no vested interests in critical thinking

[LeeG]

my god,,I found the grand unifying theory explaining this administrations success,,to date.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/120705.html

Critical Thinking

As my brother, William Parry, noted during a visit over the Thanksgiving holiday, there is no vested interest in the United States for teaching critical thinking.

Indeed, the nation’s march to war in Iraq put on display nearly every classic example of irrational arguments, from false dichotomies (“who are you going to believe, this mad dictator or the president of the United States?”) to ad hominem attacks on critics (“Saddam sympathizers! Why don’t you move to France!”). [For more details, see Consortiumnews.com’s “Politics of Preemption.”]

Yet while there is no financial motivation to teach critical thinking, there is a huge incentive to master the techniques of manipulating the American people. Given that the United States is the world’s biggest market as well as the most powerful military force, no population has been more closely studied to determine how to influence its decisions.

[Osborne Russel]

Follow the money.

[Norman Bernstein]

Yup.

These days, it's not leadership or diplomacy...

It's stagecraft.

funny thing...considering the incredible gaffes of the Bush administration, in the way they so often blow it on stagecraft.

[Meerkat]

First thing we do is kill all the marketeers! ;)

[cedar savage]

Did you hear about the new focused, beamed MRI's mounted in mobile trucks to study you're reactions to everyday life situations? I hear tell that there especially interested in finding out what products men think of whilst having conjugal relations with the little woman.

It's called a Whizbang Marketing Detector, or WMD for short.

Caps made from several sheets of very thin Aluminium with a mylar fringe are said to be especially effective at foiling the beam.

[Rick Tyler]

Originally posted by Meerkat:
First thing we do is kill all the marketeers! ;) Ahem.

[Osborne Russel]

P.T. Barnum advertised that he had acquired a mermaid which would be the featured attraction of his famous museum. People waited in line for hours to pay to see it.

It turned out to be the pickled corpse of a monkey with two dried and shrivelled coconut shells for tits.

A journalist asked, "Mr. Barnum, do you not underestimate the intelligence of the American people?"

Mr. Barnum replied, "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."

There really should be a Hall of Fame for this sort of thing. What should we call it? Stock promoters, land promoters, mine promoters, freak show entrepreneurs, marketers, Presidents . . .

[Meerkat]

Originally posted by Rick Tyler:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Meerkat:
First thing we do is kill all the marketeers! ;) Ahem.</font>[/QUOTE]Meha! ;)

[Meerkat]

For those in power, it's always better to educate the masses to let them do their thinking. After all, if you don't think for yourself, someone else will do it for you!

A case in point: "ratail" is not "therapy" except for those who collect the coin. ;)