Current Events
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Third Saturday Seminar 2011-2012
Return of the Elders, Unleash your Wisdom
Session 05
18 February, 2012
9:30AM til 12:00 noon
Room B-102, Lone Star College – Montgomery
3200 College Park Drive – Conroe, TX – 77384 – 936.273.7000
(Note we are back in our regular venue – B-102)
DON’T (be) PANIC(ked) II
Curt Gibby
Continuing from the January Meeting ….
What’s in a word? Especially a carefully chosen and targeted word or words… Can words be used to induce panic or control? Newt Gingrich and a whole of lot of others; George Lakoff, Carl Rove and Gustave LeBon(1895) for example, think they can.
First, a note from last session about “DON’T PANIC”
Some of you may have noticed that for the last year or so I have closed these meeting notices with “DON’T(be) PANIC(ked)”, and some of you likely recognized that I had shamelessly plagiarized the “DON’T PANIC” from the work of Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
I had the temerity to modify what was Douglas Adams’ very satisfactory and useful phrase, by adding the “ (be)” and the “(ked)”, simply because it came to me that in this digital and media driven world, you would not be as likely to panic on your own as you would be induced to panic because to quote from the catalog course description , “our world is in interesting times and individual citizens are assaulted with a blinding array of propaganda from every conceivable source. The Third Saturday Seminar is about demystification of what is going on around us.”
For your edification and for those who have read “Hitchhiker,”I have excerpted a couple explanitory paragraphs from here
“Don’t Panic”
Arthur C. Clarke said Douglas Adams’ use of “Don’t panic” was perhaps the best advice that could be given to humanity.[33]
Newt Gingrich once described his goal as “reshaping the entire nation through the news media” (New York Times, 12/14/94)–has given a great deal of thought to the media and how to manipulate them.
Some examples of words (from a GOPAC memo) for this purpose follow:
‘Language: A Key Mechanism of Control’, February 1995
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Optimistic Positive Governing Words
Use the list below to help define your campaign and your vision of public service. These words can help give extra power to your message. In addition, these words help develop the positive side of the contrast you should create with your opponent, giving your community something to vote for!
share… change… opportunity… legacy… challenge… control… truth… moral… courage… reform… prosperity… crusade… movement… children… family… debate… compete… active(ly)… we/us/our… candid(ly)… humane… pristine… provide…
liberty… commitment… principle(d)… unique… duty… precious… premise… care(ing)… tough… listen… learn… help… lead… vision… success… empower(ment)… citizen… activist… mobilize… conflict… light… dream… freedom…
peace… rights… pioneer… proud/pride… building… preserve… pro-(issue): flag, children, environment… reform… workfare… eliminate good-time in prison… strength… choice/choose… fair… protect… confident… incentive… hard work… initiative… common sense… passionate
Contrasting Words
Often we search hard for words to help us define our opponents. Sometimes we are hesitant to use contrast. Remember that creating a difference helps you. These are powerful words that can create a clear and easily understood contrast. Apply these to the opponent, their record, proposals and their party.
decay… failure (fail)… collapse(ing)… deeper… crisis… urgent(cy)… destructive… destroy… sick… pathetic… lie… liberal… they/them… unionized bureaucracy… “compassion” is not enough… betray… consequences… limit(s)… shallow… traitors… sensationalists…
endanger… coercion… hypocrisy… radical… threaten… devour… waste… corruption… incompetent… permissive attitudes… destructive… impose… self-serving… greed… ideological… insecure… anti-(issue): flag, family, child, jobs… pessimistic… excuses… intolerant…
stagnation… welfare… corrupt… selfish… insensitive… status quo… mandate(s)… taxes… spend(ing)… shame… disgrace… punish (poor…)… bizarre… cynicism… cheat… steal… abuse of power… machine… bosses… obsolete… criminal rights… red tape… patronage
You can find the 1996 Version of Newt Gingrich’s GOPAC memo with slightly updated lists here.
Also keep in mind that with the following links I am only giving excerpts from the content of the links, for context please check out the links
Speaking of words (three short youtube videos),
Judge Napolitano, host of “Freedom Watch” Fox Business Network used these words on the last episode on Monday.
