Seriously?

Gov’t Knows Best? White House creates ‘nudge squad’ to shape behavior ~

The federal government is hiring what it calls a “Behavioral Insights Team” that will look for ways to subtly influence people’s behavior, according to a document describing the program obtained by FoxNews.com.

While the program is still in its early stages, the document shows the White House is already working on such projects with almost a dozen federal departments and agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture.
 
“Behavioral sciences can be used to help design public policies that work better, cost less, and help people to achieve their goals,” reads the government document describing the program, which goes on to call for applicants to apply for positions on the team.[…]
 
The idea is that the team would “experiment” with various techniques, with the goal of tweaking behavior so people do everything from saving more for retirement to saving more in energy costs.

 
“Tweaking behavior”?! When did the American people become a bunch of lab rats?

Such policies — which encourage behavior subtly rather than outright require it — have come to be known as “nudges,” after an influential 2008 book titled “Nudge” by former Obama regulatory czar Cass Sunstein and Chicago Booth School of Business professor Richard Thaler popularized the term.

I can’t find much on Thaler other than Nudges.org (a blog that tries awfully hard to put a happy face on mind-control), but Joseph Goebbels, the Third Reich’s Minister of Public Enlightenment & Propaganda, would have loved Cass Sunstein. (There’s even an eerie physical resemblance 👿 Similar hairlines anyway.) Way back in 2010, even lefty Salon.com found him rather unsettling; Obama confidant’s spine-chilling proposal ~

In 2008, while at Harvard Law School, Sunstein co-wrote a truly pernicious paper proposing that the U.S. Government employ teams of covert agents and pseudo-”independent” advocates to “cognitively infiltrate” online groups and websites — as well as other activist groups — which advocate views that Sunstein deems “false conspiracy theories” about the Government. This would be designed to increase citizens’ faith in government officials and undermine the credibility of conspiracists.

 
Remember, this was three and a half years ago…

Indeed, there is a very strong case to make that what Sunstein is advocating is itself illegal under long-standing statutes prohibiting government ”propaganda” within the U.S., aimed at American citizens:
 
As explained in a March 21, 2005 report by the Congressional Research Service, “publicity or propaganda” is defined by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to mean either (1) self-aggrandizement by public officials, (2) purely partisan activity, or (3) “covert propaganda.” By covert propaganda, GAO means information which originates from the government but is unattributed and made to appear as though it came from a third party.
 
Covert government propaganda is exactly what Sunstein craves. His mentality is indistinguishable from the Bush mindset that led to these abuses, and he hardly tries to claim otherwise. Indeed, he favorably cites both the covert Lincoln Park program as well as Paul Bremer’s closing of Iraqi newspapers which published stories the U.S. Government disliked, and justifies them as arguably necessary to combat “false conspiracy theories” in Iraq — the same goal Sunstein has for the U.S.

 
Actually, now that the O’ministration is being all up-front about it, it’s overt government propaganda (like Michelle’s Healthy Kids initiative, global warming EPA alarmists, and Barack’s constant stream of B.S.) and therefore totally legal apparently. Aren’t oligarchies fun?
 

Fox News asked Richard Thaler for his opinion on the new Ministry of Propaganda “Behavioral Insights Team.” He provided a “nudge” of his own – make that a bludgeon;

“I don’t know who those people are who would not want such a program, but they must either be misinformed or misguided,” he said.

 
Yes comrade, those of us who object to government-imposed thought control are just a bunch of mindless rubes.

 
Glenn Greenwald, the author of the Jan. 15, 2010 post at Salon.com, concluded his article with this astute analysis;

The reason conspiracy theories resonate so much is precisely that people have learned — rationally — to distrust government actions and statements. Sunstein’s proposed covert propaganda scheme is a perfect illustration of why that is. In other words, people don’t trust the Government and “conspiracy theories” are so pervasive precisely because government is typically filled with people like Cass Sunstein, who think that systematic deceit and government-sponsored manipulation are justified by their own Goodness and Superior Wisdom.

Related:
It’s only “paranoia” if they’re not out to get you
Are we each living in our own “filter bubble?” ~ Ready-made delivery system for government propaganda?