Think tanks are like management consultants, in that their job is to provide the recipient with "independent" confirmation of the recipient's intended course of action, while using the current buzzwords and a veneer of intellectual certainty.
"Bain said that management should pay themselves a fat bonus as a reward for rightsizing employee headcount!"
"The Atlantic Council report said that the next war of aggression is necessary to shore up Muh American Credibility!"
Another raison d’être of these think tanks is to give the imperial scribes—aka “journalists”—a human name to quote in their articles. Apparently, such propagandists still think they are pulling the wool over our eyes by naming a source in a so-called “non-governmental organization” instead of using an “unnamed source” in a government agency. It’s as if they don’t really know that their magic tricks are old, known to every kid in the audience, and boring. The more ubiquitous propaganda becomes, the more obvious and less effective it becomes. The Censorship Industrial Complex is now fully exposed. People are wising up quickly and they are refusing to play along anymore. Isn't this one reason all the Silicon Valley social media giants are laying off thousands of workers?
"See, this think tank jackhole is *independent* and so totally not part of the government!"
Even though said jackhole was a State Department undersecretary six months ago before taking up a post as a "visiting fellow" at Brookings (visiting fellowship sponsored by Raytheon).
There is nothing wrong with reading the work of the think tanks, in fact it is essential reading.
Know thy enemy.
And I think it was IF Stone who suggested reading government documents from back to front - the good stuff is always buried in the final pages and foot notes and tables.
Thank you for your emphasis on so-called ‘think tanks’. The great US anti-war activist Ray McGovern coined the acronym MICIMATT, standing for Military Industrial Congressional Intelligence Media Academia Think Tank complex, an update of Ike’s MIC, that reflects the cancerous growth of what a sitting president recognized over 63 years ago as a present danger then into what it has become now. And now it is global. Iyiyiyiyi. Many Lucys will have lots of ‘splainin to do when their vaporized bodies and/or souls reach their respective Valhallas. Unless, as you say, an urgently needed massive anti war movement throws the whole MICIMATT out of power. Thanks again.
It’s difficult to envisage a massive anti-war movement where there is no commensurate material trigger. I think Caitlin’s zoning in on the consequences of ignorance and wrong thinking is valuable to a point, but the conditioned wrong thinking, generations in the making and reinforcing, will only be abruptly smashed by a collective apprehension of an inescapable reality that cannot be masked or distorted or changed. Putin gets this, and the West is fiddling.
“Cultures that do not recognize that human life and the natural world have a sacred dimension, an intrinsic value beyond monetary value, cannibalize themselves until they die. They ruthlessly exploit the natural world and the members of their society in the name of progress until exhaustion or collapse, blind to the fury of their own self-destruction.”
One of the insane claims by TPTB is how great submarines are for "defense". IMO, they are mainly an "offensive" weapon system that is used against the "trade routes" of those who are targets of Empire.
NPR did a 20th anniversary of US Iraq war crimes this morning. It included interview.
One was of a woman, a former US Air Force communications person, who now worked at RAND.
She lamented her war experience in Iraq, and used a phrase "moon landing syndrome" or some such. You see, she said, if was tough for young Americans like her to deal with the frustrated unrealistic expectations of the Iraqi people. Those people all believed that if the US could put a man on the moon, then they should have functioning electric power.
Can you imagine that? Today, after 20 years of "reflection" and study, they've invented a phrase to blame Iraqi's?
From what I can see, only the US government is disrupting free trade on this planet, with their sanctions from hell, boycotts from hell, holy hell as they like to say. The US /UK deep state is straight from hell, the demonic bastards. And how the F**K is a nuke going to protect anything, anyway?
There is now hardly a page of the Economist that does not quote a think tank. The vast majority are ones the usual reader has never heard of, no links are provided, and you have to visit the think tank site to make sense of them. That’s disappointing in the extreme. Most are tax dodges for those with more money and stronger opinions than are warranted, providing jollies for war hawks and invasion monkeys but always propping up the status quo, or may I say the ecstatic quo. They never question the Economists selected narrative, only endorse it. The notion of tax breaks for foul propaganda is the ultimate farce in a poisoned system.
