lone_ghost Loc: Wisconsin

The Entitlement fallacy-

“I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it”. - Ben Franklin – 1766

This philosophy is conspicuously absent in the current administrations belief system. Their own words propose the exact opposite philosophy every time the words “share the wealth” are uttered. It is also evident in the laws that have been passed making it almost impossible “not” to be approved for entitlement programs like food stamps, Medicaid (as seen in the ACA sign up data). In most states Medicaid enrollment far surpasses enrollment into private insurance thus far. ACA will implode if this balance does not reverse itself.

Now, I am in no way saying that all entitlement programs are bad, they are necessary in order to protect the less fortunate in our society. It is my opinion that the qualifications for such programs have become so lax that people are swarming towards them as their source of income instead of seeking employment.

This again goes directly towards human nature and how it is being exploited by the government to drive America further into socialism. It may sound horrible and offensive but people are very much like stray dogs, feed them once and they keep coming back for more. The more you give them for free, the more they want and expect to receive.

This is all of course a well-orchestrated plan to deceive people into giving up their personal freedom in exchange for the governments’ collective control. By design, the majority of these people do not even recognize/understand that this is happening. Many others simply take advantage of the situation for their own personal gain with no regard for others whatsoever, but the results are the same.

Think about the implications here. If the government controls your food, housing, utilities, healthcare, and general quality of life, then they can just as easily take it away or limit it as they see fit. This has happened over and over throughout history where those in power begin to take from the people in order to maintain their own quality of life. Why would this time be any different?

Entitlement used as a means for collectivism in government is social/economic control, (Socialism)

The Groupthink Mentality-

Definition:
Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that can occur in groups of people. Rather than critically evaluating information, the group members begin to form quick opinions that match the group consensus. Groupthink seems to occur most often when a respected or persuasive leader is present, inspiring members to agree with his or her opinion.
Groupthink is sometimes positive but is more often seen in a negative light, particularly in the United States and other countries that value individual opinion. Mass hysteria can be seen as an extreme example of groupthink.


Also called “herd mentality” or “mob mentality” depending on the context groupthink can be a powerful tool in controlling or manipulating a populace.

The groupthink theory was developed by social psychologist Irving Janis as a way to define the way groups come to conclusions and decisions that they as individuals may not necessarily support or agree with. A stellar example of the groupthink mentality would be the passing of the ACA by congress with a majority of those v****g yes not having ever read it. It could be said with confidence that the bill passed not through merit or content, but rather due to solidarity of the Democrats in supporting Obama and his ideology. This becomes ever evident now that the law has demonstrated its catastrophic impact upon the economy as well as stripping millions of their health insurance.

If the people who v**ed to pass this bill into law had actually read it and made a realistic decision about its viability and implementation based on fact, I seriously doubt that it would have passed. Now, many of those who v**ed yes are running as fast as they can to get away from it and reverse their position.

How is it used to control us?

Groupthinks is nothing new, if you lean left, or lean right, or choose the middle, to an extent you are already practicing groupthink. I often ask people how they decide who to v**e for. Now and then I get a well thought out process based on critical thinking but primarily I hear the same response. “I just v**e democrat/republican across the board”. That means you are v****g for nothing more than your belief in an ideology instead of basing your decision on the merits of the person and what they stand for through critical thinking. This is groupthink.

Now this administration not only recognized the deep division among the American people that already existed, they capitalized on it, and expanded it to their advantage.

They used the existing groupthink mentality of the “left” and consolidated them into an army of supporters under one banner. There is no denying that Obama is a very charismatic leader who is very sk**led in telling people exactly what they want to hear. It literally reached a point to where dev**ed supporters fell into lock step with anything the man said or did. Even now that it has been proven beyond doubt that he lied through his teeth over and over again to us, people still support and believe in him. This is groupthink mentality or “herd mentality” to be more specific. He eliminated individual thinking among his supporters and t***sformed them into basically a hive mentality where everyone had the same goal and blindly performed their duty.

