Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Don't be manipulated by the master marketers

Perhaps they have been reading my blog? LOL...

Another explanation of media propagandizing... and remember... they did the SAME THING with 'no fault' divorce.... they met and they planned, and then they IMPLEMENTED it until it has been accepted as 'good' and 'normal'... and even tried to convince us it is good for the kids...They did the same thing about Terri Schiavo (Felos et all) with the ultimate goal of making you think that SHE WAS BETTER OFF BEING DEHYDRATED and STARVED to death! That a disabled woman deserved to be 'let go'... that those who recognize that Terri is inherently deserving to live and be loved simply because she is a human being with a disability are the ones who are wrong.... that disabled babies are 'better off dead'. I could go on... but instead....

Happy reading.... stay tuned!

God bless!

Don't be manipulated by the master marketers

By Rebecca Hagelin

Oct 4, 2005

Vice President of Communications and Marketing, The Heritage Foundation

When you think of “marketing,” what images come to mind?

Chances are, you’re thinking of a large company that makes a certain product -- food, cars, computers, you name it. In other words, a physical thing you buy with money.

But what about ideas? Few people realize it, but the same marketing techniques that companies use to induce us to buy a particular product are just as useful when it comes to selling us an idea. And just as companies can trick us into thinking a product is more appealing than it really is, so companies (and others, from politicians to the media) can fool us into believing an idea that is false.

Don’t believe it? Consider an example that David Kupelian, managing editor of WorldNetDaily.com used when he spoke at The Heritage Foundation last week. When you refer to people who have entered our country illegally, what do you call them?
Not long ago, they were labeled “illegal aliens.” This term, with its two negative words, accurately conveyed two things: 1) the fact that those who enter our country illegally have committed a crime and 2) that they weren’t one of us, i.e., American citizens.

But as David noted, the terms of the debate began to shift. First, the phrase became “illegal immigrants” -- a negative and a positive. After all, America is a nation of immigrants and their descendants, so the term “immigrants” evokes positive images and makes us feel more warmly toward these lawbreakers (although it happens subconsciously, so we’re hardly aware of it). Since then, still nicer substitutes have emerged, such as “undocumented guest workers.” Hey, they’re “workers,” so that’s good, right? And, my goodness, a “guest” is someone we treat with hospitality and warmth. The term “undocumented,” meanwhile, leaves the impression that they simply forgot to fill out some silly government-mandated form. Who could be against hard-working guests who have a problem with paperwork?

But you’ve been sold a bill of goods. The fact is, those who hope we’ll ignore the crime committed by illegal aliens used proven marketing techniques to sell you something -- and if you weren’t paying attention, you bought it.

This pernicious practice doesn’t stop with border security. We’re bamboozled daily on a wide variety of subjects, from abortion on demand for any reason to same-sex “marriage.” As David notes in his new book, The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised as Freedom: “The plain truth is, within the space of our lifetimes, much of what Americans once almost universally abhorred has been packaged, perfumed, gift-wrapped and sold to us as though it had great value. By skillfully playing on our deeply felt national values of fairness, generosity and tolerance, these marketers have persuaded us to embrace as enlightened and noble that which all previous generations since America’s founding regarded as grossly self-destructive -- in a word, evil.”

What makes David’s book so useful is the fact that he steps back and allows the other side to explain their game plan, their efforts to change the way you and I think. Take homosexual activists. It looked as if the AIDS crisis of the 1980s would set their cause back, but the activists weren’t about to let that happen.

Some 175 of them met at a conference in February 1988 and hammered out a master PR plan. Two Harvard-educated researchers, Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen, laid it out in book titled After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the ’90s, noting that they would counter negative publicity with “a program of unabashed propaganda, firmly grounded in long-established principles of psychology and advertising.”

That meant relying on established advertising techniques such as “desensitization” (inundating the public with positive, gay-related advertising) and “jamming” (in which the topic of homosexuality is deliberately talked about until it becomes tiresome to normal people). As marketing expert Paul Rondeau of Regent University explained, “If you can get [straights] to think [homosexuality] is just another thing -- meriting no more than a shrug of the shoulders -- then your battle for legal and social rights is virtually won.”

David views several other controversial topics from a marketing perspective and illustrates the techniques used behind other big lies, from the myth of church-state separation to the dumbing-down of our schools. His highly readable style, combined with a plethora of research and hard evidence, will convince many skeptics.


Find this story at: http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/rebeccahagelin/2005/10/04/159258.html

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8 Comments:

Blogger Steve said...

I disagree about the term 'illegal immigrants' - I think it's more accurate than the term 'illegal aliens'.

It indicates that the group being referred to consists of individuals who have illegally entered the country.

'Aliens' simple refers to their status as non-citizens without referring to what illegality they have committed.

I think there are better places to find semantic spin - like the abortion debate.

Tuesday, October 4, 2005 at 9:13:00 PM CDT  
Blogger BlondeBlogger said...

"pro-choice" was designed by a New York marketing company. You know your position is weak when you have to hire a marketing firm to sell people on it.

