It seems that yet another troubling tale of an extreme leftist calling the president a racist has hit the proverbial fan that has been set on high since he took the oath of office. This time it’s the lovely and graceful Ms. Jemele Hill of ESPN who put her tender thoughts about the president in a tweet: “Trump is the most ignorant, offensive president of my lifetime. His rise is a direct result of white supremacy. Period,” wrote Ms. Hill. Unable to stop herself she went on to say, “Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.”
Naturally, Ms. Hill’s kind words were recounted to Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders who reacted forcefully, “I think it’s one of the more outrageous comments that anyone could make and certainly something I think is a fireable offense by ESPN,” Sanders said. Predictably the backlash to Sander’s comment has now taken center stage.
Indignation and rage abound as the media puts Sanders on the chopping block instead of Hill. Thus, an anti-trump super PAC – surprisingly named – wait for it – The Democratic Coalition has filed a complaint with the Office of Government Ethics against the White House Press Secretary:
“When Sarah Huckabee Sanders called for Jemele Hill to be fired by ESPN, she crossed the line and put herself in dubious legal territory,” Coalition Chairman Jon Cooper said in a statement Thursday. “Even in Donald Trump’s America, there’s still such a thing as freedom of speech. For Sanders to publicly call for the dismissal of a Trump critic is bizarre and disturbing, to say the least. If anyone is to be fired, it should be her.”
This is an often repeated technique by the left: a rejoinder to the initial offense becomes widely circulated as an affront throughout the establishment media instead of placing the original transgression under the magnifying glass – where it belongs. This happens so the media frenzy can feed profitably (Did someone say ratings?) on the food fight rather than calling out the primary offender which, in this case, is Jemele Hill.
The Psychology of Misdirection
In the world of psychology, this type of behavior is commonly known as misdirection. Essentially this is a form of deception that causes people to focus on something else so they can be distracted and fooled. Misdirection is the currency of magicians and liars. It has been used for thousands of years, so the audience (or fool) shifts their focal point onto something else. Hieronymus Bosch created a masterpiece depicting this very thing back in 1502 called “The Conjurer.”
The Conjurer by Hieronymus Bosch, 1502
Why does this matter? It matters because it is a classic technique being used daily by the extreme leftwing media to manipulate the masses. This works particularly well on those with a short attention span. These psycho wars include such techniques as:
- Overload
- Overwhelm
- Confuse
- Induce Fear
- Create a Circus
If the leftwing media bombards us with information as they do so well with the 24/7 news cycle, we can easily become overwhelmed. This causes confusion in which misdirection then becomes quite useful. Then they can induce fear in hearts and minds of the public. All of this together produces a circus-like atmosphere that does not give people the time to think straight — and that is precisely the point.
Control of the Masses
This methodology by the leftist press is easily discernable to those who stop and think about it. They want to manipulate and control the masses. It was the nephew of Sigmund Freud who is credited with developing this effective psychological technique. Edward Bernays concluded that “manipulation of the masses was the only way to control people’s inevitable irrationality.”
Courtesy AZ Quotes
The Jemele Hill story is just the latest example of the leftist media’s effort to establish hegemony over the American public. They have shifted the focus from Ms. Hill’s vicious personal attack of President Trump onto the White House Secretary, misdirected the viewer/listener/reader and used their sleight of hand to control the masses. So now we know, we understand, we get it.
Any psychologist worth his salt will tell you that awareness of the tricks and manipulations being played on you is more than half the battle. Once the American public recognizes what’s being done to them, these types of techniques lose their power, and they can be immunized against these extreme leftist tactics by the Fourth Estate.
As for Jemele Hill. She’s merely a pawn in this game of psychological chess being played out on the American public. As any chess player knows, pawns are the most numerous pieces on the board; even if the pawn reaches the other end of the board and is promoted — it can never become the King. Once the people of this country begin to understand they are being played the fool they just may turn on those who have tried to manipulate them. And once the masses turn, there’s no telling what can happen.
