Hoisted Upon One’s Own Petard

4 Comments on "Hoisted Upon One’s Own Petard"

  1. William Christy says:

    Frank while I laughed at the picture I must confess I was not familiar with the phrase until now. Coming from Boston originally the term Tea Party has a totally different meaning. As the saying goes a picture is worth a thousand words.

  2. Angus Berger says:

    Looks like Frank has decided to hang himself from the side of his own teacup.
    Hmmm, Christy sucking up to Frank, whadya know. I’ve seen stranger things than the submission of Christy.

  3. fightingbluehen says:

    With the help of the main stream media along with popular cultural and other outlets, certain words, names and phrases have been nurtured and branded to induce a negative Pavlovian response by the mostly ill informed voting population. It’s almost like a mass hypnosis, and I believe that the Democratic Party benefits greatly from this.
    Once this conditioned response has been branded and ingrained in people’s heads, it’s hard to reverse it.
    So, what dose one do to combat this? I theorize that if we literally change the tone of Pavlov’s bell by simply changing the words and names, we may be able to minimize the conditioned negative response and make it harder for the opposition to capitalize on it.

    For instance, instead of using the name Tea Party, which has already and irreversibly been branded negatively with many voters. They should just call themselves “Citizens”.

    Instead of just saying “Benghazi “which automatically induces a negative conditioned response or tune out from the left, we could call it the “Libyan cover up” or “Libyan debacle”and so forth

    The point is to not let the media and opposition create these simple memes and brands. Keep switching it up on them.
    If we can change the tone of Pavlov’s bell, maybe we could possibly minimize the conditioned response that they have come to rely on.
    Just a little out of the box thinking to chew on.

  4. Dave says:

    “If we can change the tone of Pavlov’s bell, maybe we could possibly minimize the conditioned response that they have come to rely on.”

    Would that apply to “liberal” “socialism” “take away our guns” “tyranny” “2nd Amendment remedies” et al? Or are conditioned responses just a function of the “liberal” media and their “low information” base? Others are “overreach” “regulations” “libtard” well you get the idea.

    So, do you practice Pavlov’s theory? Do you use certain terms because it elicits a conditioned response? Of course you do. I’m not disagreeing. I rarely use trigger words (except for “whack jobs” when referring to the fringe of either side). I would prefer to debate and discuss ideas without the memes and conditioned responses. I’m a big believer and practitioner of personal responsibility, but I can’t even use the term anymore because it elicits a conditioned response. Instead I just say that I am make choices and am accountable for my choices, good and bad. Rush Limbaugh uses a term “low information voter” to whip the left, but the gal who uttered “Keep your government hands off my Medicare” at a town hall would seem to qualify as a low information voter also.

    In summary, the application of Pavlov’s classical conditioning technique is not limited to the left. They all do it. Many people can see through it. Could be that most won’t but since the intention is to influence, you can bet no one is going to quit doing it.

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