On the other side the “Right” he used everything within his power to destroy the groupthink mentality that existed. His primary tool? The mainstream media who refused to report on anything that could shed Obama in a bad light. At the same time he mounted endless attacks that demonized the right as evil people who were trying to stop him from helping Americans lead better lives. Then he exploited the division between the old school Republicans and the more extreme Tea Party that eventually led to the near complete demoralization of the party as a whole. The people lost faith in their party due to its inability to come together under the lefts onslaught and fight back. The right ended up thinking and acting more as individuals than a united party. The result of this seeped down into the populace who also failed to come together and act. This was compounded by the never ending claims of r****m cast upon anyone who disagreed with Obama. The left rose to power while the right capitulated through fearful inaction. Remember Total War? Eliminate by any means the enemy’s ability to fight back. He succeeded.

I have put a lot of information into this post so I want to explain the common link between everything. Social class warfare, Political Warfare, Entitlements, Using groupthink mentality (even though it was not called that at the time but unification) are all listed (under different terminology) as the standard process of developing a c*******t society through socialism. The part of the process we would currently be in would be the t***sformation from capitalism to socialism.

Usually I would have hyperlinks all through this post but since I wrote this paper as much a psychological work as a political one, it really does not seem necessary.

I started this out as an article but somewhere along the line it turned into a sociopolitical psychology paper. The funny thing is, as long as it turned out to be, I edited it back several times to make it shorter. I must be a really wordy writer.

I will be very interested in everyone’s thoughts.

Reference Guide- parts 1-2:

http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/what-is-marxism-faq.htm

http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardt***h/clubofrome.htm

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/socialism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C*******t

http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Irving_Janis

http://criticalthinking.net/

lone_ghost Loc: Wisconsin

Did I get too deep?

rumitoid

No, I like it. Excellent. Clearly presented and well-thought out. Utterly wrong on every point but extremely well done. JK.
This is a great point: "Think about the implications here. If the government controls your food, housing, utilities, healthcare, and general quality of life, then they can just as easily take it away or limit it as they see fit. This has happened over and over throughout history where those in power begin to take from the people in order to maintain their own quality of life. Why would this time be any different?"

It is natural for all of us to go with those that favor both our interests and our values: who wouldn't? And it is natural for those that are in power or want power to favor the interests of the majority--or to create something to bring favor upon him- or herself. An axiom since Civilization began. Or put it down to human nature. How do we, wait for it, obviate that?

There is help and there is enabling. I would venture that the vast majority do not know the difference. The wife that used to call into work for me telling them I was sick when I was passed out from booze was not helping; this is an example of enabling. Other forms of enabling is cached in a guilty conscience or good intentions or disguised self-interest. Enabling is merely ignorance of what is best out of a mistaken idea of being helpful.

Maybe all Democrats and Obama and anyone that wants these entitlements and ACA for the poor are craven creatures looking out just for themselves or involved in an orchestrated conspiracy for a socialist world order or some other selfish motivation. In my opinion (and I have no sources for support), I think most are acting on an uniformed charitable instinct, inadvertant enablers. I confess now to an unabashed admiration for the heart of humanity, even after working with addicts and convicts for nearly thirty years. You can therefore dismiss me as deluded or seriously flawed in this discussion.

This may seem off the point but I saw an interesting video yesterday. This guy wanted to see if other people would allow a stranger to sleep on their shoulder as he witnessed this one young Black man on the subway sleeping on the shoulder of an older White man for half an hour. (Would you allow it?) It did not start off well, passengers used different tactics to keep his head from their shoulder, including shoving him back. But then there were those that not only allowed this behavior but thought it funny. My point?

You said a few things about human nature that have a certain level of t***h to them but not enough, I feel. There are those that will find their way around the law or use people or keep coming back like stray dogs for more because its free no matter what we do. I have met hundreds of them in the work I used to do. And there are those who are decent and live by their principles and values, and will do so no matter what we do or the circumstances. (And I am leaving myself wide open here for the expected comment: "You just named the difference between the Democrats and Republicans, respectively.")

rickdri

Another excellent post. If only people would read and understand what you are conveying. People are all too ready to give up their rights for a little bit of security. If they would realize where this is headed, maybe they would not so easily give up their freedoms.