Episode 373: Contentious Political Rhetoric

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Facts are never wanted when emotion can drive the results. I am expanding on some previous discussions regarding the History of Contentious Political Rhetoric. Except as we approach this November 8^th, we truly see the communist dialectic in full bloom with the addition of actual physical turbulent ruthlessness and strong-arm-tactics.

This week I’m not writing a lot of content. I am giving you a good number of references to review and am talking about the periods of most contentious political rhetoric.

I am also looking at the communication methodologies used by the socialists, Marxists and other haters of true Liberty. Yes, as many of you are aware, the media is the extension of these ideologies and is the most studied in group messaging propaganda. Let’s begin with this quote:

‘The common element in all of this is the degeneration of language into an instrument of rape. It does contain violence, albeit in latent form. And precisely this is one of the lessons recognized by Plato through his own experience with the sophists of his time, a lesson he sets before us as well. This lesson, in a nutshell, says: the abuse of political power is fundamentally connected with the sophistic abuse of the word, indeed, finds in it the fertile soil in which to hide and grow and get ready, so much so that the latent potential of the totalitarian poison can be ascertained, as it were, by observing the symptom of the public abuse of language. The degradation, too, of man through man … by all tyrannies, has its beginnings … when the word loses its dignity.’ – JOSEPH PIEPER

To this point of language degeneration add the manipulation to purposeful contention via agitation as in: (my addition in italic)

‘But the overall effect of agitation will be a powerful force in compelling people to action, often around a new question or outrage which is completely unrelated to the specific things exposed before. Of course the Party (today’s Democrat party) must seek to concentrate on promoting such major struggles, and its agitation must play a role in publicizing, popularizing and organizing them. There is a role for calls to actions, but they should not be confused with agitation which occupies an overall more important place than such calls to action.’ – On the Role of Agitation and Propaganda,

Nothing New in Contentious Ideological Politics – Fighting

I have discussed the political violence during the mid-1800’s. With the rhetoric of the 2022 Mid-term in mind, here is an article from 2018 that elaborates that period and ties history to the present: Political violence tore America apart in the 1850s. Today, this Yale historian says we’re ‘on the edge’ by Will Bunch

And another good writeup on the 1800 election: From Bullets to Ballots: The Election of 1800 – Ch. 1

Here is an example of political party infighting from the 1800 Election with Hamilton’s pamphlet against John Adams.

• Introductory Note: Letter from Alexander Hamilton, Concerning the Public Conduct and Character of John Adams, Esq. President of the United States, [24 October 1800]

• ALEXANDER HAMILTON’S PAMPHLET ON JOHN ADAMS, OCTOBER 24, 1800

Here is an earth shattering article regarding loud large campaign crowds and torch carrying groups marching through towns at midnight: 19^th – Century America’s Partisan Warfare by Jon Grinspan.

Contentious Political Rhetoric in Messaging / Propaganda

Let be begin with this quote:

‘Agitation, whether spoken or written, generally focuses on one event, and one contradiction, and seeks to make a single idea powerfully clear to broad numbers of people.’ – On the Role of Agitation and Propaganda, First Published: Revolution, Vol. 3, No. 15, December 1978. (See References for link to Marxists publication)

Here is the opening of the article:

‘Together, agitation and propaganda, are a mighty and indispensable weapon in the Party’s revolutionary arsenal. How else but with vivid, compelling agitation, as well as propaganda, can the hatred which is provoked by daily life under capitalism be further aroused and sharpened against the bourgeoisie? How else but by agitation and propaganda can the word, the sparks, and the lessons of struggles waged by now one, now another, section of the masses be spread nationwide? How else can class struggle be waged in the crucial arena of public opinion against the ruling class–whose ideas also are the ruling ideas in society and who spend millions and millions of dollars yearly to produce a deluge of their own agitation and propaganda spreading confusion, defeatism and reaction?’

What we are experiencing at every level by the political elite is ‘Agitation’ in every form. This article is a nice summation of the playbook by not only the leftists and the whole of the demoncrat party but the neo-cons, globalists and elite in the repudican party.

Worse of all, the young are the plaything of these evil ideologues. Consider this first hand account of ‘brainwashing children’ in the education system. Here is the article: This Is How Propaganda Works: A Look Inside A Soviet Childhood by Katya Soldak, Forbes Staff, December 2017

‘The methods used by the Soviet propaganda machine to influence public opinion are still alive—thanks to the former KGB operative currently holding power in Russia—though often go unnoticed. It’s worth looking back and reminiscing on how a population of roughly 300 million Soviet people lived for generations under communist rule, and how The Party cultivated loyalty among them. This is my account of what it was like to be a little communist in the Soviet Union as the USSR began to fall apart.’

