Official opposition narrative
 Official opposition narrative   (controlled opposition, deception)  
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| Interest of | • Covid Action UK • Independent SAGE |
| The Official Opposition Narrative is the alternative cover story of "the powers that be". Debate is generally encouraged between the two. | |
Not to be confused with opposition to official narratives
Official opposition narratives are establishment-approved stories that run counter the official narrative. This may sound contradictory, but controlling the opposition by leading them is an old tactic. As Theodor Hertzl reportedly counseled "We will lead every revolution against us". In common with official narratives, they cover a strict subset of observable reality, in ways crafted to appeal to particular groups.
Where possible, subterfuge such as distraction, insinuation or character assassination are preferred to outright lies (which might lead to plausible deniability propblems later), but the preferred stategy of dealing with uncomfortable areas (e.g. Cui bono?) is to simply to treat them as a 3rd rail, i.e. simply ignore them and blackball anyone who raises the topic.
Contents
Framing the debate
Noam Chomsky has published eloquently about 'framing the debate' - if you can choose both sides of the debate, there is no need to worry about who wins. For example, "Should we spend more on the war on terrorism now or can it wait until next year?..." "What is the best way to attack Iraq?..." "Which set of policies are the best for us, republican or the democrat?..."
Party politics could have been designed with this strategy in mind. For example, the US 2004 election, Republican Bonesman George W Bush was up against Democrat John Kerry, a fellow Bonesman. So whether you voted republic or democrat, you were voting for the same US secret society, Skull and Bones. As Anthony Sutton noted back in the 1980s such playing of both sides is a standard strategy of the Skull and Bones fraternity.[1]
Controlled media
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Corporate media
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Just as the commercially-controlled media is the venue for promulgating official narratives, so it is for official opposition narratives. This insight may explain how many prominent and apparently ardent critics of the establishment turn out to have an unexpected background. Bill Moyers, for example, whose 1987 film The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis introduced many to the concept of the deep state, was White House Press Secretary, a top aide to Lyndon Johnson and a member of the Bilderberg steering committee.
Example Official opposition narratives
Official opposition narratives are most effective when they are presented as being an anti best abolishment point of view.
Iraq War
- Full article: Iraq War
- Full article: Iraq War
The official opposition narrative to the invasion of Iraq is that it was a terrible mistake. Leaders were given "faulty intelligence", were hawkish, overexcited, even perhaps credulous and they allowed their desire to do good to overcome their good sense. Clear evidence of mendacity (e.g. the Downing Street memo) is more or less ignored and the issue of sincerity of leaders or their prosecution for war crimes does not arise. No mention is made of motivations such as the desire of multinational oil companies for continued easy access to fossil fuels, the massive profits made by mercenary companies and financial institutions.
War on Drugs
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“War on Drugs”
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One official opposition narrative to the War on Drugs is again that drug prohibition is 'mistaken'. It states that concern for people's welfare has triumphed over the scientific evidence which suggests that the prohibition of drugs harms society and increases criminality. It never asks "Cui bono?"; it is silent on the wider consequences of drug prohibition such the immense profits which accrue from the global drugs trade or the criminalization of huge sectors of society.
September 11, 2001
- Full article: 9-11
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The official opposition narrative of the September 11 attacks is that the 19 hijackers were only successful because officials in US government agencies were incompetent or lazy. This is rarely spelled out, generally only implied. The question of complicity is never discussed.
COVID-19
- Full article: COVID-19
- Full article: COVID-19
In late 2022, with innumerable independent accusations, from both government and independent sources, that the unprecedented push to force COVID jabs worldwide may be causing harm, a series of limited hangouts were published, promoting the line that "mistakes were made" but that investigations into exactly what happened were unneeded.
UK
The Labour Party "opposition" has supported every lockdown and restriction.
Liberals criticise Boris Johnson for being authoritarian, but never attack his actual policies, like vaccine passports and mask mandates. In a lot of cases they support them too, but just don't like that it is "Tories" implementing them.
Propagenda
Brian Eno has talked about "propagenda" -- the way that official opposition narratives are used not to influence what people think about a certain topic, but what topics people think about. This is commonly used to try to delineate third rail topics. Journalists in the commercially-controlled media, for example, self-censor, knowing what is expected of them by their editor. As Whitney Webb has highlighted, reporting by controlled media on the Epstein Affair, for example, more or less always overlooks the Mossad angle, or the earlier financial crimes and close relationships with the US deep state.
Detection
Detecting and identifying official opposition narratives as such is important to uncovering deep political factors. Commercially-controlled media are, in the 21st century, so dominated by deep state forces that presentation of official opposition abounds - most opinions which are more than fleetingly mentioned are likely to be official opposition.
Examples
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| Afghanistan Papers | A set of documents published by The Washington Post which constitute an official opposition narrative that the invasion of Afghanistan was a mistake. |
| Freedom Day | 19 July 2021 was supposed to be the end of COVID restrictions in England; instead the introduction of vaccine passports was announced. |
Rating
9 July 2019 Robin An introduction to a key concept.An overview of this important concept, including its application to permanent wars such as the "war on terror" or "war on drugs".
