I’m going to be publishing online my new book, working title “The Industry Playbook: Corporate Cartels, Corruption and Crimes Against Humanity” chapter by chapter, with the plans of officially compiling it into a book and publishing it down the road.
Speaking about Big Tobacco, Judge Haddon Lee Sarokin stated, “A jury might reasonably conclude that defendants in particular, and the industry in general, intentionally and willfully ignored the known health consequences to consumers from the sale of their products; that their so-called investigation into the risks was not to find the truth and inform their consumers but merely an effort to determine if they could refute the adverse reports and maintain their sales. Defendants were confronted with a choice between the health and lives of the consumers and profits and the jury could reasonably conclude that the industry chose profits. Health of consumers does not receive even passing mention in the internal documents of the defendants, except as to the advantage to be gained by expressing such concern publicly.”
“The evidence presented also permits the jury to find a tobacco industry conspiracy, vast in its scope, devious in its purpose and devastating in its results,” continued Sarokin. “The jury may reasonably conclude that defendants were members of and engaged in that conspiracy with full knowledge and disregard for the illness and death it would cause.”
A conspiracy vast in its scope and devious in its purpose. That is what this book is about.
Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it. We’ve all heard this phrase. But as it’s become somewhat cliché, few really aim to understand history, especially what I would call its seedy underbelly.
If history is written by the victors, you must dig below the surface, past the whitewashing and PR spin that the victors engage in.
Large corporations, such as those companies that make up Big Tobacco, make tons of money. I’ve got no problems with that, owning for-profit companies myself though far smaller in scale. Profits are used to secure more profits. Again, this is no real indictment yet.
While advertising is one such tool, and easily seen, it is the behind-the-scenes strategies that are far more powerful. This “marketing” of science, legality, journalism, and influence at the highest levels of government is ultimately far more important to their bottom line than ads on billboards, magazines and TV.
And this is where I say the line is crossed.
In the world of mega-corporations, especially publicly owned, it is simply a matter of cost-benefit analysis. It would be unprofitable and unwise to not engage in such tactics. In fact, it would be illegal because of their fiduciary responsibility to shareholders to maximize profits.
When cutting corners and shady practices pay, you can bet that we’ll see more of those. And that is exactly what we’ve seen over the decades.
When actual criminal activity pays, you can bet that we’ll see more crime. It would be logical and profitable to engage in crime if you get away with it time and time again. Or be punished with a fee less than the profits made. That makes it just a business expense.
With more profits, you have more money by which to do even more. These ill-gotten gains give their possessors more power to continue further down the same route. Not to mention, once you’ve made one step in the direction of lying, cheating, and covering up, the next step is more obvious.
For these reasons, we’ve seen an expansion of the industry playbook over time rather than a shrinking of it. The strategies are more numerous. The plays are done even bigger in scale.
Everyone I know is vaguely aware of what Big Tobacco did in peddling cigarettes. VAGUELY being the key word.
Ask yourself how did they get away with being hugely profitable for decades and decades once the science was clear about the risks?
I would argue you must understand the details. Why? Not because you’re likely to get tricked by Big Tobacco in the future (though as we’ll see later the youth of today are being tricked by the exact same industry). Instead, my aim is not for you to just understand Big Tobacco, but because these same strategies and tactics are used by industry after industry.
Many industries are successfully using the exact same methods today and most people are none the wiser.
The average person has not learned THIS history. It’s certainly not being taught in schools.
While Big Tobacco has lost some of its once triumphant power, we must understand how the system operated and still operates. There is no doubt that Big Tobacco did lose key battles. Just like a military at war, some learned from such loses.
The PR firms that Big Tobacco worked with learned. The lawyers learned. Those that would control scientific opinion learned. Those that would buy politicians and regulators learned.
This is why “a conspiracy vast in its scope, devious in its purpose” appears to be going on. Like a disease of corruption, it has spread and infected the top businesses and echelons of power the world over.
It’s not one big conspiracy, but a bunch of smaller ones, because the problem is systemic. To dismiss such as conspiracy theories as is often done is foolish. Such a tactic of labeling things that way is in fact used by those in power.
That’s why I wrote The Industry Playbook. It is a user’s manual for the public of those tactics and strategies that are used to influence how they see the world. A worldview that protects and increases big companies’ bottom lines, often while sacrificing health and wellbeing of the public at large.
Their goal is to steer science. Their goal is to steer regulation. Their goal is to steer legislation. Their goal is to steer not just public opinion, but professional opinion as well, as that is the key to steering the rest.
Big companies have accomplished these goals far more than they have failed at them.
The goal of The Industry Playbook, as I’ve laid it out here, is to give you details on the exact plays as used by Big Tobacco as our first example, then industry after industry from asbestos to lead in gasoline, chemicals to agriculture, pharmaceuticals and more, so that you become aware of them.
Or better yet, with this exposure, to become immune to them.
Education of the populace is ultimately what is necessary for such methods to stop working. If everyone could call out such tactics on first sight, they would lose effectiveness. If we all laughed at the blatant PR spin, the obvious industry misled science, the recognizable political favors, some of these wrongs could be righted.
Too many people have an unthinkability bias when it comes to this stuff. They can’t even imagine the state of our world is as bad as it truly is. I feel that is for two reasons. First, most people don’t see how it could be done, and that’s for lack of understanding how the playbook works.
Make no mistake, the methods described herein have been worth trillions of dollars.
Secondly, most people being good-natured, this kind of evil is unthinkable. I use the word evil purposefully. When you put profit above human misery, lying to do so, that qualifies as evil in my book. So I say it is only by looking evil in the eye and not blinking that we can hope to transform it.
The evidence is dark. But the evidence is there, and all you need to do is scratch below the shiny façade to find it.
There’s a saying that the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. Industry after industry would have you believe these strategies didn’t exist, that they were being above-board with everything they say and do.
But the evidence is more often than not to the contrary. So much so that the default position of skepticism for anything said by big business, it’s PR people and all the journalists, scientists, and politicians influenced by them, is the best route to go.
Corruption is a systemic problem that gives rise to crimes against humanity. This book will show you how and why.
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Completely concur. Some refer to the pr angle as The Overton Window. Sadly, the various mountains of culture have become afflicted with the disease (health/medical, government, education, media, religion, the arts). Hey, get ready to be attacked. You will be “kicking the bear”. I pray for the truth tellers.
Thanks John. The Overton Window is quite a useful concept to understand, and you’re right, it is worth talking about it’s relation to PR. I’ve been “kicking the bear” for a while now, and will be honored to be attacked more. That would signify I’m a threat worth going after!
Thank you and keep it up !very much appreciate all you do for our health ,education, Blessings