What happened in Zuccotti Park today was classic psyops

[starroute]

I'm not an expert on psyops -- but I know intimidation when I see it, and the police barricading hundreds of people into Zuccotti Park, making them believe they were all about to be arrested, and then bloodying and hauling away one protestor who'd committed the minor infraction of kicking a barrier is classic psychological intimidation.

My best reference point on all of this is actually Noam Chomsky, whose description of how it works on an international level first opened my eyes to the technique. Here's one example -- though he's said much the same thing on numerous occasions.

http://www.alternet.org/world/48494/chomsky_on_why_bush_does_diplomacy_mafia-style/?page=2

Chomsky: There are several issues in the case of Iran. One is simply that it is independent and independence is not tolerated. Sometimes it's called successful defiance in the internal record. Take Cuba. A very large majority of the U.S. population is in favor of establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba and has been for a long time with some fluctuations. And even part of the business world is in favor of it too. But the government won't allow it. It's attributed to the Florida vote but I don't think that's much of an explanation. I think it has to do with a feature of world affairs that is insufficiently appreciated. International affairs is very much run like the mafia. The godfather does not accept disobedience, even from a small storekeeper who doesn't pay his protection money. You have to have obedience otherwise the idea can spread that you don't have to listen to the orders and it can spread to important places.

If you look back at the record, what was the main reason for the U.S. attack on Vietnam? Independent development can be a virus that can infect others. That's the way it's been put, Kissinger in this case, referring to Allende in Chile. And with Cuba it's explicit in the internal record. Arthur Schlesinger, presenting the report of the Latin American Study Group to incoming President Kennedy, wrote that the danger is the spread of the Castro idea of taking matters into your own hands. . . .

And again, the will of the U.S. population and even US business is considered mostly irrelevant. Seventy five percent of the population here favors improving relations with Iran, instead of threats. But this is disregarded. We don't have polls from the business world, but it's pretty clear that the energy corporations would be quite happy to be given authorization to go back into Iran instead of leaving all that to their rivals. But the state won't allow it. And it is setting up confrontations right now, very explicitly. Part of the reason is strategic, geo-political, economic, but part of the reason is the mafia complex. They have to be punished for disobeying us.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Ledeen#Controversial_theories

Jonah Goldberg, Ledeen's colleague at National Review, coined the term "Ledeen Doctrine" in a 2002 column. This tongue-in-cheek "doctrine" is usually summarized as "Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business," which Goldberg remembered Ledeen saying in an early 1990s speech.

[Fire Walk With Me]

1. Oh yes. Always attack, always overwhelm any opposition.

Very basic psychology for the bully. Who is at heart, terrified of the same thing happening to himself. Thanks for the post.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

2. Absolutely. The good thing, tho, is that this movement is growing, the message is spreading...

college students are all finding out, and the cat is out of the bag for the 1%. They can't put a lid on it, and if they DARE to seriously hurt anyone, there will be hell for them to pay.

[zeemike]

3. Intimidation!..if you are good enough at it you don't have to fight.

I saw that in the signature line of a right winger and it was under a picture of some big gun pointed right at the camera.
And these creeps have read The Prince and use it as their guide book to gain and hold power.

[Uncle Joe]

4. The methods of psyops should be taught to all Occupiers, so they can recognize it

for what it is and perhaps develop or enhance countermeasures.





Thanks for the thread, starroute.

[SixthSense]

5. I can't help but feeling

that Zuccotti Park is rapidly transforming into the first modern American concentration camp

[TBF]

6. Except it's not every ten years - now it's continual. nt

[bobthedrummer]

7. K&R

RECALL WALKER/KLEEFISCH!!!

[Fire Walk With Me]

8. Excellent, I was going to kick this today because it is so very true.

I've been quoting it routinely since you posted it.

Bullies have to push back so that you (are supposed to) know that they're stronger and you should do what they say.

The 1% are going to push back again, and AGAIN it is going to blow up in their obsolete faces. Expect it, it is all they know how to do: destroy and subterfuge. And they don't know that the rules have changed against them!

[starroute]

9. A couple of other interesting things about this incident

One is that they apparently intend to charge poor Brandon with grand larceny simply for grabbing a policeman's hat. (Can they even do that? Wikipedia says that "in New York, grand larceny refers to amounts of $1,000 or more.")

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/protester-brandon-watts-pitch-a-tent-zuccotti-park-bloody-face-day-action-article-1.979573

On Thursday, Watts stood atop a wall inside Zuccotti Park and tossed objects — including a AAA battery — at cops standing outside the barricade along Liberty St., police said.

Suddenly, the 6-foot-1, 160-pound Watts charged the officers and snatched a hat off the head of a deputy inspector, cops said.

Cops caught him as he ran back into the park, but he began to fight back, police said. He was wrestled to the ground and busted his head on the concrete, causing a gash to gush blood down his face.

He was taken to Bellevue Hospital and later charged with assault and grand larceny.

The other is a significant post from reddit -- http://www.reddit.com/r/occupywallstreet/comments/mgw7k/news_networks_are_lying_about_the_day_of_action

It's mainly about media distortions of the protests -- with many detailed examples -- but it includes this one particularly interesting observation about Brandon's arrest:

The police surrounded the already barricaded and penned in park and tensions mounted. Then the police engaged in "snatch and grab" tactics, going for protestors who are more visible members whom they keep thinking are "leaders".

This is how the tactic is being used against Occupy Wall Street: Large numbers of police surround the protestors at any time, sometimes a hundred, sometimes several hundred. TARU, HMS, and various other law enforcers video tape the protests and pick out people they think are leaders. Taking out leaders should slow things down, plus they get to start up files of these people and interrogate them. During briefings, the police are told, "when you have the order and the opportunity, take these people." These are some of the people you see arrested when police seem to pick and choose from all the protestors they want to arrest. Really, any videos of "mass arrests", like the others I posted here, show who the "visible protestors" are who get confused with "leaders". The police often target these highly "visible protestors" when they target individuals out of hundreds.

So Brandon, who seems to be a born troublemaker but clearly too young and too much of a loose cannon to be any sort of actual leader, gets tagged as a person of interest by the cops and hauled in at their first opportunity.

Just one more reason for Occupy to resist the well-meaning calls to establish visible leaders.

[Fire Walk With Me]

10. I hope it's confusing the living shit out of them. I truly and dearly do.