Journal Interrobang's Journal: "Westinghouse'm" -- FUD Campaigns Past and Present 4
Rustin and I were just having a conversion about the (as he put it) "800 pound gorilla in the room," tactics to create Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt in the public mind about everything from software to streetcars. This is not news, exactly; it's the same technique, rhetorically speaking, as anything calculated to create a moral panic in the public mind. Observation of the phenomenon probably goes back to the first edition of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, written in 1841 (!). As a tactic, it was refined further in the 20th Century by Edward Bernays in his legendary volume Propaganda.
As Rustin mentioned, the high-profile examples would be Edison's campaign against Westinghouse around AC electricity (and, by extension, demonstrating electrocutions using DC), GM's multiple campaigns (either alone or jointly with the rest of the highway lobby), and, of course Microsoft. Oil companies have also been phenomenally efficient at creating a PR campaign against biodiesel, and, as I wrote about here, so has Monsanto in undermining independent canola farmers.
As I said to Rustin, this is a big systemic problem. If we are really serious about doing something about the professional liars who are thwarting our technology and society and making the possible suboptimal, we have to stop trying to cut the heads off the Hydra and start aiming for the heart of the beast.
That said, please go on over there and give Rustin some examples, or post them here in the comments. Two brains are better than one, and a Beowulf cluster of geeks is better than two brains, jars notwithstanding. *grin*
As Rustin mentioned, the high-profile examples would be Edison's campaign against Westinghouse around AC electricity (and, by extension, demonstrating electrocutions using DC), GM's multiple campaigns (either alone or jointly with the rest of the highway lobby), and, of course Microsoft. Oil companies have also been phenomenally efficient at creating a PR campaign against biodiesel, and, as I wrote about here, so has Monsanto in undermining independent canola farmers.
As I said to Rustin, this is a big systemic problem. If we are really serious about doing something about the professional liars who are thwarting our technology and society and making the possible suboptimal, we have to stop trying to cut the heads off the Hydra and start aiming for the heart of the beast.
That said, please go on over there and give Rustin some examples, or post them here in the comments. Two brains are better than one, and a Beowulf cluster of geeks is better than two brains, jars notwithstanding. *grin*
Solar PV FUD (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Solar PV FUD (Score:2)
Random tangent (Score:2)
This is interesting (Score:2)