Trapped in the Wrong Paradigm: Three Handy Rules

Once Upon a Time.... Liberals keep falling for arguing within the wrong frames of an issue.

When you argue within the framework and using the terms selected by your opponent, you will always lose in the end. Even if you make a stronger case about one particular issue, your opponent still wins the larger battle -- because you have permitted the underlying assumptions and the general perspective to remain unchallenged.

Arthur updates on the Iraqi War wrong frames and shows examples from SCLM spokesperson Frank Rich.

One: The war in Iraq has been "bungled" and executed "incompetently."

The wrong illegal war was executed brilliantly against the wrong target. The unwinable occupation is bungled, corrupt, immoral, wrong and a mistake.

Two: It's important to "get the intelligence right" the next time.

Intelligence didn't matter, it was poor judgment that got us into Iraq and then intelligence cherry-picked to justify the decision.

Intelligence is completely irrelevant to major policy decisions. Such decisions are matters of judgment, and knowledgeable, ordinary citizens are just as capable of making these determinations as political leaders allegedly in possession of "secret information." Such "secret information" is almost always wrong -- and major decisions, including those pertaining to war and peace, are made entirely apart from such information in any case.

Three: The press will always transmit and amplify government propaganda, and this is especially true with regard to war propaganda.

The media, no matter how the cranky right shouts otherwise, is the friend to the powerful and rich. The American media was totally clueless leading up to the Iraq war as anyone with access to the internet and the knowledge and inclination to search foreign and non-mainstream news sources knows. The media has a flocking conventional wisdom behavioral frame and will always report what the government puts out and rarely do more than minimal fact-checking. The media does not seek counters to a government released story but will do he-said, she-said pieces if a spokesperson in opposition actively pursues this.

This was how the American people were played on Iraq and are about to be played on Iran. As Arthur also writes:

Let us state the final conclusion boldly and unmistakably, so we may appreciate its full horror: the Bush administration has already decided, and probably decided some time ago, that it will attack Iran. They want a wider war. Everything that is now going on is simply the cover for the moment when the bombing begins, intended to provide what will be accepted as "justification" for the attack by the American public and the world.

This looks probably related to the incredible FEAR!!! news stories the right-wing sources are trying to play up. North Korea just recently demonstrated it has not mastered technology the US demonstrated 50 years ago. Headlines - North Korea fires missiles at Hawaii!!!

Two Terrorist!!! plots were reportedly broken up. Neither group had any money, actual plans, ties to al-Qaeda, or weapons. The latest group hadn't even met each other but were in seperate countries chatting in a public chat room. This is a terrorist group? The bragged about what they wish they could do to the United States.

The New York Times are TRAITORS!!! The reason - for revealing information the administration had openly bragged about numerous times.

If they get enough FEAR!!! out there they know it helps justify anything the government does. This is an election ploy, a sweeping government powers justification, and a ploy to create the proper supported atmosphere for their next outrage.

Tags: fear, framing, SCLM, stories, news, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, lies, intelligence