{"id":982,"date":"2011-07-23T20:00:47","date_gmt":"2011-07-24T03:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?p=982"},"modified":"2011-12-18T03:06:06","modified_gmt":"2011-12-18T11:06:06","slug":"a-noble-lie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?p=982","title":{"rendered":"A Noble Lie: a review of David Ray Griffin’s book “Cognitive Infiltration”"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had great fun reading David Ray Griffin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Appointee’s Plan to Undermine the 9\/11 Conspiracy Theory<\/em>. Brilliant and funny, this artful explication of Constitutional law scholar Cass Sunstein\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s essay, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Conspiracy Theories,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d conveys important legal points while treating readers to enjoyable satire. As several talented reviewers have noted, many public figures, including Associate Justice Elena Kagan and President Barack Obama, consider Cass Sunstein, the current Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, to be the preeminent, most widely cited Constitutional law scholar in the country.\u00c2\u00a0 Consequently, we who feel concern for civil rights naturally feel perplexed that the nation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s leading expert on the Constitution would propose such profoundly unconstitutional policy. That Sunstein appears intent on resurrecting COINTELPRO<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe FBI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s counterintelligence program of the 60s and 70s that targeted citizens and activist groups\u00e2\u20ac\u201dshould concern everyone regardless of political ideology.<\/p>\n

\"File:Cass<\/a>

Cass Sunstein<\/p><\/div>\n

COINTELPRO mainly attempted to discredit antipoverty resistance movements such as the Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam along with Vietnam War resistors and activists. Agents would routinely go undercover as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153agents provocateurs\u00e2\u20ac\u009d who would infiltrate groups, incite trouble, and then blame the groups. Naturally they got lots of help from the ever eager-to-please McMedia. COINTELPRO was an illegitimate method of discrediting legitimate political and social activities. Activists who were harassed, surveilled, or killed because of FBI COINTELPRO activities include antiwar activist Father Phillip Berrigan, John Lennon, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Black Panthers Fred Hampton and Mark Clark (shot and killed about 4:40 AM in the presence of their lawyer, Charles Garry), and others we will never hear about.<\/p>\n

Griffin cites former ABC correspondent, John Stossel, who brilliantly criticized Sunstein\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plan in a FOX business blog entitled, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Stealth Propaganda.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Stossel\u00c2\u00a0 commented, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This reads like an Onion<\/em> article: Powerful government official proposes to combat paranoid conspiracy groups that believe the government is out to get them\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6by proving that they really are out to get them.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Yet this is what Sunstein wants to reestablish in America. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Conspiracy Theories,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which appeared on January 15, 2008 (Martin Luther King Jr.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s birthday), makes it clear that he specifically intends to discredit the \u00e2\u20ac\u01539\/11 Truth Movement,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which appears to be quickly growing in popularity as did COINTELPRO \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcs original targets.<\/p>\n

Sunstein proposes several ideas for dealing with such organizations although he never really explains why these people are so threatening. The idea that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Truthers\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as a group will become violent is a figment of creative imaginations. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s evidently given this issue a lot of thought, yet he seems to resist facts that threaten the inflexible paradigm he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chosen to adopt. Sunstein operates from the notion that nearly everyone suffers from a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153crippled epistemology,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which apparently means that anyone who suggests there are problems with the official government version of 9\/11 events simply lacks good information, while the Sunsteins and similar elitists possess it. If that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true, they should disclose it. The 9\/11 Commission thought so too. Commission vice-chair Lee Hamilton and senior counsel John Farmer both admitted the Bush Administration had delayed, stymied, and underfunded their investigation. Apparently, many of the government officials with the epistemologically superior knowledge weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t all that willing to share it.<\/p>\n

Griffin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s refined humor had me for a few brief moments hoping that Sunstein really is<\/em> a clever ally of civil rights and the truth. Using political philosopher Leo Strauss as his model, Griffin proposes that Sunstein\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s writing, like that of Strauss, can be interpreted on two levels\u00e2\u20ac\u201da more obvious exoteric level meant for a broad general audience and an esoteric one meant only for those few sufficiently astute or connected to accurately interpret the clues. As Griffin presents Sunstein\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s esoteric message, it sounds a lot like the claims of the 9\/11 Truth Movement. He portrays the Bush Administration\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s version of 9\/11 events as too ridiculous to be true and suggests, comically, that Sunstein is only pretending<\/em> to agree with the official conspiracy theory involving 19 Arabs, a few of whom turned up alive. As Griffin demonstrates, the accusations Sunstein levels at the Truth Movement more easily and convincingly apply to the official conspiracy theory, which is largely nonsense. Sunstein\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s esoteric message then, Griffin tells us, confirms that the Truth Movement is right.<\/p>\n

