ABSTRACT
An important strategy for allaying citizen concerns is to manage knowledge that could raise concerns about the spraying operation. This chapter illuminates the various strategies through which government officials sought to manage such inconvenient knowledge. One of these strategies was to prevent the production of such knowledge, and when preventing it was not possible other tactics included circumscribing the scope of the research and delaying its release to the public. Another strategy they use was to neutralize uncomfortable knowledge through an array of tactics, including suppression, omission, dismissal, denial, downplaying, and diversion. Additionally, they managed uncomfortable energy by attempting to muzzle potential sources of uncomfortable knowledge, such as the Community Advisory Group, the frontline workers, and the Ministry of Health. This chapter will make readers aware of the different strategies government entities can deploy to manage inconvenient knowledge, as well as giving them a greater understanding of how these strategies can be used to hamper the spread of opposition to a spraying operation.
