Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/31/2015 09:42 -0500
Some have called Cass Sunstein “America’s Goebbels“ since he sugggested that the government “formally hire credible private parties to engage in counterspeech,” and was engaged by President Obama as ‘Information Tzar’. So today’s op-ed from the government’s propagandist-in-chief, condemning those who choose to push back against political correctness, should be read with a Bernaysian perspective as Sunstein attempts to delegitimize any and every effort to argue against the government’s view of the world.
Authored by Cass Sunstein, originally posted at BloombergView,
Among Republicans, it has become politically correct to be politically incorrect. Actually that’s the most politically correct thing that you can possibly be. As soon as you announce that you’re politically incorrect, you’re guaranteed smiles and laughter, and probably thunderous applause. Proudly proclaiming your bravery, you’re pandering to the crowd.
A math-filled new paper, by economists Chia-Hui Chen at Kyoto University and Junichiro Ishida at Osaka University, helps to explain what’s going on. With a careful analysis of incentive structures, they show that if self-interested people want to show that they are independent, their best strategy is to be politically incorrect, and to proclaim loudly that’s what they are being. The trick is that this strategy has nothing at all to do with genuine independence; it’s just a matter of salesmanship, a way to get more popular.
