What a way to run a country
We call it politics, but sometime during the last century it became increasingly clear that its propaganda -- the medium is the message and all that. Well its true, and basically all politicians are forced to adhere to the same approach.
Maybe it hasn't changed all that much, but the sophistocation of the techniques, and the money to execute them is truly frightening.
With Bush, politics has taken on a religious fervor -- the opposite of rationalism. We point fingers at those fundamentalist foreigners, but anyone with that messianic glint in their eye is no different.
And now the Republican effort to suppress votes is in full swing, the aim being to constipate the voting process in order to discourage votes being cast in primarily Deomocratic, minority, urban areas.
This seems a last ditch, dirty tricks effort since it is likely that any legal challenges to the process will not hold up. Probably the thugs won't even pursue challenges or appeals unless the vote is seriously close. But they're keeping their options open as the saying goes.
There is no doubt that however dirty the tricks, the faithful will find post hoc justification for them all should thier messiah manage to dominate the process. That this fervent blindness -- in both its hateful and optimistic forms -- has infected the right wing body politic is apparent in spades. The story out of Florida about the Bush rally at which a loyaty oath was administerd, complete with right arms raised, should leave no doubt that we have passed beyond hyperbole [about rw fascism] onto the genuine article.
I note this without a bit of smugness at having all of the dire forecasts of the increasing virulence of the rw mentality becoming manifest. More with sadness and, at this stage, with anger than fear. After KERRY WINS on Tuesday it will be time not to simply breath a sigh of relief and go on, but continue to address the sickness and rot that have infected this country while that which is good and decent in Americans has been eroded by extremism of the perpetrators and credulity and sloth amongst most of the rest of us.
The tools we have been honing in the runup to the election, including the new power of the word as delivered through cyber communication, will need to continue to hum.
Maybe it hasn't changed all that much, but the sophistocation of the techniques, and the money to execute them is truly frightening.
With Bush, politics has taken on a religious fervor -- the opposite of rationalism. We point fingers at those fundamentalist foreigners, but anyone with that messianic glint in their eye is no different.
And now the Republican effort to suppress votes is in full swing, the aim being to constipate the voting process in order to discourage votes being cast in primarily Deomocratic, minority, urban areas.
This seems a last ditch, dirty tricks effort since it is likely that any legal challenges to the process will not hold up. Probably the thugs won't even pursue challenges or appeals unless the vote is seriously close. But they're keeping their options open as the saying goes.
There is no doubt that however dirty the tricks, the faithful will find post hoc justification for them all should thier messiah manage to dominate the process. That this fervent blindness -- in both its hateful and optimistic forms -- has infected the right wing body politic is apparent in spades. The story out of Florida about the Bush rally at which a loyaty oath was administerd, complete with right arms raised, should leave no doubt that we have passed beyond hyperbole [about rw fascism] onto the genuine article.
I note this without a bit of smugness at having all of the dire forecasts of the increasing virulence of the rw mentality becoming manifest. More with sadness and, at this stage, with anger than fear. After KERRY WINS on Tuesday it will be time not to simply breath a sigh of relief and go on, but continue to address the sickness and rot that have infected this country while that which is good and decent in Americans has been eroded by extremism of the perpetrators and credulity and sloth amongst most of the rest of us.
The tools we have been honing in the runup to the election, including the new power of the word as delivered through cyber communication, will need to continue to hum.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home