Tuesday, October 4, 2005 at 10:00:00 PM CDT  
Blogger WI Catholic said...

Steve,

Yes, but each level of propaganda/terminology change begins somewhere. Even 'separation of Church and State' has taken on a totally different meaning than it had when it was written so very long ago.

Scattered throughout my archived posts, I have spoken about the change of terminology over the years in both abortion and in death since I was a student nurse until today.

Many places here, I have mentioned how this has affected marriage, divorce, abortion, the disabled, the elderly, even down to 'artificial life support' being used to refer to food (even if it is formula or pureed types) and water.

This is a good example, however, of how subtle the 'pc' can get, and even how slowly the 'pc' camp will voluntarily move in order to change society.

Take the word "SINGLE" for one example. What is single? Single means NOT MARRIED. OH? Not really.

Single means NEVER MARRIED. So what do we now call someone who WAS married but is no longer married?

The correct terms are DIVORCED or WIDOWED. Once we are married, we can never be 'single' again. Yet today, the misterminology has become so prevalent that some (and it is becoming MORE of a normality as time goes by...) forms have only two boxes to choose from IF you are asked your marital status. ("Single" or "Married")

'Single again' is not possible. Alone again, yes. Divorced, yes. Widowed, yes. Single.. not once you have been married.

Death with dignity used to mean that we treated the dying with utmost care, keeping them clean and comfortable, staying with them, offering food and water as they could tolerate it, holding their hands, sponging their face... CARING for them lovingly. Today, it means assisted suicide or euthanasia.

'Quality of Life' USED to mean a positive.. we assisted those disabled or ill or cognitively disabled people to have the highest level of life that they were capable of by allowing them to do what they could do for themselves, and then picking up the slack for them. Today, it is a judgement. Based on some subjective decision of another, a disabled person should not 'have' to live...because they are not 'normal'.

There was NO TIME since modern biology showed the egg meeting the sperm that we did not KNOW that life began at conception. We knew it even before then, but we had proof once they watched it happen. Yet when they get to court in Roe or Doe... it is claimed that we cannot determine when life begins.

SO, in order to 'help' people to 'accept' abortion, we call that new life 'products of conception'. We begin to use the scientific terms for the growing baby instead of simply saying 'baby'. It becomes a zygote, embryo, fetus, etc... but it is STILL a baby who goes on to become a 'newborn', a toddler, a child, a youth, teenager, young adult, adult, older adult, oldest adult ...etc right on to death.

We suddenly begin to hear about 'implantation' implying that a pregnancy has not taken place until then... so no one questions the use of the Pill OR the RU486 type medications or the IUD, etc... which does not prevent PREGNANCY...but IMPLANTATION... ok, of what? THE BABY! ... duh, right? but people do not think. They do not get that far. They only hear... "prevents implantation."

I agree with you. Semantic spin is best there, because it has been used longest there.

I can understand the point you are making, also, but we have always understood illegal aliens to mean someone who crossed the border without papers, and will be deported when located. Immigrant itself meant someone who came into our country via lawful means.

God bless, Steve!

Tuesday, October 4, 2005 at 10:43:00 PM CDT  
Blogger WI Catholic said...

I had not remembered that fact, WriteWing!

God bless!

Tuesday, October 4, 2005 at 10:44:00 PM CDT  
Blogger Steve said...

I've just been in an argument over the implantation matter:

Opponent: "Abortion is the ending of a pregnancy. Pregnancy starts with implantation. Therefore, the morning after pill is not abortion."

Me: "Very well, we won't call it abortion, we'll call it homicide. That's the correct term for the taking of a human life at any stage."

Wednesday, October 5, 2005 at 12:24:00 AM CDT  
Blogger WI Catholic said...

RIGHT ON! grin...

Bet the opponent's reaction was not good. Seeds planted, God will water. We can pray for the Truth to take root and flourish.

God bless!

Wednesday, October 5, 2005 at 1:41:00 AM CDT  
Blogger Steve said...

yThis will interest you

http://www.imago-dei.net/imago_dei/2005/10/was_dolly_the_s.html

Wednesday, October 5, 2005 at 9:29:00 AM CDT  
Blogger WI Catholic said...

How did you find that? Pseudo means

adj : (often used in combination) not genuine but having the
appearance of; "a pseudo esthete"; "pseudoclassic"
n : a person who makes deceitful pretenses [syn: imposter, impostor,
pretender, fake, faker, fraud, sham, shammer,
pseud, role player]

And:

Pseudo- \Pseu"do-\ [Gr. pseydh`s lying, false, akin to psey`dein
to belie; cf. psydro`s lying, psy`qos a lie.]
A combining form or prefix signifying false, counterfeit,
pretended, spurious; as, pseudo-apostle, a false apostle;
pseudo-clergy, false or spurious clergy; pseudo-episcopacy,
pseudo-form, pseudo-martyr, pseudo-philosopher. Also used
adjectively.

I can't believe that NO one had even questioned that term before. I have never heard of it...

Pseudo-science.

Yes, this was a very interesting read. Thank you!

God bless!

Wednesday, October 5, 2005 at 9:52:00 AM CDT  

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