And one more from the lessons in the linked paper that is being exploited more in our present contentious political rhetoric than over the last fifty years:

‘By digging into a contradiction, by taking a clear cut stand, agitation seeks to unite with the basic class feelings of the masses and raise them to a new and higher level. In defining agitation, Lenin said it should “rouse discontent.” He did not say it should squelch it under a dry pretense of a “scientific approach”–which is not at all the revolutionary science of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Tsetung Thought. Our agitation must aim to hone, sharpen and intensify basic class anger, by raising it to a higher, class conscious level.

But to do this requires being selective. Agitation must focus not on petty, but really typical and glaring evils. Agitation, it is true, is mainly characterized by its broadness, its all-around character. (Here we are speaking of agitation as a category, not any one example of agitation.) As Lenin put it “communism springs from positively every sphere of public life.” And the light of agitation must be brought to bear on all these spheres. In keeping with this our Party has formulated the policy of “concentrated struggles and broad exposures.” But in a sense agitation must be “concentrated” too. There are some events that lend themselves much more than others to powerfully laying bare the contradictions of capitalism.

What a contrast this Marxist political theology is to the ‘Sphere Sovereignty’ of Kuyper that I’ve discussed in the past. Simply, Godless vs God’s Sovereignty.

Specific targeting of Contentious Political Rhetoric as Exploited by the CCP

Let me leave you with this 28 page report to digest. It is about targeting the audience with targeted messaging via all mechanisms of communications and marketing.

1 KEY FOR 1 LOCK:

The Chinese Communist Party’s Strategy for Targeted Propaganda

‘This report assesses concepts related to the Chinese Communist Party’s international propaganda and information influence strategy. Topics covered include the party’s intent to segment audiences for targeted propaganda, theories about the selection of target countries, audience data collection, and the dissemination of tailored propaganda. Sources include authoritative Chinese materials, research by Chinese scholars, party-state media, procurement and corporate documents, among others.’

‘To maximize its influence over international audiences, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is striving to tailor its propaganda to the specific interests of target populations. This approach, which is defined by the concept of “precise communication”, adapts the market segmentation tactics of advertisers to design content and dissemination methods that appeal to the preferences of a given group. China’s implementation of this strategy requires an in-depth understanding of target audiences, which is being attained — with the aid of international firms — through area studies research, in-country surveys, and online behavioral data. Precise communication has been heralded as a necessity and an era-defining shift by party-state media researchers; it is almost certainly driving an era of greater adaptability within the CCP’s propaganda apparatus, including party-state media’s deepening overseas localization, and very likely informing the CCP’s use of internet personalities for propaganda…’

University / Higher Education media and communications degrees have been infiltrated by leftists for years. Therefore, finding an honest journalist or person in corporate communications that is not proficient in leftest ideological messaging is like finding a human hair off a Marine recruit in the Camp Pendleton surf.

Contentious Political Rhetoric Inside the Church

Just to get you thinking some more, Read this:

A Page from Hell’s Playbook: the Subterranean Origins of Certain Equality and Justice Doctrines BY DR. THADDEUS WILLIAMS

Sam Adams Wisdom

From an Article Signed ‘T. Z.” [Boston Gazette, January 9, 1769]

‘Our writer that " if such and says, grants privileges as are pleaded by the Colonists, (such as Charters, &c.) may ever exempt them from paying such a pro portion of taxes, it must be concluded that the empire is founded on unjust principles, which needs a reform, in order to make an equality among the subject. – But he seems to be too apt to forget that the rights of nature, as well as the constitution of Great-Britain, exempts the subjects from paying any money at all, upon any account, without their consent. This is one of the principles upon which the British empire is founded, and has stood firmly for many ages; if this writer thinks it needs a reform to make an equality, surely his proposal that one part of the empire should consent that the other should be the lords proprietors, has no tendency to promote an equality among the subjects He tells us that formerly the Right of taxation was in the King only – I should have been glad if he had pointed us to that time We know that Kings, even English Kings, have lost their crowns and their heads for assuming such a right. ‘T is true, this strange claim has occasioned much contention, and it always will, as long as the people understand the great charter of nature upon which Magna Charta itself is founded – No man can take anothers property from him without his consent – This is the law of nature, and a violation of it is the same thing whether it be done by one man who is called a King or by five hundred of another denomination. – He tells us that by Magna Charta & the Bill of Rights, “the King may tax his subjects with the consent of parliament.” I deny it – The King never taxes his subjects – they grant him their aid of their own free accord, and tax themselbeves in their own mode.’

References

1. A Lesson on the Communist Movement: An Expert Speaks – J. R. Nyquist Blog, August 2021

2. The election of 1800 – bitterly contentious between Federalists and Federalists as well as then the Anti-federalists.

3. Revolution – Revolution was a newspaper published first by the Revolutionary Union and subsequently by the Revolutionary Communist Party. With Volume 4 (1979), it changed to a magazine format