Delphi Technique Being Used in Vergennes, Vermont

The Delphi Technique is an unethically manipulative technique used to steer public opinion about a particular issue to arrive at a predetermined outcome while making everyone feel like their voices are being heard. Here is an example where outside money brought paid facilitators to a public meeting who then used aspects of Delphi to limit who could speak to the group, shut down dissident speakers with time blocks, moved the group into multiple "breakout sessions" so that dissidents couldn't speak to the entire group, and then shut down the dissident voices by muting them on Zoom and kicking them out of the "public meeting" altogether. Stay tuned.

Information on the Delphi Technique
The Delphi Technique was developed in the 1950s by the RAND Corporation for the U.S. Department of Defense. It was originally intended as a psychological weapon for use during the cold war. However, the technique is effective in manipulating any meeting toward a predetermined end. The steps of the technique include:
1. The facilitator (the change agent) must be someone with whom most of the audience can identify.
2. The facilitator initially identifies potential opponents and frames them as foolish, aggressive, etc., thus warming the rest of the audience to the facilitator.
3. The audience is broken into six or eight discussion groups, with topics chosen by the facilitator. Typically, members are asked to write down concerns and turn them in to the facilitator.
4. The facilitator selects only concerns from the compilation that are consistent with the desired outcome. These concerns are then addressed in the final discussion, which ultimately supports the desired results.
5. The participants and the community at large are told that the conclusions reached at the meeting were the result of open public participation.
Search: https://dsearch.com/search?q=Delphi+technique+group+manipulation

Additional resources;

Delphi in action in NH https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV-p8uUjBbM

The Delphi Method - Techniques and Applications - Linstone and Turoff
*Matt’s note – This has since been removed from the Informatics Department website at the New Jersey Institute of Technology but can be found on the internet archive for now at:
https://web.archive.org/web/20040716065634/http://www.is.njit.edu/pubs/delphibook/delphibook.pdf

BK Eakman - How to Counter Group Manipulation Tactics: The Techniques of Unethical Consensus-Building Unmasked
Search for Eakman
https://dsearch.com/search?q=BK+Eakman+-+How+to+Counter+Group+Manipulation+Tactics%3A+The+Techniques+of+Unethical+Consensus-Building+Unmasked

“Delphi is used in school board meetings, in trainings, at neighborhood association meetings, and other places where the organizers want to give the appearance that they have listened to community opinion and incorporated it into their plan.”
― Rosa Koire, Behind the Green Mask: UN Agenda 21

“The key thing to know about this is that of course you have no input. Only comments and observations that support the pre-approved plan will be supported. All others will be written on a big pad of paper and discarded later. The illusion of public buy-in is all that is needed. The organizers can later point to the fact that they held a public meeting, a certain number of residents attended, public comment was taken, and the community approved the plan. The facilitator is often a private consultant who has been professionally trained in running and managing a meeting. This consultant has been hired by your city to fulfill the requirement that the project has been seen and supported by its citizens---it’s YOUR plan.”
― Rosa Koire, Behind the Green Mask: UN Agenda 21

Exposing the Delphi Technique in Public Meetings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zpA1althjo

https://www.defendruralamerica.com/files/DefeatingDelphi.pdf
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