The Delphi Technique, what it is and how to counter it

TCOT Action Projects ^ | March 6th, 2009 | Jenny Hatch

[Jenny Hatch]

I just wanted to make everyone aware of the Delphi Technique. It is a Consensus and Facilitation technique that keeps those who are unaware of how it works from being effective political activists. For those who are just beginning as politically active conservatives, mastering the countering techniques will help us be much more effective as we move against the Marxists who have overtaken our government.

[Crim]

“Did you wonder why you could not persuade the other group?”

The new group of players lacked a specfic frame of reference for the premis of the counter arguement....aka..they were simpy ignorant of the relevent information to form an informed opinion of the merits of the old features....

This person exploited that lack of knowledge and coupled it with disinformation of the merits of those old features as an “expert player” and “game testor” ....

IE: it’s hard to argue that chocolate icecream tastes better than vinegar to someone who has never tasted it but has tasted vinegar...especialy with someone yelling over your shoulder that chocolate icecream sucks and that it’s worse than vineger...

“Did you think after the new game failed you should have been more hard headed?”

Shew....not sure I could have been more vocal....I gained quite a reputation for it...I was eventually banned from the testing group after becoming viewed as an “obstuctionist” and “aggitator” from those in charge of the testing group(who had also never played the old game)...

I was an easy mark....but then again...I wasnt very subtle in my opinions either...

“Just wondering. I don’t know how hard you fought or the circumstances. I just was thinking what I might have thought later. I realize majority rules, usually.”

I dont have such an issue with majority rules....so long as the majority is properly informed...

The current crop in the whitehouse being a firm example of what an uninformed majority can accomplish at the hands of a corrupt, manipulating few...

[norwaypinesavage]

"Why can’t we use this technique ourselves?"

One very serious problem with this method is that even when is is used without a planned, predetermined outcome, it still, often, fails to produce a useful consensus. It may often produce a consensus based on the most loudmouthed member of the group, not on the carefully considered opinions of all of the members of group. The most loudmouthed member of the group may be the boss, or the leader, and he will often suppress the very views he purports to encourage.

[agere_contra]

What do y’all think about a psychological and cognitive technique ping list?

That sounds like an excellent idea!

(suspiciously)   What is mnehrling up to? Get all the NLPs in a single honeypot group? I'll pretend to go along with it for now, but soon, soon ...

These specialist articles are one thing - but also we could ping especially egregious examples of manipulation in the press. Unfortunately that would make it the busiest, most redundant pinglist on Free Republic :0(

[Myrddin]

Thanks to both of you for extracting the essence of the Delphi technique. I've seen it in action. I've even been bamboozled in business "training" sessions with "breakout" sessions. The smell of the Delphi technique is well worn in business and governmental circles. My local city council operates via the standard "Robert's Rules". We don't have "facilitators" or "small consensus groups". Important issues often find the room figuratively armed with torches and pitch forks. The city council is well aware of the issues. There certainly are parties appearing with an agenda, but they aren't permitted to seize control of the meeting.

[MHGinTN]

"By which I mean: it’s not bad just because it’s dishonest, but also because in the end you would end up relying on slippery group dynamics rather than having and holding good ideas." Um dishonest is bad. Sorry you don't value that truth.

"Better to make sure one’s arguments are good, one’s position is sound ..." Um, it's above having actual values. Rush has been lecturing on values over policy for a week now. You apparently haven't captured the message! When you say one's position is sound, what you might want to say--since the fundamentals are less subject to twisting and dissembling techniques-- is 'the values are sound, based in moral character. So, if one uses dishonest techniques then the vaslues have been usurped to serve the lesser object of 'winning' above all else. We see the Democrat party has sunken to this low deacdes ago and now they are at the bottom opf a values cesspool thinking they smell rose as they dodge the result of swilling effluent for so long that they cannot recognize honesty or godly morals.

[Pessimist]

You’re so right!

I’ve always wondered about that. Seriously. Why don’t they call them on it?

I guess that’s what lead me to believe that we’re basically all just getting suckered by the entire process. We can get all up in arms about liberal this vs conservative that, but in truth we’re just arguing around the margins.

Meanwhile the entire scope of political discussion marches inexorably to the left.

Granted, Obama is really beyond the pale in that respect. But do any of us really think McCain would not have also either authored or at least readily approved a Dem spending plan?

No matter though. We can all go back to arguing about the 10 commandments in a court house, or octo-mom or something.

