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These are the 12 tactics of the Populist's Playbook. Are you teaching your children the political vocabulary they will need to become immune? #BLM #ProtestUSA #MAGA #Elefrion2020 (sound on)
Promising the Impossible â Making promises that they wonât be able to keep â ranging from the virtually impossible to the *literally* impossible. Like a currency union AND full control of Economic levers.
Attacking the Media âdenouncing criticism as âFake Newsâ or âBiased Mainstream Mediaâ, censorship, attacks on journos from trying to get them fired to literally jailing, assaulting killing. This technique is especially insidious at skewing peoples perception of reality online.
Accusing Opponents of Weakness â This is very interesting. Often this is holding up a mirror â the populists will accuse their opponents of weaknesses that they themselves are trying to hide.
Vulgarity and Outrageous Behaviour â We will be spoiled for choice here, whether itâs mocking a disabled reporter, politically gatecrashing a sporting event with a flag, or deliberately breaking the rules of a parliament chamber.
Personal insults and Ridicule â Name calling, âad hominemâ, iplaying the man and not the ball â when you can't argue against your opponents points, you attack and ridicule them to draw away from the logic of the argument. It can be done against an individual or a group.
Gross Oversimplification â The art of reducing a complex socio-economic issue with great uncertainties into a three word chant that can fit in a tweet. If it takes nuance and complexity to argue against it or rebut it, then it can take a secure place in voter psyche.
Scapegoating â if you can make it someone elses fault then â you absolve yourself and your follower of responsibility, and two â you can unite people behind you against the enemy â whether or not the threat is real. This is a powerful technique and one of the most harmful.
Fear-Mongering â The threat of terrible future things if a course of action is or isnât taken. Often exaggerated or imagined, but Itâs literally designed to being out an evolutionary emotional response â fear. When people are scared they donât make good or rational decisions.
Emotional Oratory â Thanks to Godwinâs law by the time you compare someone to Hitler youâve lost the argument. But you get the idea â rallies, speeches that stir the heart, arguments stronger on Pathos than Logos or Ethos.
Folksy man of the people posturing â This is the positioning against an elite. If you see someone who is actually a millionaire banker down the pub smoking a fag and drinking a pint, or a millionaire landlord politician claiming to be a âsimple crofterâ,
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Threats of violence and intimidation â Horrible, but it can be effective. Often this can be done with âdog-whistlingâ â the threat might be explicit, or it might be a hint to followers further down the chain, or it might simply be turning a blind eye.
Lying â Thereâs a case to be made that all politicians lie, and that all the other techniques involve lying, but some lies are bigger and bolder than others.
