The Bush Administration and GROUP THINK!

[Quixote1818]

How about a commercial about Groupthink? The Bush Administration seems to be plagued with it.


The New York Times > Opinion > The Senate Report - ... Put simply, the Bush administration's intelligence analysts cooked ... the basis of Mr. Bush's justifications for war ... fallen into a "collective groupthink" in which ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/10/opinion/10SAT1.html
Chickenhawk Groupthink? - ... WASHINGTON - In a 1972 book, 'Victims of Groupthink: A Psychology Study of ... more is known about group dynamics within the Bush administration foreign-policy ...
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0512-02.htm
Fahrenheit 9-11: Jolting Us Out of 'Groupthink' - ... The textbook definition of groupthink is, "The tendency of highly cohesive ... Sadly, that definition also describes the dynamics in the Bush administration. ...
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0629-11.htm

www.onesalt.com : Republican "Groupthink" - ... a representative of the Bush Administration who evidently ... this typically reflect the Bush Administrations' lack ... phenomenon known as "groupthink" as described ...
http://www.onesalt.com/p0000579.htm
The Left Coaster: NY Times: A Groupthink of Their Very Own - ... In no way does Collins address the causes of “groupthink” and how the ... such intellectual immaturity as this, and as long as the Bush administration and Gail ...
http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/002276.html
TheStar.com - Bushites are trying to rewrite history because they ... - ... The Bush administration would have us believe that its reckless rush to war can be blamed on an intelligence failure, and on "groupthink.". ...
http://thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1089973572092
Groupthink Central - Groupthink Central. ... One of the remarkable aspects of the Bush administration's "tax cuts uber alles" mantra is how cynical and devoid of a policy rationale it ...
http://groupthink.typepad.com/
IHT: Language: 'Groupthink' as a collaborative search - ... the US Senate and by Lord Butler in Britain featuring groupthink, along came ... Bush administration officials, relying on CIA reports, have pointed to a series of ...
http://www.kniff.de/cgi-bin/cgiproxy/nph-proxy.cgi/010110A/http/www.iht.com/articles/533058.htm
Why War? Is 'Groupthink' Driving Us to War? - "So far the Bush administration's foreign policy team has manifested all the symptoms of groupthink that Janis identified.". ...
http://www.why-war.com/news/2002/09/16/isgroupt.html
Asia Times - Asia's most trusted news source - ... hard core of misguided individuals within the administration of US President George W Bush enjoying "a ... While groupthink is undoubtedly to blame for the Iraq ...
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FG27Aa01.html
Page: 1 2 3 next >>

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Group think is aligned with stubbornness, no original ideas, committees, .

[Quixote1818]

2. I think this would make a great commercial

Commercial starts with ominous background music and then a narrator comes in and says something like this:


The textbook definition of groupthink is, "The tendency of highly cohesive groups to assume that their decisions can't be wrong: that all members must support the group’s decision and ignore information contrary to it: feeling that the group is infallible and morally superior, that there should be no more discussion of the issues at hand, and the only task now is to support it as strongly as possible."

Sadly, that definition also describes the dynamics in the Bush administration in our march into war with Iraq. (Show clips of everyone talking about WM D's) President Bush admits to not having independent sources of news, and information, relying solely on closest advisor's. Those in the administration who voice different opinions and concerns are sanctioned with negative feedback, marginalization and dismissal. (O'Neil, Powell as well as numerous other generals and all the dissenters.) "Mind guarding" is the norm.

The problem is that groupthink reduces critical thinking, potentially resulting in poor decisions, with disastrous consequences. (Show Iraq swamp and continued violence.)

Can we afford another four more years of Groupthink from the most powerful administration in the world?

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0629-11.htm

[Quixote1818]

3. Bush is trying to pass himself off as stubborn and focused but calling it

Groupthink would undercut the image they are trying to portray. Anyone disagree or agree? Lets not get caught up in Groupthink here.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

4. It's a frikkin' CULT. Using W as the 'personality' ech.

The mind control techniques cults use are evident in national and corporate propagandized media.