“How to get fired from Fox Business in under 5 mins”
Ron Paul predictions, April 24, 2002 (Here are two examples words with information attached)
Banned Ron Paul Video That FOX Refused To Re-Air
Other things we will touch on:
Shredding the Constitution by Glenn Greenwald
Delivered on March 9, 2011, at Lone Star College in Kingwood and later broadcast on KPFT-FM
It’s typical in political controversies, when there is a Republican president, for Democrats to accuse the Republican president of shredding the Constitution, infringing civil liberties. That was constantly said about George Bush. When there is a Democratic president, Republicans love to accuse the Democratic president of violating the Constitution. That’s what conservatives frequently say about President Obama’s health care bill, among other things. And even on an individual level, we often raise the issue of civil liberties and constitutional rights. When we have a run-in with police officers or if somebody tells to us do something we don’t want to do, it’s typical for us to exclaim, “My civil liberties are being violated” or “You’re abridging my constitutional rights.” And yet, as often as these terms are invoked, I think there is very little effort paid to understanding exactly what it is that we mean by these terms, what it is that they signify, what we’re talking about when we make reference to these concepts. So I think it’s really worth asking in the first instance, what is it that these terms even mean?
Rosa Parks
I mention her often because I cannot think of a better example of a person who had prepared herself mentally and spiritually against the unforeseen day when she would become part of the growing-up history of our nation. She ’t panic, she did what she did.
On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James F. Blake’s order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. Parks’ action was not the first of its kind to impact the civil rights issue. Others had taken similar steps, including Lizzie Jennings in 1854, Homer Plessy in 1892, Irene Morgan in 1946, Sarah Louise Keys in 1955, and Claudette Colvin on the same bus system nine months before Parks, but Parks’ civil disobedience had the effect of sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Parks’ act of defiance became an important symbol of the modern Civil Rights Movement and Parks became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation. She organized and collaborated with civil rights leaders, including boycott leader Martin Luther King, Jr., helping to launch him to national prominence in the civil rights movement.
TIMELINES OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION:
It starts in the 1920’s, Fills in many historical blanks.
1945 — The top tax rate is 94 percent. It will stay at least 88 percent until 1963, when it is lowered to 70 percent. During this time, America will experience the greatest economic boom it had ever known until that time.
Tax Policy Center – to see the actual tax Brackets from 1944 to the present (in either PDF or Microsoft Excel format)
Individual Tax Rates in PDF
Individual Taxe Rates in Excel
It is about time we took our lives back and that means “Unleashing our Wisdom!”
How about a Crowd of Wisdom?
… And the question is when is the last time that you had a great conversation, a conversation which wasn’t just two intersecting monologues, which is what passes for conversation a lot in this culture. But when had you last a great conversation, in which you overheard yourself saying things that you never knew you knew. That you heard yourself receiving from somebody words that absolutely found places within you that you thought you had lost and a sense of an event of a conversation that brought the two of you on to a different plane. And then fourthly, a conversation that continued to sing in
From: The Inner Landscape of Beauty with John O’Donohue (1956-2008) , Krista Tippet, Host, On Being, Sunday, January 29 2011
Let’s have a great conversation Saturday!
Current Events: As usual we will start out with a current events session, Greece, Italy, “Who’s on first?”
Third Saturday Seminars
To refer to an ancient Chinese saying, our world is in interesting times and individual citizens are assaulted with a blinding array of propaganda from every conceivable source. The Third Saturday Seminar is about demystification of what is going on around us. Time will also be spent on current events. Class meets 1/21 (special session),
2/18, 3/24 and 4/21. 3 sessions. No fee.
LSC-Montgomery B102
16199 Sa 2/18, 3/24, 4/21 9:30AM-12PM Gibby
Come, join the discussion! Let’s see if there is hope!
ALL Montgomery Spring Schedule
Registration
How do I register for a class?
You can fill out a registration form and submit it to us: In person: LSC-Montgomery (3200 College Park Dr., Conroe, TX 77384), Continuing Education/ALL Office Building E (Room 205)
- Phone: 936.273.7446
- Fax: 936.273.7262
- On-Line
See you Saturday — Thanks for your support!
DON‘T (be) PANIC(ked)
Curt Gibby
Director, Third Saturday Seminar
Houston, Tx 77273
P.S. As usual if anything in this notice doesn’t make sense, please let me know. (You won’t be the first, I will appreciate it and say, “Thank you,” Curt)