(Blitz-invasion?; 06-02; p.5)
Using the institutions of a society as instruments
Another area of manipulation is the instrumental
use of generally accepted societal institutions. In modern democratic
societies law and the media are associated, even if only to a
basic extent, with authority and independence: citoyens might
feel grumpy about but in general are glad to have them and set
their confidence in them. Beside the fact that such confidence
may be disappointed by design, some responsible use it for manipulation.
• Instrumental use of law
One sticks precisely to formal procedures and lawful rules,
but at the same time legitimatory or functional aspects of it
are not mentioned.
Clauses of a "treaty" e.g. are made in such a way that
the adversal "accepting" party may not fulfil them without
damaging its status substantially or even giving it up completely.
Thus, it is not a treaty in the literal sense between two equal
parties, although exactly this impression shall be conjured up.
- Different from this are e.g. resolutions of the United Nations'
security council: they oblige or empower the member states to
apply the measures defined without giving the right of "cancellation".
Moreover, some responsible try to achieve "storage-decisions",
at the same time remaining silent about the possible effect of
putting a decision before the process of decision-finding. In
other words: Can a parliament decide unbiased, when a government
official already has announced a decision with a specified result
before an international committee and can a parliament decide
already when it does not know yet the then circumstances?
• Selective use of the media
Independent reporters are banned from information or their sources
and places while others are chosen and "trained" deliberately.
- The trade-off in training consists of teaching "secure"
ways of behaviour and successively providing security against
the fundamental acceptance of the war acts in question.
Mean censorship does if at all only scarcely happen in modern
democratic societies. On the contrary, official reports are provided
and presented by one's own public relations professionals. The
main aim there is to habituate a civil public to war acts, too.
(Cf. for this also: MacArthur, J: Second front. New York 1992.)
It should have become clear from the described that it is not
intended to sully some people ruling; the focus is instead on
the techniques of manipulation and thereby of ruling: everybody
in power might feel inclined to use them. To cut short of it,
only information about such techniques may help and as consequence
informed citoyens.
(End of article)