deceptions - discover the spy in your midst

How to Spot an Infiltrator. Posted on Davey D's Hip Hop Corner.
 [initially posted here on 8th December 2010]

1- They bring confusion and chaos with them. Every time they come around, it’s drama.
2- They keep discussions and productivity at a stalemate. They’d rather keep debating than engaging the community you’re supposed to serve.
3- They focus on impertinent theoretical points of contention as serious sources of conflict. It’s never about the people or the work. It’s always about some ideas, structures, philosophy, or abstract concept.
4- They create/increase tribalism and intensify pre-existing organizational dissatisfaction.
5- They don’t have reputable sources or references for where they come from.
6- Many have short bursts of vigorous activity, not long histories of continuous (documented/verifiable) growth and development. They come in, make a mess, then disappear.
7- Others claim long histories, even claiming “birthrights” of some sort, as a means to establish authority. Yet these claims rarely hold up under further investigation.
8- They have ambiguous sources of income.
9- They came from prison or worked in the military or law enforcement in the past (or the present, if u dig deep enough). They may be working in exchange for reduced time/plea agreement/special assignment.
10- They turn around all questions about them into attacks on the questioner. They create scapegoats, red herrings, and target people who may be onto them.
11- They build alliances with weak-minded dissatisfied people through shared vices, financial generosity, or a sense of solidarity.
12- They also “give” as a means of establishing authority and legitimacy.
13- These people don’t tend to be primary sources either.
14- They act like zealots but aren’t zealous about social change.
15- They want power and control, but demonstrate no ability to use this power or control for the good of others.
16- They are masters of manipulation, but never teach others how to manipulate the system.

---

IMAGE SOURCE: Still photo from the film The Molly McGuires. Found on the MUBI, an online cinema website.
     Deception and fear mongering by provocateurs among the working poor has a long history. The Molly MacGuires were a part of that history.
     The Molly Maguires were members of a secret organization. Many historians believe the "Mollies" were present in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania in the United States from approximately the time of the American Civil War until a series of sensational arrests and trials in the years 1876−1878. Evidence that the Molly Maguires were responsible for coalfield crimes, and kidnapping in the U.S. rests largely upon allegations of one powerful industrialist, and the testimony of one Pinkerton detective. Fellow prisoners also testified against the alleged Molly MacGuires, but some believe these witnesses may have been coerced or bribed.
     It is entirely possible that the leaders of the Molly McGuires were agent provocateurs paid by coal company industrialists to create terror and confusion; providing the coal company owners an excuse to attack hard working miners who were trying to organize into unions to get fair wages, safer working conditions and freedom from oppression and isolation forced upon them by the mining companies.

hypocrisy ~ Hurt wants HIS medical benefits

Newly-elected Rep. Robert Hurt (R-VA) campaigned for Congress on a promise to repeal health reform. This week, Hurt granted ThinkProgress a short interview outside of the Capitol, where he doubled down on his pledge to remove health reform. However, Hurt said he would not opt-out of the government health care granted to him and his staff as a member of Congress.

deceptions - discover the spy in your midst

How to Spot an Infiltrator. Posted on Davey D's Hip Hop Corner.

1- They bring confusion and chaos with them. Everytime they come around, it’s drama.
2- They keep discussions and productivity at a stalemate. They’d rather keep debating than engaging the community you’re supposed to serve.
3- They focus on impertinent theoretical points of contention as serious sources of conflict. It’s never about the people or the work. It’s always about some ideas, structures, philosophy, or abstract concept.
4- They create/increase tribalism and intensify pre-existing organizational dissatisfaction.
5- They don’t have reputable sources or references for where they come from.
6- Many have short bursts of vigorous activity, not long histories of continuous (documented/verifiable) growth and development. They come in, make a mess, then disappear.
7- Others claim long histories, even claiming “birthrights” of some sort, as a means to establish authority. Yet these claims rarely hold up under further investigation.
8- They have ambiguous sources of income.
9- They came from prison or worked in the military or law enforcement in the past (or the present, if u dig deep enough). They may be working in exchange for reduced time/plea agreement/special assignment.
10- They turn around all questions about them into attacks on the questioner. They create scapegoats, red herrings, and target people who may be onto them.
11- They build alliances with weak-minded dissatisfied people through shared vices, financial generosity, or a sense of solidarity.
12- They also “give” as a means of establishing authority and legitimacy.
13- These people don’t tend to be primary sources either.
14- They act like zealots but aren’t zealous about social change.
15- They want power and control, but demonstrate no ability to use this power or control for the good of others.
16- They are masters of manipulation, but never teach others how to manipulate the system.

---

IMAGE SOURCE: Still photo from the film The Molly McGuires. Found on the MUBI, an online cinema website.
     Deception and fear mongering by provocateurs among the working poor has a long history. The Molly MacGuires were a part of that history.
     The Molly Maguires were members of a secret organization. Many historians believe the "Mollies" were present in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania in the United States from approximately the time of the American Civil War until a series of sensational arrests and trials in the years 1876−1878. Evidence that the Molly Maguires were responsible for coalfield crimes, and kidnapping in the U.S. rests largely upon allegations of one powerful industrialist, and the testimony of one Pinkerton detective. Fellow prisoners also testified against the alleged Molly MacGuires, but some believe these witnesses may have been coerced or bribed.
     It is entirely possible that the leaders of the Molly McGuires were agent provocateurs paid by coal company industrialists to create terror and confusion; providing the coal company owners an excuse to attack hard working miners who were trying to organize into unions to get fair wages, safer working conditions and freedom from oppression and isolation forced upon them by the mining companies.

politics - at the Glen Beck Rally

The interviews seem to speak for themselves

holidays - 4th of July

Political conservatives have no more of a special relationship with America's national mythologies than any one of the thousands of Christian sects have on the stories of Jesus. Therefore, it would be prudent to read something different now and again about the USA's national folk tales. A case in point, the Boston Tea Party. Here's what Thom Hartmann, progressive radio essayist, and what he has to say:

     "The real Boston Tea Party was a protest against huge corporate tax cuts for the British East India Company, the largest trans-national corporation then in existence. This corporate tax cut threatened to decimate small Colonial businesses by helping the BEIC pull a Wal-Mart against small entrepreneurial tea shops, and individuals began a revolt that kicked-off a series of events that ended in the creation of The United States of America.

     "They covered their faces, massed in the streets, and destroyed the property of a giant global corporation. Declaring an end to global trade run by the East India Company that was destroying local economies, this small, masked minority started a revolution with an act of rebellion later called the Boston Tea Party.

     "The Boston Tea Party resembled in many ways the growing modern-day protests against transnational corporations and small-town efforts to protect themselves from chain-store retailers or factory farms. The Tea Party's participants thought of themselves as protesters against the actions of the multinational East India Company."

     Read the rest of Thom Hartmann's essay and what he has to say about this piece of American history after a study of the Memoir of George R.T. Hewes, a Survivor of the Little Band of Patriots Who Drowned the Tea in Boston Harbor written in 1773.