It’s fake journalism and a dangerous appeal to imaginary authority. A detailed review of widely quoted think tanks would be helpful.
Nice analogy about the bee stings in this struggle. The headline about protecting shipping reminds one of the 18th century with sailing ships armed with cannons.
A public list paraded of who isn’t a journalist for truth but a shill of deceit be carried in protest marches along with the newspapers owners name.
Soon it will be in this way Murdoch says this Murdoch says that until people are sick of it.
Make fun of their pretensions of serving the public’s need to know.
True, but haven't you noticed how they resort to wokeness when their other bullshit narratives meet with scrutiny? They've been pimping human rights as justification for war crimes forever because people buy it.
The link spells it out in black and white. The United States cares only about human rights, to the extent that such rights provide a stick with which to beat countries that the United States does not like, while ignoring far worse violations by itself and its pets.
The bee analogy is a good one. I also want to cite a pair of science fiction novels that helped me get over the notion that I must find a way to make a huge difference all by myself--Blackout and All Clear by Connie Willis.
Your text is very important and I'm gratefull to you to open my eyes to this problem. I share many comments and articles by Russian government and by Dmitri Medvedev. Well i don't do that anymore and i'm feel sad by myself. I was wrong and stupid. Thanks very much Caitlin.❤👏
Think tanks are like management consultants, in that their job is to provide the recipient with "independent" confirmation of the recipient's intended course of action, while using the current buzzwords and a veneer of intellectual certainty.
"Bain said that management should pay themselves a fat bonus as a reward for rightsizing employee headcount!"
"The Atlantic Council report said that the next war of aggression is necessary to shore up Muh American Credibility!"
Another raison d’être of these think tanks is to give the imperial scribes—aka “journalists”—a human name to quote in their articles. Apparently, such propagandists still think they are pulling the wool over our eyes by naming a source in a so-called “non-governmental organization” instead of using an “unnamed source” in a government agency. It’s as if they don’t really know that their magic tricks are old, known to every kid in the audience, and boring. The more ubiquitous propaganda becomes, the more obvious and less effective it becomes. The Censorship Industrial Complex is now fully exposed. People are wising up quickly and they are refusing to play along anymore. Isn't this one reason all the Silicon Valley social media giants are laying off thousands of workers?
"See, this think tank jackhole is *independent* and so totally not part of the government!"
Even though said jackhole was a State Department undersecretary six months ago before taking up a post as a "visiting fellow" at Brookings (visiting fellowship sponsored by Raytheon).
There is nothing wrong with reading the work of the think tanks, in fact it is essential reading.
Know thy enemy.
And I think it was IF Stone who suggested reading government documents from back to front - the good stuff is always buried in the final pages and foot notes and tables.
Never said otherwise.
Understood, I was just using your comment to push back against the implicit (intended our not) message of this post.
No worries.
Thank you for your emphasis on so-called ‘think tanks’. The great US anti-war activist Ray McGovern coined the acronym MICIMATT, standing for Military Industrial Congressional Intelligence Media Academia Think Tank complex, an update of Ike’s MIC, that reflects the cancerous growth of what a sitting president recognized over 63 years ago as a present danger then into what it has become now. And now it is global. Iyiyiyiyi. Many Lucys will have lots of ‘splainin to do when their vaporized bodies and/or souls reach their respective Valhallas. Unless, as you say, an urgently needed massive anti war movement throws the whole MICIMATT out of power. Thanks again.
It’s difficult to envisage a massive anti-war movement where there is no commensurate material trigger. I think Caitlin’s zoning in on the consequences of ignorance and wrong thinking is valuable to a point, but the conditioned wrong thinking, generations in the making and reinforcing, will only be abruptly smashed by a collective apprehension of an inescapable reality that cannot be masked or distorted or changed. Putin gets this, and the West is fiddling.
