Occupier Confronts Obama Czar Cass Sunstein on “Cognitive Infiltration” Proposal

Occupy Wall Street protester and journalist Luke Rudkowski questions Obama’s Head of the Office of Information and Regulatory affairs, Cass Sunstein, even going so far as to compare him to Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels.

Read more at Luke’s website here.

Basically, Cass’ suggestion was that the administration actively combat the dissemination of conspiracy theories by infiltrating such groups on online social media, and paying off opposing groups who are trying to combat these theories.

 Sunstein’s paper can be downloaded here.

Here is the abstract from the paper, with my emphasis added:

Many millions of people hold conspiracy theories; they believe that powerful people have worked together in order to withhold the truth about some important practice or some terrible event. A recent example is the belief, widespread in some parts of the world, that the attacks of 9/11 were carried out not by Al Qaeda, but by Israel or the United States. Those who subscribe to conspiracy theories may create serious risks, including risks of violence, and the existence of such theories raises significant challenges for policy and law. The first challenge is to understand the mechanisms by which conspiracy theories prosper; the second challenge is to understand how such theories might be undermined. Such theories typically spread as a result of identifiable cognitive blunders, operating in conjunction with informational and reputational influences. A distinctive feature of conspiracy theories is their self-sealing quality. Conspiracy theorists are not likely to be persuaded by an attempt to dispel their theories; they may even characterize that very attempt as further proof of the conspiracy. Because those who hold conspiracy theories typically suffer from a crippled epistemology, in accordance with which it is rational to hold such theories, the best response consists in cognitive infiltration of extremist groups. Various policy dilemmas, such as the question whether it is better for government to rebut conspiracy theories or to ignore them, are explored in this light.

It’s ironic that Cass makes the example of 9-11 truthers, since one of Obama’s other Czars, Van Jones, was known to be a truther himself. Still, I think we might take some exception to the administration actively pursuing to undermine groups with have beliefs they don’t approve of. I have no problem with authorities keeping track of them, because he correctly identifies that they can become violent. 

Calling Cass Sunstein a Joseph Goebbels seems a little far-fetched however.

On the other hand, I myself caricaturized him as one of my “Four Horseczars of the Obamapocalypse”…