It's a situation that makes me weep. I worked in newspapers right at the beginning of this downward trend. I'm glad that I'm not in journalism now.
As for how we got to this point where the press is parroting propaganda and U.S. citizens are being kept in the dark, there are so many different historical threads that it's hard to keep straight. Many of of those historical threads go back to the Nixon administration — and it's shocking how many people in GWB's administration also go all the way back to Nixon.
Part of the root of this is money. There are an awful lot of very, very wealthy people funding the neocons. Hence the screaming you hear about MoveOn and George Soros. (Soros is considered something of a "class traitor" by the neocons.)
Part of it is the rise of Christianists (backed by that neocon money), who want to put the U.S. under the "rule of the Bible," in very much the same way that radical Islamists (who are actually a minority in Islam) want to put their countries under Sharia law.
Christianists, by the way, seem to me to especially susceptible to authoritarianism. Talking to one of them is a lot like talking to someoen who's been brainwashed because, honest to God, they do not engage the real world in any way. It seems all of them are heavily involved in some kind of "shadow economy" in which they have religious alternatives to education, buying/selling goods, and media. All of it seems to be designed to keep away pesky ideas that might make them uncomfortable.
Please note: Not all Christians are Christianists. In fact, most Chrsistians aren't Christianists. It's just that right now the Christianists seem to have more power than their numbers indicate they should, in large part because GWB is one of them.
The Christianist-Neocon axis has spawned a lot of the U.S.'s current nightmares. It's pretty complicated to get into here, and keeping track of all the different tangled threads is a lot like trying to wrestle an octopus, but it's shocking how this has happened and how it's shocking how much power they have.
Also, I think people really do underestimate the effect elminationist rhetoric from the Christianists-Neocons has had on ordinary citizens. Let's face it: if someone kept saying on the radio over and over and over again that you should be killed because your political opinion is X instead of Y, and if you keep hearing people agree with them, you're going to keep a low profile.
(Media Matters and Orcinus are among the leading Web sites that keep track of eliminationist rhetoric and its effect on public discourse.)
As it so happens, I live in a state (Massachusetts), that has been the U.S. whipping-boy for ev0l libuhruhls since the Nixon administration. There are days when people in this state get criticized just for breathing oxygen by some of the more hideous wingnut broadcasters.
Seriously, if we ever get an spasm of violence like in Rwanda Genocide (Rwanda saw elminationist rhetoric spewed against Tutsis and moderate Hutus for years before the actual attacks), my state's on the hit list elimination.
And now I sound like a conspiracy theorist.
In truth, I confess that the real surprise isn't that Americans are so completely ignorant about what's going on both inside and outside the country.
The real surprise is that there are any politically engaged Americans who not only have (finally) figured out the truth about Iraq, but who hate the Bush administration as much as they do. That's the shocker.
no subject
As for how we got to this point where the press is parroting propaganda and U.S. citizens are being kept in the dark, there are so many different historical threads that it's hard to keep straight. Many of of those historical threads go back to the Nixon administration — and it's shocking how many people in GWB's administration also go all the way back to Nixon.
Part of the root of this is money. There are an awful lot of very, very wealthy people funding the neocons. Hence the screaming you hear about MoveOn and George Soros. (Soros is considered something of a "class traitor" by the neocons.)
Part of it is the rise of Christianists (backed by that neocon money), who want to put the U.S. under the "rule of the Bible," in very much the same way that radical Islamists (who are actually a minority in Islam) want to put their countries under Sharia law.
Christianists, by the way, seem to me to especially susceptible to authoritarianism. Talking to one of them is a lot like talking to someoen who's been brainwashed because, honest to God, they do not engage the real world in any way. It seems all of them are heavily involved in some kind of "shadow economy" in which they have religious alternatives to education, buying/selling goods, and media. All of it seems to be designed to keep away pesky ideas that might make them uncomfortable.
Please note: Not all Christians are Christianists. In fact, most Chrsistians aren't Christianists. It's just that right now the Christianists seem to have more power than their numbers indicate they should, in large part because GWB is one of them.
The Christianist-Neocon axis has spawned a lot of the U.S.'s current nightmares. It's pretty complicated to get into here, and keeping track of all the different tangled threads is a lot like trying to wrestle an octopus, but it's shocking how this has happened and how it's shocking how much power they have.
Also, I think people really do underestimate the effect elminationist rhetoric from the Christianists-Neocons has had on ordinary citizens. Let's face it: if someone kept saying on the radio over and over and over again that you should be killed because your political opinion is X instead of Y, and if you keep hearing people agree with them, you're going to keep a low profile.
(Media Matters and Orcinus are among the leading Web sites that keep track of eliminationist rhetoric and its effect on public discourse.)
As it so happens, I live in a state (Massachusetts), that has been the U.S. whipping-boy for ev0l libuhruhls since the Nixon administration. There are days when people in this state get criticized just for breathing oxygen by some of the more hideous wingnut broadcasters.
Seriously, if we ever get an spasm of violence like in Rwanda Genocide (Rwanda saw elminationist rhetoric spewed against Tutsis and moderate Hutus for years before the actual attacks), my state's on the hit list elimination.
And now I sound like a conspiracy theorist.
In truth, I confess that the real surprise isn't that Americans are so completely ignorant about what's going on both inside and outside the country.
The real surprise is that there are any politically engaged Americans who not only have (finally) figured out the truth about Iraq, but who hate the Bush administration as much as they do. That's the shocker.