Reply #3: "Absurd" lengths? [View All]

[gratuitous]

Yeah, I guess so, looked at in one way. But looked at another way, these "absurd" lengths serve a very definite purpose, and until they are exposed, can be quite successful. Not only CIA, but any number of industries have gone to absurd lengths to influence public opinion, and when viewed from decades later, they seem almost laughable. Almost. Because at the time they were used, many of these tactics were quite successful in their own way. See for example the tobacco industry's relentless efforts to confuse public knowledge about the addictiveness of nicotine and the dangers posed by tobacco use. Nowadays "everybody knows" that tobacco is a deadly, addictive product that when used as intended means an early grave for the consumer. But for years and years, from the original Surgeon General's finding in 1964, the tobacco companies kept the issue alive, knowing full well the self-justifying rationale of the addict would keep smokers smoking and filling their company coffers with the blood money of helpless addicts.

They used these schemes for one reason: they worked.