The Four Dog Defense
The Pesticide Lobbyists use a well-recognized series of lies and delaying tactics to dominate the debate in the Press and on Radio and Television. See if you recognise these techniques being used by people on this Forum.
The classic strategies are: Outright Denial; Smokescreen; Diversions; Sowing Doubt.
Of these 'sowing doubt' is by far the most common and the most effective. Entire teams of university academics are paid large sums to sow doubt in their 'science' papers, all the time, year after year.
Public Relations Specialists are also employed to fill the newspapers, TV chat shows and online forums/ Social media with a daily drip feed of Propaganda. Again, mostly sowing doubt although diversion and denial are also used. Online Forums are by far the most cost effective way to do this - you can bet your bottom dollar that there are paid professionals monitoring this Forum right now, ready to heap scorn, sarcasm and ridicule on anyone who dares to oppose the Poison industry.
Well known public figures are paid or persuaded to make public pronouncements on TV and in the Press, praising the poisoners and condemning objectors as 'hippies', 'conspiracy theorists' and 'back to the Stone Age' green idiots.
These techniques of Pyschological Warfare were perfected decades ago, when the corporations challenged the Science about the human health hazards of :
This is now a $billion dollar industry in every country; in fact, the food industry, the drug industry and the chemical industry could not function without these propaganda experts.
These underhand tactics are known as The Four Dog Defense.
The basic steps of the defence are:
1. My dog does not bite. OUTRIGHT DENIAL - THE BIG LIE
At first, the company denies that its product is harmful. This usually includes attempts to discredit scientific studies, or authors of studies, that show harm while the company generate its own fake-studies designed to show no harm.
NOTE: when Bayer license neonicotinoids in 1992 they stated that it could not possibly harm bees because the neonicotinoids NEVER emerged in pollen and nectar. That was an outright lie - 96% of peer-reviewed Science studies and 10,000,000 dead bee colonies prove the lie.
2. My dog bites, . . . but it didn't bite you. SMOKESCREEN - OBFUSCATION
Pesticide industry concedes that the chemical 'may' be 'potentially' harmful, but insists that bees are not actually exposed to it 'in the real world'.
This argument works best if only the industry carries out tests or monitors for the chemical (they do).
It works even better if you use a 1940s testing methodology, which can never reveal chronic, long term effects
Absence of data is often used to argue that there has been no toxic exposure.
NOTE: Bayer and Syngenta admit that neonics are hyper-toxic to bees, but claim that ' in the field' bees never receive a fatal dose.
3. My dog bit you, but it didn't really hurt you. SPREADING DOUBT
The Pesticide Industry admits that people or wildlife are exposed to the poison, but denies that the exposure caused harm.
Industry concedes that the chemical is harmful, but only at very high doses.
It kills bees, or people, but only under unrealistic test conditions, but not at the lower levels or real-world scenarios to which people or wildlife are actually exposed.
They focus on differences between humans and laboratory animals, alleging that harm such as cancer seen in animal experiments is not relevant to people.
Bayer, Syngenta, Monsanto have all used this argument.
In America, the EPA and various high profile beekeepers are the main spreaders of doubt.
4. My dog bit you, and hurt you, but it wasn't my fault. DIVERSION
Industry admits the chemical is harming bees, but tries to shift the blame onto other people to avoid regulation and liability.
Possible culprits are
The Pesticide Lobbyists use a well-recognized series of lies and delaying tactics to dominate the debate in the Press and on Radio and Television. See if you recognise these techniques being used by people on this Forum.
The classic strategies are: Outright Denial; Smokescreen; Diversions; Sowing Doubt.
Of these 'sowing doubt' is by far the most common and the most effective. Entire teams of university academics are paid large sums to sow doubt in their 'science' papers, all the time, year after year.
Public Relations Specialists are also employed to fill the newspapers, TV chat shows and online forums/ Social media with a daily drip feed of Propaganda. Again, mostly sowing doubt although diversion and denial are also used. Online Forums are by far the most cost effective way to do this - you can bet your bottom dollar that there are paid professionals monitoring this Forum right now, ready to heap scorn, sarcasm and ridicule on anyone who dares to oppose the Poison industry.
Well known public figures are paid or persuaded to make public pronouncements on TV and in the Press, praising the poisoners and condemning objectors as 'hippies', 'conspiracy theorists' and 'back to the Stone Age' green idiots.
These techniques of Pyschological Warfare were perfected decades ago, when the corporations challenged the Science about the human health hazards of :
- Lead,
- Tobacco,
- DDT
- Abestos
- Food additives like Aspartame, MSG, Bovine Growth Hormone etc.
- PCBs
This is now a $billion dollar industry in every country; in fact, the food industry, the drug industry and the chemical industry could not function without these propaganda experts.
These underhand tactics are known as The Four Dog Defense.
The basic steps of the defence are:
1. My dog does not bite. OUTRIGHT DENIAL - THE BIG LIE
At first, the company denies that its product is harmful. This usually includes attempts to discredit scientific studies, or authors of studies, that show harm while the company generate its own fake-studies designed to show no harm.
NOTE: when Bayer license neonicotinoids in 1992 they stated that it could not possibly harm bees because the neonicotinoids NEVER emerged in pollen and nectar. That was an outright lie - 96% of peer-reviewed Science studies and 10,000,000 dead bee colonies prove the lie.
2. My dog bites, . . . but it didn't bite you. SMOKESCREEN - OBFUSCATION
Pesticide industry concedes that the chemical 'may' be 'potentially' harmful, but insists that bees are not actually exposed to it 'in the real world'.
This argument works best if only the industry carries out tests or monitors for the chemical (they do).
It works even better if you use a 1940s testing methodology, which can never reveal chronic, long term effects
Absence of data is often used to argue that there has been no toxic exposure.
NOTE: Bayer and Syngenta admit that neonics are hyper-toxic to bees, but claim that ' in the field' bees never receive a fatal dose.
3. My dog bit you, but it didn't really hurt you. SPREADING DOUBT
The Pesticide Industry admits that people or wildlife are exposed to the poison, but denies that the exposure caused harm.
Industry concedes that the chemical is harmful, but only at very high doses.
It kills bees, or people, but only under unrealistic test conditions, but not at the lower levels or real-world scenarios to which people or wildlife are actually exposed.
They focus on differences between humans and laboratory animals, alleging that harm such as cancer seen in animal experiments is not relevant to people.
Bayer, Syngenta, Monsanto have all used this argument.
In America, the EPA and various high profile beekeepers are the main spreaders of doubt.
4. My dog bit you, and hurt you, but it wasn't my fault. DIVERSION
Industry admits the chemical is harming bees, but tries to shift the blame onto other people to avoid regulation and liability.
Possible culprits are
- improper use by farmers,
- out-of-date farming practices, defective planting machines, dry weather
- blame other toxic chemicals, bee-medications, or poor bee health
- in the case of bees, the culprits are varroa mites, viruses, poor nutrition, and poor beekeeping.