The Denialists' Deck of Cards... Rhetoric Used to Frustrate Consumer Protection Efforts

[atommom]

This is a good breakdown of common dirty tactics.

First Hand: "No Problem"

Doubt is our product since it is the best means of competing with the "body of fact" that exists in the mind of the general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy…with the general public the consensus is that cigarettes are in some way harmful to the health. If we are successful in establishing a controversy at the public level, then there is an opportunity to put across the real facts about smoking and health. –A 1969 Tobacco Industry strategy document<2>

Public policy debates on consumer protection and the environment almost always start with the "no problem" theme. The argument emphasizes that whatever consumer reform being debated is unnecessary.<3> This is because there is no problem.

No Problem"No problem" is the chorus of a denalist argument. The skilled denalist, even after engaging in a debate for an extended period of time, will never concede that a problem exists.

One should get used to hearing it if on the consumer protection side, and one should practice saying it if on the industry side. "A solution in search of a problem" is a typical 2 of Clubs saying.

http://www.denialism.com/Deckofcards/deck.html

[RufusTFirefly]

1. Bingo!

"With all of the hysteria, all of the fear, all of the phony science, could it be that man-made global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people? It sure sounds like it." -- Paleoconservative Senator James Inhofe