Blackmail
1. Historically: A tribute formerly extracted from farmers and small owners in the border counties of England and Scotland, and along the Highland border, by freebooting chiefs, in return for protection or immunity from plunder.
2. By extension: Any payment extorted by intimidation or pressure, or levied by unprincipled officials, critics, journalists, etc. upon those whom they have it in their power to help or injure. Now usually a payment extorted by threats or pressure, especially by threatening to reveal a discreditable secret.
The Oxford English Dictionary, via.
Control File
1. Historically: a file kept by government officials to blackmail or destroy friends and enemies alike.
2. By extension: secret files or watch lists on protesters and other chronic malcontents kept by government bureaus, secret services, private contractors, paramilitaries, telephone companies, internet service providers, employers, libraries, and other entities to assist the duly constituted authorities in keeping things under control for the benefit of all concerned, with none the wiser.
Philanthropy and/or Voluntary Action for Social Change
1. Historically: an ineffectual effort by dupes to change a world owned and controlled by knaves.
2. By extension: Any subversive activity which by means of philanthropy, social organizing, satire, expose, meditation, prayer, or peaceful protest attempts to turn the world upside down, or right side up, depending which side you are on.
"Guilt by association" -- the unfortunate fact that others' attitudes and beliefs may be ascribed to you based on an ad hominem inductive fallacy. If I'm on those lists, well -- maybe you should be too! (Or vice versa, of course.)
My favorite list was the one that Senator Joe would shake for the cameras when he said, "I have here in my hand a list of 205—a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department." It turned out that his list was actually a laundry list of items he had left for cleaning at the Norge Laundry and Dry Cleaning establishment in Alexandria, Virginia. Such is the power of suggestion that the implication that such a list existed was sufficient to create chaos throughout the halls of government.
Posted by: Frank Paynter | June 04, 2008 at 05:32 PM
Yes, and the more misinformation a list contains, and the more secret is it application, the more effective even the rumor is in quelling dissent.
Posted by: Phil | June 04, 2008 at 05:36 PM