In order to better understand Strauss and the idea of an esoteric dimension in literary interpretation, I interviewed political philosopher, Dr. Robert Abele, whose book, The Anatomy of a Deception: A Reconstruction and Analysis of the Decision to Invade Iraq<\/em>, addresses Strauss\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 role in neoconservative thought. Abele told me that Strauss never explicitly claimed to be writing anything at an esoteric level but rather maintained that the best philosophy is philosophy like Plato’s: always concealing something \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcbetween the lines\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to make readers carefully contemplate the meaning.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This emphasis Strauss placed on \u00e2\u20ac\u02dctrue\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 philosophy has resulted in his being taken by many to be a writer who was attempting to emulate the best philosophy of esoterica. In short, where other interpreters of the great philosophers saw them contradicting themselves, Strauss saw them as saying something more profound, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcbeneath\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 the contradiction that mundane philosophers read,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Abele explained. As an example he cited John Locke who, in his Two Treatises of Government<\/em>, unequivocally asserts his Christianity and his concern that government take into account Christian virtues. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Because Locke is inconsistent in his argument concerning this use of religion in politics, Strauss takes him to be an atheist, concealing that atheism,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Abele said, adding, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153One thing is quite clear in Strauss\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand this motivates the likes of the Bush gang: Strauss was no friend of liberalism.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Abele\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s depiction of Strauss helped me to more fully appreciate Cognitive Infiltration<\/em> since it explains the contradiction of a Constitutional scholar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s willingness to subvert the Constitution. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Strauss emphasizes Plato’s concept of the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcnoble lie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in The Republic<\/em>, where the leader must do what is necessary for the proper functioning and the preservation of the state. The Bush neocon Straussians see themselves as the elite enlightened that they \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcread\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in Strauss.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Abele added that whether or not Strauss himself wrote in such a style is open to some debate, but that he recognized it in the great philosophers is beyond question. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It is perhaps this method of seeing the esoteric in the great thinkers that his followers, such as [Paul] Wolfowitz, see in Strauss the hidden message of neoconservative thought,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Abele said.<\/p>\n

This explains a lot\u00e2\u20ac\u201dabout Sunstein particularly and the governing elite generally. Sunstein knows he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lying, but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing it for our own good.<\/p>\n

The neocons\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 greatest impediment is the Constitution; it keeps getting in their way. Who is better-suited than a Constitutional scholar to dance around it? Griffin notes, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The FBI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s COINTELPRO was eventually declared illegal because it violated the rights of free speech and association. Given its strong similarities to that program, Sunstein\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s proposal would seem to be equally illegal.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Griffin cites Glenn Greenwald who suggested that another reason for such a program\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s illegality is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153that it appears to violate \u00e2\u20ac\u02dclong-standing statutes prohibiting government propaganda\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 within the U.S. aimed at American citizens.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Media Studies professor Mark Crispin Miller has argued, Griffin tells us, that if Sunstein and his allies cared about the truth, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d try to test those dreaded \u00e2\u20ac\u02dctheories\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in the most effective way\u00e2\u20ac\u201dnot by setting up a covert force of cyber-moles, but by joining all the rest of us in calling for a new commission to look into 9\/11, airing all of the evidence that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been so long ignored and\/or suppressed, and entertaining all those questions that the first commission either answered laughably or just shrugged off. That would be the democratic way to deal with it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Miller said.<\/p>\n

Griffin points out that if Sunstein\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s goal is to arrest the spread of the 9\/11 Truth Movement\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pernicious theory, and if that theory is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153demonstrably false\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as Sunstein claims, then why would he feel the need to silence 9\/11 conspiracy theorists? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The government would only need to discredit their theory so publically and severely that it would win no more converts and would even lose many of its previous converts,<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Griffin declares, saying that the government should rely on the power of truth rather than COINTELPRO-like tactics. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153An excellent way to do this would be through a new investigation, carried out by credible, independent people, and mandated to answer all the questions that have been raised by the 9\/11 Truth Movement,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Griffin says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If Sunstein is right in saying that this movement\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s theories are \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcdemonstrably false, then the questions raised by this movement will be easily answered, and the investigation will demonstrate to the American people, and also people around the world, the falsity of the claim that 9\/11 was an inside job.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