Ex-Cult Resource Center
BITE-Behaviour, Information, Thoughts, Emotion Control


Mind Control - The BITE Model

From chapter two of Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves

© 2000 by Steven Hassan - published by Freedom of Mind Press, Somerville MA
Destructive mind control can be understood in terms of four basic components, which form the acronym BITE:
I. Behavior Control
II. Information Control
III. Thought Control
IV. Emotional Control


I. Behavior Control


1. Regulation of individual’s physical realitya. Where, how and with whom the member lives and associates with
b. What clothes, colors, hairstyles the person wears
c. What food the person eats, drinks, adopts, and rejects
d. How much sleep the person is able to have
e. Financial dependence
f. Little or no time spent on leisure, entertainment, vacations
2. Major time commitment required for indoctrination sessions and group rituals

3. Need to ask permission for major decisions

4. Need to report thoughts, feelings and activities to superiors

5. Rewards and punishments (behavior modification techniques- positive and negative).

5. Individualism discouraged; group think prevails

6. Rigid rules and regulations

7. Need for obedience and dependency
II. Information Control


1. Use of deceptiona. Deliberately holding back information
b. Distorting information to make it acceptable
c. Outright lying

2. Access to non-cult sources of information minimized or discouraged
a. Books, articles, newspapers, magazines, TV, radio
b. Critical information
c. Former members
d. Keep members so busy they don’t have time to think

3. Compartmentalization of information; Outsider vs. Insider doctrines
a. Information is not freely accessible
b. Information varies at different levels and missions within pyramid
c. Leadership decides who "needs to know" what

4. Spying on other members is encouraged
a. Pairing up with "buddy" system to monitor and control
b. Reporting deviant thoughts, feelings, and actions to leadership

5. Extensive use of cult generated information and propaganda
a. Newsletters, magazines, journals, audio tapes, videotapes, etc.
b. Misquotations, statements taken out of context from non-cult sources

6. Unethical use of confession
a. Information about "sins" used to abolish identity boundaries
b. Past "sins" used to manipulate and control; no forgiveness or absolution
III. Thought Control


1. Need to internalize the group’s doctrine as "Truth"
a. Map = Reality
b. Black and White thinking
c. Good vs. evil
d. Us vs. them (inside vs. outside)
2. Adopt "loaded" language (characterized by "thought-terminating clichés"). Words are the tools we use to think with. These "special" words constrict rather than expand understanding. They function to reduce complexities of experience into trite, platitudinous "buzz words".

3. Only "good" and "proper" thoughts are encouraged.

4. Thought-stopping techniques (to shut down "reality testing" by stopping "negative" thoughts and allowing only "good" thoughts); rejection of rational analysis, critical thinking, constructive criticism.
a. Denial, rationalization, justification, wishful thinking
b. Chanting
c. Meditating
d. Praying
e. Speaking in "tongues"
f. Singing or humming
5. No critical questions about leader, doctrine, or policy seen as legitimate

6. No alternative belief systems viewed as legitimate, good, or useful
IV. Emotional Control


1. Manipulate and narrow the range of a person’s feelings.

2. Make the person feel like if there are ever any problems it is always their fault, never the leader’s or the group’s.

3. Excessive use of guilt
a. Identity guilt
1. Who you are (not living up to your potential)
2. Your family
3. Your past
4. Your affiliations
5. Your thoughts, feelings, actions
b. Social guilt
c. Historical guilt
4. Excessive use of fear
a. Fear of thinking independently
b. Fear of the "outside" world
c. Fear of enemies
d. Fear of losing one’s "salvation"
e. Fear of leaving the group or being shunned by group
f. Fear of disapproval
5. Extremes of emotional highs and lows.

6. Ritual and often public confession of "sins".

7. Phobia indoctrination : programming of irrational fears of ever leaving the group or even questioning the leader’s authority. The person under mind control cannot visualize a positive, fulfilled future without being in the group.
a. No happiness or fulfillment "outside"of the group
b. Terrible consequences will take place if you leave: "hell"; "demon possession"; "incurable diseases"; "accidents"; "suicide"; "insanity"; "10,000 reincarnations"; etc.
c. Shunning of leave takers. Fear of being rejected by friends, peers, and family.
d. Never a legitimate reason to leave. From the group’s perspective, people who leave are: "weak"; "undisciplined"; "unspiritual"; "worldly"; "brainwashed by family, counselors"; seduced by money, sex, rock and roll.




Totalism Group Dynamics

[Skidmore]

5. Amen to that...

I've been saying this for the last 3 years. It is a cult. How do you break up a cult?

[Quixote1818]

6. How do you break up a cult? Intervention! Call up Montel Williams