<div dir="ltr"><span><span class="gmail-fsm gmail-fwn gmail-fcg"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/aaron.proton/posts/1017547078350362" class="gmail-_5pcq"><abbr class="gmail-_5ptz" title="Tuesday, January 31, 2017 at 2:34pm"><span class="gmail-timestampContent" id="gmail-js_6">January 31 at 2:34pm</span></abbr></a></span></span><span> ยท </span><div class="gmail-_6a gmail-_29ee gmail-_4f-9 gmail-_43_1"><span></span></div><p>wisdom from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/PaulCienfuegos" class="gmail-profileLink">Paul Cienfuegos</a></p><p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/PaulCienfuegos" class="gmail-profileLink"></a><br>
Here's a fascinating statement from Heather Richardson, Professor of
History at Boston College, analyzing the "shock event" that Bannon is
somewhat successfully unfolding, and how to outwit Bannon's plan:</p><p>
"What Bannon is doing, most dramatically with last night's ban on
immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries-- is creating what
is known as a "shock event."</p><p> Such an event is unexpected and
confusing and throws a society into chaos. People scramble to react to
the event, usually along some fault line that those responsible for the
event can widen by claiming that they alone know how to restore order.</p><p>
When opponents speak out, the authors of the shock event call them
enemies. As society reels and tempers run high, those responsible for
the shock event perform a sleight of hand to achieve their real goal, a
goal they know to be hugely unpopular, but from which everyone has been
distracted as they fight over the initial event. There is no longer
concerted opposition to the real goal; opposition divides along the
partisan lines established by the shock event.</p><p> Last night's
Executive Order has all the hallmarks of a shock event. It was not
reviewed by any governmental agencies or lawyers before it was released,
and counter-terrorism experts insist they did not ask for it. People
charged with enforcing it got no instructions about how to do so. Courts
immediately have declared parts of it unconstitutional, but border
police in some airports are refusing to stop enforcing it.</p><p> Predictably, chaos has followed and tempers are hot.</p><p>
My point today is this: unless you are the person setting it up, it is
in no one's interest to play the shock event game. It is designed
explicitly to divide people who might otherwise come together so they
cannot stand against something its authors think they won't like.</p><p>
I don't know what Bannon is up to-- although I have some guesses-- but
because I know Bannon's ideas well, I am positive that there is not a
single person whom I consider a friend on either side of the aisle-- and
my friends range pretty widely-- who will benefit from whatever it is.</p><p>
If the shock event strategy works, though, many of you will blame each
other, rather than Bannon, for the fallout. And the country will have
been tricked into accepting their real goal.</p><p> But because shock
events destabilize a society, they can also be used positively. We do
not have to respond along old fault lines. We could just as easily
reorganize into a different pattern that threatens the people who
sparked the event.</p><p> A successful shock event depends on speed and
chaos because it requires knee-jerk reactions so that people divide
along established lines. This, for example, is how Confederate leaders
railroaded the initial southern states out of the Union.</p><p> If
people realize they are being played, though, they can reach across old
lines and reorganize to challenge the leaders who are pulling the
strings. This was Lincoln's strategy when he joined together Whigs,
Democrats, Free-Soilers, anti-Nebraska voters, and nativists into the
new Republican Party to stand against the Slave Power.</p><p> Five years
before, such a coalition would have been unimaginable. Members of those
groups agreed on very little other than that they wanted all Americans
to have equal economic opportunity. Once they began to work together to
promote a fair economic system, though, they found much common ground.</p><p> They ended up rededicating the nation to a "government of the people, by the people, and for the people."</p><p>
Confederate leaders and Lincoln both knew about the political potential
of a shock event. As we are in the midst of one, it seems worth noting
that Lincoln seemed to have the better idea about how to use it."</p></div>