Absolutely; Petra. I had seen some version of it elsewhere, probably a rip-off or “loan” courtesy of his largesse, but the great thing is he keeps expanding it, at his website he shows prior iterations. I thought of a number of other important subtle variations on the theme, mostly spinoffs, but also some new ones, so I will be posting that.

( I just love to post this at Quora because it gets HUGE traffic, and they churn out some fine point of the JFK hit practically hourly, which as can be expected is all kinds of debris from the obstacles they churn out to sincere research. When I posted this list, nobody had a mumbly word to say! )

Thanks for that John. I think I may have seen it before but I’ll keep a record this time as it so very well describes the various suppression of truth techniques they use.

If “it drives you crazy” then here is a good antidote: I found it at the website of dcdave.com, the central online presence of Dave Martin, who co-wrote the fabulous “The Martyrdom of Thomas Merton” and which I just got by mail. It’s a must-read for sure, for anyone of our hidden history-inquiring ilk. (In fact, it was my 1st introduction to OffGuardian, scouring as I was the many-spidered web for assassination news, I chanced upon the truly great article Ed Curtin wrote about the book 4 years ago during the 50th Anniversary year of the ’68 assassinations, of which Thomas Merton/Fr. Louis made the martyr’s trifecta for MLK and RFK.)

So much still ‘unknown’ is laid bare in the book, and this numbered list is in the back (better free copy at his website):

Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression:

Strong, credible allegations of high-level criminal activity can bring down a government. When the government lacks an effective, fact-based defense, other techniques must be employed. The success of these techniques depends heavily upon a cooperative, compliant press and a mere token opposition party.

1 Dummy up. If it’s not reported, if it’s not news, it didn’t happen.

2 Wax indignant. This is also known as the “How dare you?” gambit.

3 Characterize the charges as “rumors” or, better yet, “wild rumors.” If, in spite of the news blackout, the public is still able to learn about the suspicious facts, it can only be through “rumors.” (If they tend to believe the “rumors” it must be because they are simply “paranoid” or “hysterical.”)

4 Knock down straw men. Deal only with the weakest aspects of the weakest charges. Even better, create your own straw men. Make up wild rumors (or plant false stories) and give them lead play when you appear to debunk all the charges, real and fanciful alike.

4 Call the skeptics names like “conspiracy theorist,” “nutcase,” “ranter,” “kook,” “crackpot,” and, of course, “rumor monger.” Be sure, too, to use heavily loaded verbs and adjectives when characterizing their charges and defending the “more reasonable” government and its defenders. You must then carefully avoid fair and open debate with any of the people you have thus maligned. For insurance, set up your own “skeptics” to shoot down.

5 Impugn motives. Attempt to marginalize the critics by suggesting strongly that they are not really interested in the truth but are simply pursuing a partisan political agenda or are out to make money (compared to over-compensated adherents to the government line who, presumably, are not).

6 Invoke authority. Here the controlled press and the sham opposition can be very useful.

7 Dismiss the charges as “old news.”

8 Come half-clean. This is also known as “confession and avoidance” or “taking the limited hangout route.” This way, you create the impression of candor and honesty while you admit only to relatively harmless, less-than-criminal “mistakes.” This stratagem often requires the embrace of a fall-back position quite different from the one originally taken. With effective damage control, the fall-back position need only be peddled by stooge skeptics to carefully limited markets.

9 Characterize the crimes as impossibly complex and the truth as ultimately unknowable.

10 Reason backward, using the deductive method with a vengeance. With thoroughly rigorous deduction, troublesome evidence is irrelevant. E.g. We have a completely free press. If evidence exists that the Vince Foster “suicide” note was forged, they would have reported it. They haven’t reported it so there is no such evidence. Another variation on this theme involves the likelihood of a conspiracy leaker and a press who would report the leak.

11 Require the skeptics to solve the crime completely. E.g. If Foster was murdered, who did it and why?

12 Change the subject. This technique includes creating and/or publicizing distractions.

13 Lightly report incriminating facts, and then make nothing of them. This is sometimes referred to as “bump and run” reporting.

14 Baldly and brazenly lie. A favorite way of doing this is to attribute the “facts” furnished the public to a plausible-sounding, but anonymous, source.

15 Expanding further on numbers 4 and 5, have your own stooges “expose” scandals and champion popular causes. Their job is to pre-empt real opponents and to play 99-yard football. A variation is to pay rich people for the job who will pretend to spend their own money.

16 Flood the Internet with agents. This is the answer to the question, “What could possibly motivate a person to spend hour upon hour on Internet news groups defending the government and/or the press and harassing genuine critics?” Don t the authorities have defenders enough in all the newspapers, magazines, radio, and television? One would think refusing to print critical letters and screening out serious callers or dumping them from radio talk shows would be control enough, but, obviously, it is not.

~ David Martin 
Dec. 1999

(Émile Zola would be as proud as pleased.)

except for Donald Pleasance, he died in 1995 and is quite youngish here.

… but Intel is grateful for the free help.

Yes, useful idiots and useful idiocy abound and are so incredibly helpful to them. When I saw the derision expressed towards “satellites” I immediately thought of my identical twin who doesn’t believe in them nor the moon landings. And in that thread I posted a link to I see a commenter treating everything said by J.G. as though it were gospel.

It’s not as if I’m immune from being duped myself even now and I certainly have been completely – but you really have to keep your wits about you and be very careful with the evidence.

A priori: if intelligence is involved … and it’s so very obvious that it is, you will not be getting the whole truth.

What I’d like to know is why my sister and I think so differently. Even if we agree on most hoaxes we still think very differently and the way she thinks undermines those of us who are more discerning in picking the truth from the lies. And, of course, she represents a percentage of the population. Why do we fall into these “inclination-to-believe/disbelieve” profiles that can be so relied on by those in power. Drives me crazy.

NOT asleep! Lucidly dreaming our demise, while no doubt on LSD. That’s a fact. A very underreported FACT is that Timothy Leary was a dyed in the wool CIA spymaster, deployed by Richard Helms. and most of that supposed hipness was pre-fabricated. Made in Germany. “Re-vamped” at Langley.

Amputations are an ongoing boon, and boom, for the black market on less than kosher transplants. RFK Jr. had a radio show series on it back in 2006, which was when I first started listening. It was so revealing, all well below the radar, which is an old clue, altogether. It was an impressive show on “Rings of Fire” aired on the now defunct Air America Radio. Created by the now (politically) defunct Al Franken.

I’m beginning to see a pattern here. lol

Nice reductio ad absurdum. It surely helps to reduce things to their simplest.

But, it’s implied that it’s fake news, as almost all of news from afar now is.

I found out last year about the death of a sibling, 28 months late. But it was still real, and it was news. However old.

However late, I called the coroner, and found it wasn’t propaganda. (Unless they’re doing that now with death certificates, nothing would surprise me any more.) So at least there’s that much.

Ah, so, after all, that’s how the whole world catches a cold. War. There does seem to be overlap.