Sticky Ideas: Progression via Selection

Spring Progression: Snowdrops followed by Daffodils followed by Bluebells

I recently spotted some of the first Snowdrops of Spring; which is always a welcome sight, not only as they are beautiful flowers but also they remind me of the good things to come, to anticipate positively the future progression through mid-Spring with Daffodils and then into late Spring with Bluebells.

"It is estimated that 25%–50% of all common bluebells may be found in the British Isles."

 In the previous blog it seems like we're trapped in "Winter freeze" in the progression of our Referendum debate and discussion, EU Politics: Groundhog Day (2nd February), and so the question is: Why is this? We already noted that some very Sticky Ideas dominate the discussion as per Arguments: In The Deadly Grip of Confabulation, with David Davies talking about "German Cars!" on the Daily Politics today perpetuating these empty ideas ie "political sloganeering memes". We've looked at Richard Reed of Innocent Smoothies banking on these empty memes to propound his own ignorance and dam up progress.

Simple … Unexpected … Concrete … Credentialed … Emotional … Story

• Be a master of exclusion.   Less is more.  Ruthlessly prioritize and focus on the vital few.
• Boil it down to simple + profound. Create messages that are both simple and profound.
• Create engagement.  Use surprise, emotions, concrete images, and curiosity.
• Surprise people.  Surprise people’s expectations.
• Have testable ideas.  Have a ‘”try it yourself” approach and help people test out your ideas for themselves

I think one of the challenges has been to provide a counter vision that can become a "Sticky Idea" more powerful than the above Confabulations. One sticky idea that "Brexiteers" need to get their head around is Selection ie the point 1 above: Exclusion:-

Progression: High Diversity of Ideas (LHS - BEFORE) ====>>>> Low Diversity of Ideas (RHS - AFTER)

In the above Referendum, if it is a well-structured Campaign before the Polling Day, there will be a competitive selection by the entire electorate (huge sample size ie full population sample!). Listening to Margaret Beckett also on The Daily Politics Show coughing up the "terribly dark and dangerous vision of Brexit" suggests to me a paucity of strong ideas on the Pro-EU side of the argument. But it's very easy for people like her to attack the Pro-Brexit (Leave) side of the argument due to the sheer diversity of ideas, many of them weak.

Oral statement to Parliament: Prime Minister's statement on EU renegotiation - 3 February 2016

David Cameron's powerful edict: Never say never: "We Shall NEVER surrender!"

It is interesting to hear David Cameron's speech above for what he will present as his "British Model" to the British public for the Referendum. "Never" is a very powerful word to utter; a clear evocation echoing our history, patriotism and sovereignty under duress...

If he really means all these things using such powerful evocation of the nation's identity and foundations of our society and state, then surely for "NEVER" to really mean "NEVER" then:-

Achieves that unequivocally. In effect:-

What we see in the above tabulation above, is that:-

• The top-half of the table, 1-11 = Political Union. 
• The bottom-half of the table, 12-18 = Single Market (+ Global Market).

 Aka what we've already met before: The Market Solution: A Growing Solution. So what we have concluded is that The Single Market (+) as part of Withdrawal aka Brexit/Leave is a critically positive outcome + the removal of political union (-).

However for this progression to work, selection must operate. And in my opinion the biggest selective pressure on the UK is indeed our >40yrs of EU Membership! Which boils down to Article 50 Lisbon Treaty; the latest and last Treaty we were signed up to by our Prime Minister which we did not get a Referendum on - until now.

The Referendum Question depends on The Single Market which depends on the stipulated terms of our EU Political Union membership (presently) = ARTICLE 50 LISBON TREATY

Progression is via a feedback loop: The Referendum Question requires Single Market guarantee to then vote Leave to remove the Political Union. Removal of the Political Union requires: Article 50! The Selection Bottleneck = Article 50 to withdraw/exit from Political Union.

So, how to make this idea Sticky? Using the advise we must refine our message and Exclude, Boil It Down, Surprise People and Tell A Story:-

EXCLUDE:

• This is the present state of the debate: Stuck in a cloud of confusion created as much by the "eurosceptic aristocracy" as by the Pro-EU's who profiteer from this behaviour that stops the feed-back loop above.

-

 SIMPLIFY:

• Do you trust David Cameron and our political class when they speak to you? Or do you trust a practical and working plan that matches words and actions:-

 +

=

 SURPRISE:

•  Do you know about Globalization of Regulations and Standards and the many many many Real Top Tables we could gain a place at "sans political union" in Supranational EU?

&

 TEST:

• Put your name on the future, for the first time in >40yrs...