:(

[Myrddin]

You learned Russian to comprehend what the Russian commies were doing. The language skill missing today is Arabic. There is lots of subversive activity being conducted in Arabic speaking circles. There's plenty of other languages in use in the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan that warrant attention. If you don't understand the language, idioms and culture, you aren't prepared to detect what is going on.

[TomasUSMC]

If you carry a big stick you don’t need to know their stinking language. Everybody speaks BigStickish. But since we continue to fight like we did in Vietnam we are seen to carry a broken toothpick.

[Myrddin]

HE MUST stay in your face for this to work.

I find him too obnoxious to spend any time listening to his tripe. You make a good point about the "Covert Hypnosis". The "word smithing" is an essential part of making that work. I think that is why Obama reads the teleprompter verbatim. He can't afford to waste the efforts of the word smiths. Individually, his mind is relatively vacant. He can't carry a decent conversation or extemporaneous debate. He is a teleprompter reader...period.

[nuconvert]

“CS Lewis had interesting things to say about the damage good people can do when they decide to adopt immoral methods. “

Immoral?

Look - My point is, we can’t wait and rely on acting defensively all the time.

[nuconvert]

My point isn’t so much they we exactly copy this technique. But we need to be working offensively and not reacting defensively so much of the time.

[Myrddin]

I read somewhere that one of Alinsky’s rules was to hold the opposition up to their own highest standards. Why do you think he said that? ‘Cause he knew that would paralyze them.

The Democrats do this all the time to the Republicans. The least inkling of moral discrepancy has the Democrats screaming for the Republican to "step down". The Republicans typically cave. When the shoe is on the other foot, the Democrats just give everyone the finger and sweep the misbehavior under the rug. The Republicans again cave and cease to force the issue.

[Danae]

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

I am going to study up on this.

[Pessimist]

I guess it helps to have the media in you pocket...

[Myrddin]

If you carry a big stick you don’t need to know their stinking language. Everybody speaks BigStickish. But since we continue to fight like we did in Vietnam we are seen to carry a broken toothpick.

Card check aka Employee Free Choice Act is "BigStickish". Baseball bats working on knee caps. Coming soon to a workplace near you.

McNamara was a buffoon as Secretary of Defense. He tried to use B52s as crude farm implements to plow the countryside of Vietnam. It was a purposeful manipulation to lose and waste resources and lives. Democrats in action.

[outinyellowdogcountry]

Thanks for your reply. I bet you feel kind of vindicated at the outcome of the new game. Interesting.

You are correct about the Whitehouse crew. It seems to be playing out just like your situation, at least the election. Barney Frank, Nancy, Harry et al are the facilitators.

Roberts Rules of Order would be the perfect way to keep this nonsense from taking over. The problem I see is the lack of knowledge of proper procedures among 99% of people. That is why things are so dangerous.Ignorance. I wonder if Democrats run their meetings with parliamentary procedure or DT.

[DrC]

In related news...

A new study in the American Journal of Political Science explores how and when politicians can use fear to manipulate the public into supporting policies they might otherwise oppose. Politicians’ use of fear is more likely with regard to topics that are abstract and difficult for citizens (and/or the media) to observe.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/141254.php

[conservativeharleyguy]

They offered me Russian, Arabic, or Korean. At the time, Russian was the only one that interested me, and it was the hottest thing in town for a couple of decades.

The Arabic subversives have some other built-in counterintelligence advantages that the Russians lacked that make them harder to “bust out”. With their root-level, common Islamic frame of reference, you have to not only be fluent in Arabic and its myriad regional/historical/ethnic nuances, but you must also have impeccable Koranic knowledge, with all of its subtleties. I'll let the next generation of "98-goofs" handle it.

[xcamel]

ping if you missed it..

[Jenny Hatch]

“Thanks for posting this. I have known from the beginning that the so-called “forums” at the White House are just sessions in the Delphi Technique. In your opinion, are our congress critters really that stupid to not realize this?”

I don’t think its stupidity, no one wants to be the hard a** in the room whose being shoved down by the facilitator (n this case the president). I have played that lonely roll at several school board meetings - with the resultant side effect being a flaming article in our local Boulder Newspaper - and a series of harassing phone calls from the Gay Lobby to my home. It is EXTREMELY uncomfortable to be the only person standing up for moral values in a community.

No one in Congress wants to come off as an idiot, yet they are being played like an orchestra.

I just wanted to share the information so that these techniques can be diffused by people who understand what is going on. When the usefully idiotic in the media and the congress truly realize how they have been played - and some of them are already backing away - after the denial stops and the anger kicks in, we’ll have a backlash...

I’m looking forward to watching that happen.

Jenny