Even as I post this I am at work on a new book in which the order of these principles will be different. I’ll continue with the order I have started and then group the misinformation principles in their new order before moving on to the deconstruction of Liberty and Tyranny.
Misinformation Principle #7 is that misinformation serves self-interest at the pretense of the public interest. As a person who has had to write grants before (or, for that matter, queries) the first rule of thumb when you want something from someone is to convince them instead how much they are getting. You don’t query that you really need to get a book publish to remain viable. Sure, you want to mention how great the book is but even that is not as important as establishing the marketing potential. How much will people see that your book will benefit them? What is the public interest?
By definition, an interest group serves a self-interest. An ideological interest group, including political parties, serves the interest of a fixed dogma. The most influential interest groups attract large sums of money to help them promote this dogma when the ideology benefits wealth elites. Yet neither The Heritage Foundation nor the Cato Institute are going to state that they were founded by oil barons with large sums of oil money, and at best they will never harm those interests. In a similar vein Reason magazine is not going to mention that the tobacco industry has been very kind to them, nor will the Hudson Institute mention their benefactors among the chemical industry, nor will Fox News mention (though it is commonly known) that they are managed by a former political operative and owned by a neoconservative.
No, they all have a public interest card to play instead. With the 48% think tanks that are economic, and 37% think tanks that have a health policy function, the public interest cards are typically “free market” or “liberty.” The public interest card of Reason magazine is embedded in the title, similar to how the public interest card for Fox News is embedded in their tag line “fair and balanced.”
You are naturally wary of the guy in the neighborhood who is a blowhard, or brags a bit too much regarding any particular topic. So, too, should you be wary of those doth protesting loudly about their particular public interest cause. Part of protesting loudly about your public interest is spending exorbitant amounts on your message, as occurs with the billion dollar think tank industry. Follow the money and you will establish the real interest being served.
Tags: Interest Groups, Misinformation