Re : Narratives (including your own)
“ Never build in a flood plain ”
- JSI
———————————————
“Cultures that do not recognize that human life and the natural world have a sacred dimension, an intrinsic value beyond monetary value, cannibalize themselves until they die. They ruthlessly exploit the natural world and the members of their society in the name of progress until exhaustion or collapse, blind to the fury of their own self-destruction.”
― Chris Hedges
One of the insane claims by TPTB is how great submarines are for "defense". IMO, they are mainly an "offensive" weapon system that is used against the "trade routes" of those who are targets of Empire.
Think tanks are where the brain dead congregate hoping to create one massive single brain cell...it seldom works.
NPR did a 20th anniversary of US Iraq war crimes this morning. It included interview.
One was of a woman, a former US Air Force communications person, who now worked at RAND.
She lamented her war experience in Iraq, and used a phrase "moon landing syndrome" or some such. You see, she said, if was tough for young Americans like her to deal with the frustrated unrealistic expectations of the Iraqi people. Those people all believed that if the US could put a man on the moon, then they should have functioning electric power.
Can you imagine that? Today, after 20 years of "reflection" and study, they've invented a phrase to blame Iraqi's?
From what I can see, only the US government is disrupting free trade on this planet, with their sanctions from hell, boycotts from hell, holy hell as they like to say. The US /UK deep state is straight from hell, the demonic bastards. And how the F**K is a nuke going to protect anything, anyway?
We fight together , we win together!
There is now hardly a page of the Economist that does not quote a think tank. The vast majority are ones the usual reader has never heard of, no links are provided, and you have to visit the think tank site to make sense of them. That’s disappointing in the extreme. Most are tax dodges for those with more money and stronger opinions than are warranted, providing jollies for war hawks and invasion monkeys but always propping up the status quo, or may I say the ecstatic quo. They never question the Economists selected narrative, only endorse it. The notion of tax breaks for foul propaganda is the ultimate farce in a poisoned system.
It’s fake journalism and a dangerous appeal to imaginary authority. A detailed review of widely quoted think tanks would be helpful.
Nice analogy about the bee stings in this struggle. The headline about protecting shipping reminds one of the 18th century with sailing ships armed with cannons.
A public list paraded of who isn’t a journalist for truth but a shill of deceit be carried in protest marches along with the newspapers owners name.
Soon it will be in this way Murdoch says this Murdoch says that until people are sick of it.
Make fun of their pretensions of serving the public’s need to know.
U.S. Foreign Policy 101:
"That thar gubment over yonder ain't sufficiently "woke" 'nough to its citizens, so we'll help 'em ignernt folks by blowin' 'em up. That'll larn 'em".
They don't care what a gubmint does as long as it coughs up the bucks.
True, but haven't you noticed how they resort to wokeness when their other bullshit narratives meet with scrutiny? They've been pimping human rights as justification for war crimes forever because people buy it.
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/19/tillerson-state-human-rights-304118
The link spells it out in black and white. The United States cares only about human rights, to the extent that such rights provide a stick with which to beat countries that the United States does not like, while ignoring far worse violations by itself and its pets.
The hypocrisy is jaw-dropping. Thanks for the link.
Think tanks are just salesmen. Their owners don't care what their hirelings think.
Caitlin, you are right on the money with this.
The bee analogy is a good one. I also want to cite a pair of science fiction novels that helped me get over the notion that I must find a way to make a huge difference all by myself--Blackout and All Clear by Connie Willis.
Your text is very important and I'm gratefull to you to open my eyes to this problem. I share many comments and articles by Russian government and by Dmitri Medvedev. Well i don't do that anymore and i'm feel sad by myself. I was wrong and stupid. Thanks very much Caitlin.❤👏
Several more noted here:
https://mronline.org/2023/03/11/six-war-mongering-think-tanks-and-the-military-contractors-that-fund-them/