Mubarak's fumbling incompetence has really shined through for the past three weeks, in that he had shut down the Internet and had every single one of his efforts backfire. NO! Here is what you do! Learn from the best in the business, the United States of America.
First, you need a little democracy. Not a lot, but a little. This allows you to artificially inseminate your population with something called controversy. There doesn't really have to be any actual controversy at all, you only need to make your population think there is. Look at how the United States reacted to global warming, or the connection between vaccinations and autism. Look at how well George W Bush was defended for so long.
In order to do this, you need your own state-run media conglomerate. In this enterprise, don't be so obvious, and always deny any connection between your media empire and the political party it serves. Also, it helps if you claim that everyone else is biased against you. Vary your commentators in levels of their support for the incumbent government (yours), and allow them to state the truth once in a while. In fact, if you do this correctly, the people themselves will campaign against your moderates. Shepherd Smith himself was attacked by conservatives1!
Always, always take control of the debate, and let your news outlet manufacture your talking points. "Obama's trip to India will cost $200 mil/day!" "Obama is taking over healthcare!" It always helps your cause to delegitimize your opponents, and call them scary names: Communists; Socialists; Trotskyists; Stalinists; Nazis; Radicals; Hippies, even. You don't even have to know what these words mean. It really doesn't matter what you do at this point, as the US rode 9/11 all the way to 2010 until the Republicans denied health care to WTC first responders. Hell, in that time we've managed to grant power to our government to see us naked as we travel and flag library books for the NSA. It always helps to bring up the Security vs Liberty debate, and then claim that the democrats are going to get everyone killed. Fear definitely works.
Don't use blatant violence, and take your time. So you have a growing faction of people who see you for the depraved despot you really are. Don't stop them! Bring their leader onto your news network to be interviewed by a "moderate" commentator, and then put words in their mouth. It worked for Bill O'Reilly yesterday2 (Super Bowl 2011). During WW1, the British would declare critics of the war, such as poet Siegfried Sassoon, "unfit for duty" and send them off to sanitariums3. One by one, as your opponents criticize you, declare them clinically insane. Also, Scientologists engage in this practice by declaring people they disagree with "Suppressive Persons"4. This in turn disavows them from any connection with the "Suppressive Person" and alienates them completely. This may definitely work if you abuse the term.
One of the things that the United States does so well is to manipulate the lower classes into believing that big business has their best interests in mind. This does WONDERS if you can coax investors to your cause, and hire people to manufacture a faux-populist movement.
The problem with the strategy of many other leaders in a similar capacity as you find yourself is that they don't give good bullshit answers to questions of economics. When pitching policies to the public, tell them you're creating jobs even as you further disenfranchise them. The Republican Party in the United States Congress wants to repeal healthcare reform because it's a job-killing bill. It doesn't matter that it won't actually kill jobs, nor does it matter that doing so will add $230 billion to the deficit, because they can turn around and attack the non-partisan and rigorous organization that said so. The people, then, will be none the wiser.
But what about when you're still in power? Bush got two terms thanks to Fox News! Tax cuts for the top 2% of the country, and reduced job growth right until the end when people finally woke up. But not really, because while we elected Obama, we also had this thing called a Tea Party, and it thinks that economic deregulation is a good idea, even when it isn't. It took two years (which is about 10 years anywhere else in terms of political time) for Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck to start hurting, so I think you'll be pretty well-off.
That brings me to another point: Conspiracy theories and political celebrity. If you equalize treatment between the sexes, you can take some backwoods tart who knows absolutely nothing about politics, coax her to support you, and turn her into a celebrity. Don't let her talk too much, though, as over-saturation will be grating on your target audience. Just enough to preserve her celebrity status and your power. Conspiracy theories is a subject matter in which you might want to be careful. There could be people out there who are crazier than you, and you don't want to empower them. Crazy people are as dangerous to your power as people who know the truth.
I know it's a little scary to let people talk freely, but they're kind of stupid. If you play your cards right by engaging in fear tactics, ad hominem attacks, and political posturing, you could be on the road to a glorious life-long reign.
One....final note, if you squander your power. When it's over, its over. Once people know how bad you are, and begin to riot in the streets, you should leave the country with all your riches and live somewhere quiet. You've earned it.
1) http://mediamatters.org/research/200906110030
2) http://www.businessinsider.com/super-bowl-bill-oreilly-interview-obama-video-2011-2
3) http://sites.scran.ac.uk/Warp/siegfried_sassoon.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment