The following will be the most trenchant and insightful blog on the subject of the Tea Party I have ever written.
Or not.
Anyway, it seems to me, having read a good amount of responses from people who have taken issue with my political views, my writing style or just the audacity that I, an Ak-tor (I just swept my silk scarf over my shoulder and hailed a cab), should have an opinion at all, that I may have been focusing on the wrong target.
See, "they" -- that is, the corporate behemoths intent on creating a nation of mindless consumers -- are doing to We The People what they also do periodically to foreign countries with phlegm-producing names and brownish people who wear weird headdresses and who have something we want: weaving a fictional scenario in which said foreign peoples are demonized and dehumanized in order to elicit a gut (and therefore thoughtless) response from We The People so We The People will do what "they" want.
(Anyone who loathes my writing style -- and Satan knows, you're out there -- should be good and whipped up by now. But hold onto your froth. There's more.)
Because, let's face it: corporate-bought government has let us all down, liberals and conservatives alike, let the promise of America down.
The apocalyptic gridlock that has become government itself, along with the now routine parade of corrupt, double-dealing corporate shills posing as elected officials, conspiracy theory-inducing disasters both natural and man-made, not to mention the hash that's been made of the basic decency and generosity of the American character through relentless exposure to mind-numbing "reality" shows and bleating talk-radio, have finally caused the usually complacent blob body politic to feel something like rage.
But true to their strategy, "they" know just what to do when the blob stirs. They put a little English on it and send it careening off target.
One thing "they" do is to recruit low brow, low expectation, highly unstable fringe types to run as candidates, "representative citizens" of the mass's righteous anger. These Know Nothings seem to be propped up in front of microphones like the CIA scouts potential assassins, for they are chillingly dumb, malleable as warm putty and believe that Obama is not an American citizen, health care is a socialist plot and people should be restrained from masturbating.
I mean, I will only stop masturbating when they pull my genitalia from my cold dead hands. But I digress.
The lengths "they" go to in order to keep citizens divided, confused and terrified are, well, lengthy. Seeing that real anger has been roused in the hearts of normal working citizens, "they" went into action and placed arguably attractive drones to lead the flock away from the real source of their anger, all the while playing the victim and attacking. No wonder masturbation is off limits. Who has the time?
Those who stand in opposition are similarly led into the contrived fray, having their responses triggered by the spectacle of misspelled signs, automatic weaponry and endless seas of waving flags and thankfully still-out-of-fashion tricorn hats and, true to their character, analyze, probe and dissect the situation to little or no effect.
Unfortunately, decades of consumption-mania have rendered America's collective IQ somewhat diminished from that of its international counterparts. And guys like Glenn Beck, who daily issue calls-to-arms from his mouth/ATM against the evil liberals, are the equivalent of corporate villainy hiding in plain sight, for "they" know that it just fuels people's images of cartoon tyranny, while the real subjugation is going on away from the fray.
So here's the point: it all depends on what you believe in.
If just winning is the goal, if one's life is less that of an American citizen living in the greatest experiment in democracy the world has ever seen, and more a Vince Lombardi pep-talk poster hanging in an office cubicle, then change nothing.
But if a productive, prosperous, creative, strong, wise and fertile future for America is the goal, then uniting all that has been purposefully divided is what will win the day; the unity "they" seek to deprive us of is the very thing that will defeat them.
A triumphant, democratically stable America is one where gunners, godders, birthers and death-panelers mingle freely and exchange recipes with treehuggers, truthers, Mosquers and gay(er)s. We've all been living and working side by side for more than two hundred years already anyway before "they" had to get all greedy and mess things up.
So how about you right-leaners use your superior organizing skills and commitment and we left-leaners use our hyper-sensitivity and analytical abilities to find the best candidate to express what is ailing both of us, uniting in spirit and body to create a true coalition of diverse Americans, with room for all (except the patently psychotic haters who have gotten way too much air time) to take back America from the real thing that's stolen it? And we know who that is.
How's that for trenchant and insightful?
Follow Steven Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@TheStevenWeber
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/11/doug-coe-inhofe-siljander-c-street?page=1
Enjoy!
And that I lived at 6135 Kensington Avenue and she lived at 5133, she should understand what that means.
I DID substantiate it... go back and read.. you're just choosing to conveniently ignore it.
Again, the goverment has the power of the military at their disposal. The government can IMPRISON us if we do not obey their rules, not so with the corporations. I believe that is darn good substantiation.
and, you said... "Substantiate it and I'll argue it."
I did... and then you said.. " CRICKETS "... aka "SILENCE".
It looks like "stupid" has got one up on you.
As usual, good points presented with humor. Love your style.
I'm more than happy to go out on a limb here, follow-up some of your points and say that the bulk of the political ignorance that is out there today is due to laziness and apathy. I direct this charge at We the People, not the CEOs, Wall Street thugs, elected politicos, and landed gentry. The very rich and very powerful are too often simply just corrupt. Their moral bankruptcy and sociopathic attitude is what leads them to commit acts of robbery, deceit, and injustice upon the American citizenry.
The mind-numbing "reality" shows are just that. Citizens have long ago forgotten how true the statement is that, "Democracy is not a spectator sport." When a citizen would rather watch endless TV, listen to loud and obnoxious tools on the radio, or basically decide to follow whatever fear-monger mouths tell them is fact, then the slide down the slope begins.
Some of these same individuals think that if they too yell loud enough, or dress up funny with teabags, they are doing their part. Wrong. They are just performing for their corporate masters. America will be on the road to recovering it's real greatness when citizens are willing to put in time to research, listen and realize we are in this mess together.
...political ignorance...is due to laziness and apathy.
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Hi John,
Let's examine this a little further. We have two possible situations here:
1) These people have been exposed to the truth and facts, but have decided to believe otherwise. This is called DELUSION.
2) They have NOT been exposed to the truth and facts, and are being deceived (manipulated) into believing lies. This is called COERCION:
"Coercion is the practice of forcing another party to behave in an involuntary manner (whether through action or inaction) by use of threats, intimidation, trickery, or some other form of pressure or force. Such actions are used as leverage, to force the victim to act in the desired way."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coercion
According to Dr. Lakoff, people perceive truth through authenticity and trust. Whether or not something is actually true is the least important factor. To gauge authenticity, they ask themselves, "Does this person believe what he is saying to me?" For the trust part, they ask, "Is he trying to deceive me in some way that harms me or helps him?"
One point of attack, backed up by evidence, should be focused against the manipulators' character. The other point of attack is to educate people to recognize for themselves when they are being exposed to manipulation tactics. Manipulation can only work when the victim remains unaware and is not watching out for it.
http://counsellingresource.com/features/tag/series-on-manipulation-tactics/
- Tom
COVERT INTIMIDATION
“Aggressors frequently threaten their victims to keep them anxious, apprehensive and in a one-down position. Covert-aggressives intimidate their victims by making veiled (subtle, indirect or implied) threats.â€
A)
SHUSTER: Is it unpatriotic if they say—is it unpatriotic—since patriotism was such a crucial theme in the run-up to the Iraq War and the way that the Bush White House defended it, is it unpatriotic to say that you hope the president fails?
FLEISCHER: David, I think it‘s the very nature of our system that people can believe that policies are not going to work. And you should stand on principles.
B)
This morning, Fox and Friends discussed former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s tell-all book above a chyron reading “Lack of Credibility.†Co-host Gretchen Carlson warned that McClellan’s “skeletons†would be exposed now that he has “betrayed†the president:
CARLSON: Scott McClellan better not have any skeletons in his closet. I hope he didn’t do anything that he doesn’t want the world to know about because we all have, and all of his secrets are going to be coming out.
C)
Earlier this afternoon, Cliff Kincaid, head of a conservative group Accuracy in Media, introduced Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN). Kincaid suggested that President Obama is a communist, then suggested Obama was not born in the United States — to which the crowd cheered wildly.
As usual, you are right on and erudite in your presentation.
I agree with your points. I was pointing out what I believe to be the starting sources of falling prey to coercion and covert intimidation. Ignorance and apathy.
I've witnessed far too many people who either just won't discuss political issues because they know everything and they are right. Or, the ones that say that all they can do is vote and they like to vote for the one that stands for patriotism and the one they can imagine having a drink with. Such scenarios always start from a major lack of insight and information.
If a person works to educate themselves – even long after college – they will not be taken in by the tools and mouthpieces that scream "Be afraid." They are better able to look for the man behind the curtain. I think it's probably safe to say that working class conservatives are dealing in a dangerous brew of coercion, covert intimidation, apathy, prejudice, ignorance and fear. Yikes! Halloween IS coming!
As to DELUSION vs. COERCION: I'm not familiar with this literature, but I propose there is a second way to manipulate - not force, but DECEPTION, trickery that leads the person unwittingly to act against his interests. This is the domain of the con(fidence) artist, who discerns the most vulnerable places in the mark and tells them what makes those parts feel the best - deceiving the rich widow into thinking she's found true love, so she will do anything, even push away her real loved ones, in order to protect the con man and give him anything he asks for.
I think that's what's going on here.
Terrific follow-up, and far more polite than I could have been.
As always, thank you.
But if you stop to think about it, didn't all these horrible politicians spring from the bosom of our society? They are not aliens from another world or foreign spies brought up in the U.S. to one day take a spot in government and ruin this country from within. (they're not right? i mean that's not really possible is it?)
How can it be a coincidence, a very long running coincidence, that in a country filled with decent, moral, hard working people the ONLY ones who rise up to run for elected office are the bad apples? Something is wrong with that paradigm don't you think?
A much more likely scenario is that we are always in a state of homeostasis. That at any fixed point in time politicians in Washington are a mirror of us as a nation so that if they seem extemely flawed as human beings it is because we all are, because we chose them to represent us.
That at any fixed point in time politicians in Washington are a mirror of us as a nation so that if they seem extemely flawed as human beings it is because we all are, because we chose them to represent us.
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OR the system is rigged such that politicians spend a large percentage of their time chasing after corporate campaign dollars in order to be re-elected. How about publicly-financed elections to even the playing field?
- Tom
But if you disagree with the author you should tell him why he's wrong and not simply name call like a third or fourth ... never mind.
I'll cut to my chase; divas on both sides got way, way out of control. Money people got too powerful and clever and overran the free market system. That is quite evident. People more concerned with social things overran that system, once they got too much power. Of course, the conflict grows, and people get angry, and then there's war.
For every twit pointed out on the right, there is an equally egregious twit on the left. (I'm theorizing, so please bear with me.) But the twits - and I'm being kind - can't have the last word. That's what's going on now. In my opinion, and people call me crazy, both sides are correct. Free market/capitalism is the way to go, but it has to be controlled with reasonable laws and regulations. That's the rub, of course. Everyone needs to behave.
But looking out for others, in all the myriad ways we've all learned about, can get out of control, too. As in to too much “looking out†because we feel sorry for someone's pain, for example. There needs to be reasonable regulations in place for that, too.
Yeah, you're trenchant and insightful. And whip smart. You have my respect, even if we disagree.
But looking out for others, in all the myriad ways we've all learned about, can get out of control, too. As in to too much “looking out†because we feel sorry for someone's pain, for example.
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I'm with you there. How about if we cut military spending, especially to those overly-coddled military contractors gouging the American taxpayer through fraud and abuse?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-14/dhb-industries-ex-chief-brooks-guilty-of-fraud-at-u-s-military-contractor.html
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/20/1834480/under-cloud-us-company-reaps-billions.html
http://media-newswire.com/release_1126789.html
Everyone talks about big government, but just what percentage of government dollars end up in the hands of private corporations?
- Tom
I say, cut military spending were prudent and necessary. That's the catch. Prudent and necessary according to whom? Everything needs hawking, from welfare programs to, as you stated, the military. And beyond. I'm not partisan on that, I'm for doing things right.
Of course, it's easy to sit at a computer keyboard, type that, and then go have a cup of coffee. The people charged with that responsibility have to feel that way, and then work on it. That brings us back to the sturm and drang of shaping the country.
Know what I like? That you and I can find each other and explain ourselves, and maybe reach some kind of accord. Maybe make things better.
Really? How does this description apply to folks like Allen West, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul (ophthalmologist), Joe Miller (West Point, Yale Law, Bronze Star medal, former judge), Nikki Haley, Stephen Broden, Mike Lee, Quico Canseco, and many more candidates supported by the tea party?
How are they low-brow, unstable etc.
And what exactly do you mean by "low-brow" anyway? Not suitable to visit your country club?
Marco Rubio - "Q.Are any Tea Party views too extreme for moderate voters?
A.“I think all the extreme views today in American politics are largely found on the left. On our public policy positions, we’re well within the majority on issue after issue.â€
Rand Paul?
i won't bother with the rest.