Real (direct) Democracy: Hiding in Plain Sight

Edward Heath signs the United Kingdom's Treaty of Accession (Brussels, 22 January 1972)

The signing of the Treaty of Maastricht took place in Maastricht, Netherlands on 7 February 1992

Tony Blair signing The EU Constitution Treaty 29th October, 2004

Gordon Brown signs The Lisbon Treaty 13th December, 2007

Recently the role of the Media in propagating state-sanctioned or planted propaganda was looked it: Journalism: Garbage In Garbage Out (GIGO)
The logic is simple in the Legacy News-Media:-

• Garbage Input OR Garbage Model = Garbage Public Information

However the Legacy News-Media is in both cases:-

• Garbage Input AND Garbage Model = Garbage Public Information

If you look at the Legacy-News Media reports around the time of the above Treaties, you'll see more or less the same pattern of amorphous information you see today in the build-up to the EU Referendum: Remain or Leave question:-

Failure To Process: Legacy News-Media piped cacophany and AMORPHOUS failure of argument development => Retardation of "national conversation"

If we are blinded by the Legacy News-Media, by the MP's (and MEP's) and by the Money-Holders in our society,

The British public can overthrow the Brussels machine ~ By Kathrine Kleveland, Leader of Norway's No to the EU campaign

The upcoming referendum on EU membership in Britain is being watched with great interest in Norway.

It is a debate we Norwegians have been having for decades and the situation in 

Britain bears remarkable similarity to what happened in our own referendum. Norwegians rejected joining the EU in 1972 and again in 1994 and Eurosceptic sentiment has soared in recent years, so much so that in the past decade every single opinion poll has found a majority opposed to joining. The most recent polling found 72 per cent of Norwegians opposed joining the EU. 

Despite our Prime Minister and her party still dreaming of Norway to join, Norwegians are happier outside the EU. The mood is such that even 61 per cent of our Prime Minister’s own voters disagree with her position on Brussels. The arguments the pro-EU campaign in Britain have been pushing are only too familiar. 

Norway as part of EFTA/EEA = CONTROL to the "EU Political Experiment" for the UK to compare

Take the scaremongering by key figures such as the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) who claim that three million jobs will be lost if Britain were to leave.

In 1994 the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise similarly predicted the apocalypse if Norway were to reject membership, claiming 100,000 jobs would be lost (quite terrifying in a country of just over four million in 1994). This claim could not have been further from reality as unemployment decreased in Norway following the referendum and has remained consistently lower than in EU member states every year since 1994. 

The truth is, Norway is not alone or isolated, has thrived as an independent nation. The Norwegian economy has enjoyed twenty years of higher growth than the economies of EU Member States and our international rankings are far higher on a wide range of issues including gender equality, social welfare, even on happiness.

Norwegians rejected the EU because our nation’s sovereignty and democracy is so important. Brussels is the antithesis of democratic and Norwegians, who believe so fundamentally in decisions being made closer to the people - in the municipalities, in the regions, in our own government - simply had no desire to be ruled by Brussels.

The campaign to leave the EU in Britain is strikingly similar to Norway.
In Norway, just as in Britain, the pro-EU campaign had the three M’s - MPs, money and media and stands as the Goliath to the leave campaign's David. In Norway, we mobilised the public and defeated Goliath. We pounded the streets, grew our grassroots and took our message to every community in Norway - the cities, the farms, the valleys.

Cynical attempts by the pro-EU side to convince Britons your country will fall to its knees if it is not led by an undemocratic unelected body in Brussels are deceitful.

then there is the above confusion and the above stunted development of Democracy:-

Without organization of information, arguments are short-circuited (either systemic artefact or directed agency) = Stunted and stunting conditions prevail for Democracy

Why?

If you remember or have read: The Political Food Web of Prestige then you'll see that the way our Democracy works is neither Representative (Excessive Representation of vested interest groups at the top of the political food web) nor Democratic (arguments are excluded proactively).

Example: FLEXCIT/The Market Solution brexit plan (with >38,000 downloads) is systematically omitted from reference from researchers and research in the above Political Food Web (Think Tanks, Legacy News-Media, Political Parties and Westminster, Campaign Groups etc). I scour the news and EU/Brexit/Referendum articles and it's consistently not responded to, despite showing the incredibly limited thinking of these actors and their prejudiced thinking and models of understanding.

What?

Is the best representation of THIS systemic process itself, we can abstract from how our democracy fails to function? If you compare all the signings of the above Treaties, look at the photos and tell me what you see...

How?

Can we change our democracy from this failing system? You have a clear choice above all the cacophany and deception:-

Referendum Vote: Remain =

x1 Signature: Will David Cameron Sign the UK up to only HIS version of the UK's story or...

Referendum Vote: Leave =

 

>51% of the UK's Electorate, "We The People..." will choose our future, for the first time in >40yrs.

Which, do you think represents the path to Real Democratic Franchise of The People? If those "above the line" continue to ignore the ingenuity and source of prosperity in the people themselves, then we can modify our arguments to include this FACT and then argue with even greater certitude in clearing up the "confusion generation" via this method: We promote democracy itself as the argument.

What is the Popular Referendum's ultimate function: Whichever Result that leads to More Democracy. It's as simple as that.