What I tell you three times is true

Today's Globe reports that Stephen Harper has accused Stéphane Dion of being soft on terrorism. I'm wondering whether Harper actually thinks this, or whether he and his strategists have identified crime and terrorism as a wedge issue, and are trying to associate the Liberals with softness.

I think I've finally figured out another of the things that is bothering me about the Tories' tactics. I'm no expert on psychology, but I seem to recall reading that the human brain tends to operate on the "what I tell you three times is true" principle: if you hear or see something over and over again, your brain tends to absorb it whether you like it or not. It's why advertisers run the same commercial several times in an hour, and it's why propagandists throughout history have used short, repetitive phrases to get their message across.

To put it another way: let me try an experiment. Read the following (which may or may not be true):

Stephen Harper likes to eat way too many blueberry pancakes.
Stephen Harper likes to eat way too many blueberry pancakes.
Stephen Harper likes to eat way too many blueberry pancakes.
Stephen Harper likes to eat way too many blueberry pancakes.
Stephen Harper likes to eat way too many blueberry pancakes.
Stephen Harper likes to eat way too many blueberry pancakes.
Stephen Harper likes to eat way too many blueberry pancakes.

Now, think of Stephen Harper. What are you thinking of right now? And what if I were to do this over and over again, every day, in a variety of print and visual media? There's no way you're going to be able to ever think about our sitting Prime Minister without thinking about blueberry pancakes, right?

This is what the Tories are trying to do with their chosen wedge issues, and it seems unfair to me.