland saw some of the more violent protests of the national movement. A week before the email exchange, 25 demonstrators were arrested after they refused to leave Jamison Square in the Pearl District after the park was closed at midnight. The arrests were the conclusion of an intense standoff that lasted until the early hours of the morning.
However in their desire to look fair and unbiased, they have to publish points they hope look irrelevant to the faithful but actually contradict the strength of the ties they’ve built between Obama and OWS and the severity of the crime.
“They have chained themselves to a large drum filled with concrete,’ reads an email from Department of Homeland Security/National Protection and Programs Directorate Chief of Staff Caitlin Durkovich to GSA Public Buildings Service Commissioner Robert Peck. ‘GSA controls the permits and has asked FPS [Federal Protective Services] not to enforce the curfew at park and the prohibition on overnight encampments…Our FPS Commander in Portland says they are standing down and following GSA’s request to only intervene if there is a threat to public safety,’ she added in the email.
The crime: Chaining themselves to concrete drums.
The response: The GSA requests FPS not to intervene unless they become a threat.
‘Caitlin: yes, that is our position; it’s been vetted with our administrator and Michael Robertson, our chief of staff, and we have communicated with the WH [White House], which has
afforded us the discretion
to fashion our approach to Occupy issues…”
The Link: OMG! The Obama administration gave the GSA discretion.
*Read more: foxnews.com