It makes one wonder what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re so afraid of.<\/p>\n

Shawn Hamilton<\/p>\n

shawn@theswillbucket.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Amazon #40<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had great fun reading David Ray Griffin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Appointee’s Plan to Undermine the 9\/11 Conspiracy Theory. Brilliant and funny, this artful explication of Constitutional law scholar Cass Sunstein\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s essay, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Conspiracy Theories,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d conveys important legal points while treating readers to enjoyable satire. As several talented reviewers have noted, many public figures, including Associate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3,1,6,80],"tags":[289,35,288,287,291,292,42,78],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1tQeJ-fQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1250,"url":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?p=1250","url_meta":{"origin":982,"position":0},"title":"America.gov, Cognitive Infiltration, and Obama appointee Cass Sunstein","author":"Shawn Hamilton","date":"November 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I first became aware of Cass Sunstein\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ideas for controlling conspiracy theories after seeing several ads for a web site called America.gov run by the State Department. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a complex, well-funded site with more avenues than I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve cared to examine, but what caught my attention was the section under International\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "911"","block_context":{"text":"911","link":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1008,"url":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?p=1008","url_meta":{"origin":982,"position":1},"title":"Architects & Engineers – Solving the Mystery of WTC 7","author":"Shawn Hamilton","date":"August 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Remember Building 7: 10th Anniversary Ad Campaign Launches Today! with our new Mini-Documentary: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Architects & Engineers: Solving the Mystery of WTC 7\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (15 min); AE911Truth.org (Click Here) \u00a0 \u00a0 (Cass Sunstein volunteers: vitriolic comments section below)","rel":"","context":"In "911"","block_context":{"text":"911","link":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":607,"url":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?p=607","url_meta":{"origin":982,"position":2},"title":"State Crimes Against Democracy","author":"Shawn Hamilton","date":"January 31, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"State Crimes Against Democracy by Peter Phillips and Mickey Huff New research in the journal American Behavioral Scientist (Sage publications, February 2010) addresses the concept of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153State Crimes Against Democracy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (SCAD). Professor Lance deHaven-Smith from Florida State University writes that SCADs involve high-level government officials, often in combination with private\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "911"","block_context":{"text":"911","link":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66,"url":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?p=66","url_meta":{"origin":982,"position":3},"title":"David Ray Griffin on Media Resistance to 9-11 issues","author":"Shawn Hamilton","date":"June 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I recorded this interview in San Francisco at the Marine's Memorial Club and\u00a0Hotel on February 19, 2010. The occasion was the Architects and Engineers for 9-11 Truth\u00a0press conference announcing the group had surpassed 1000 signatures from licensed building professionals calling for a new investigation into the destruction of the three\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "911"","block_context":{"text":"911","link":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theswillbucket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Gage_and_Griffin.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":220,"url":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?p=220","url_meta":{"origin":982,"position":4},"title":"Amy Goodman Interviews David Ray Griffin-2004","author":"Shawn Hamilton","date":"July 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The New Pearl Harbor: A Debate On A New Book That Alleges The Bush Administration Was Behind The 9\/11 Attacks In a new book, well known theologian David Ray Griffin, alleges the Pentagon may have been hit by a missile on Sept. 11 and that the Twin Towers collapsed from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5229,"url":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?p=5229","url_meta":{"origin":982,"position":5},"title":"Study Suggests Conspiracy Theorists Are More Positive & Reasonable Compared To Conventional Thinkers","author":"admin","date":"January 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's one that should make JREF* devotees froth at the mouth! We at The Swill Bucket\u00c2\u00a0generally keep comments closed to avoid cognitive infiltrators--and sesquipedalian misanthropes--but we thought it would be compassionate (even humorous) to give JREF advocates a chance to vent and hurl crude epithets at the authors --or people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "911"","block_context":{"text":"911","link":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/982"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/982\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}