|
...to framing the political and social debate. Perhaps I should have made that point. In fact, I engage in that activity myself. I am saying BEWARE, BEWARE, BEWARE of the Karl Rove/news monopoly brainwashing that the Bush Cartel was re-elected, that the Right is on the rise, that they represent the majority, that they have somehow "won the argument," that the Left is dying, that the Democrats are a minority party, etc., etc., etc. These things ARE NOT TRUE. But, because they have fascist control of the news monopolies, they can make them APPEAR TO BE TRUE--even to US, who know the facts about the election.
I cannot stress to you how important this is. WE--Democrats and progressives--are the vast majority in the country. WE are the mainstream of America. Fairness, justice, tolerance, generosity, lawfulness, peacefulness--these are our values, and they are shared by MOST Americans. WE won the election on these values. The American people REJECTED the Bush regime and its unfairness, injustice, intolerance, greed, thievery, mass murder and torture, and utterly hypocritical use of religion.
Bush, and his puppetmasters, and the Bush Cartel's "pod people" in Congress and in the news monopolies (who repeat the party line without independent thought) would have you believe otherwise. They are not "winning a debate." They are liars, cheats and criminals. They are ENFORCING their views with corporate propaganda techniques and through sheer financial power.
This, to me, is why election fraud investigation and activism (informing people of the facts) is so important. What do we have here? A problem of persuasion, or a problem of fascist suppression of the truth? Persuasion is always a factor in politics. But if major facts and truths are being suppressed, then you don't have a stage upon which persuasion can occur, and your first job must be understanding what has been suppressed and getting it out in the light of day, so that it CAN be debated.
Let me give you an example. We ourselves use the word "conservative" to describe the Bush regime's radical fascism. Is there anything LESS conservative than a trillion dollar deficit? Is there anything LESS conservative than gobbling up and destroying all the world's natural resources--trees, oil, water, air--with no thought of the future, with no planning for our children? Is there anything LESS conservative than invading another country, killing over 100,000 of its citizens, occupying the country and taking over its major resource, oil, based on a pack of lies about that country's threat to us?
WE OURSELVES USE THIS WORD, CONSERVATIVE, TO DESCRIBE THEM. They don't have to win a debate with us. They have the news monopoly power to define what words mean, and to brainwash US into the using them--that is, into helping them enforce the DELUSION that they are "conservative" (careful, cautious, far-thinking, mainstream, acting for the common good, non-radical)!
Can we debate them? Is there a debate? Is there any "mainstream" forum in which their ENFORCED DELUSION can be challenged?
The answer is no.
So, what WE need to do is, a) purge our brains of their propaganda; and b) understand that we are the majority and help OTHER members of the majority purge their brains of the fascist propaganda that we are not!
We don't do that by "framing the debate" for Bushites. We do that by "framing the debate" for the MAJORITY--and, critically important, finding and creating alternative means of communication in which real debate can occur!
DU and other Internet forums are a good example. Town halls, teach-in's, meetups, etc., are another. New radio (Air America, Democracy Now and others), locally controlled radio, film, DVDs, and whatever TV that the real mainstream can get access to, are yet another. Local independent newspapers are another (papers like the Lone Star Iconoclast in Bush's home town, Crawford, TX). We are in fact creating the news media that we need.
My other shtick is the phrase "mainstream media." I hear it everywhere. I heard it again on Air America yesterday. WE use it. And it is NOT TRUE. There is NOTHING MAINSTREAM about the "mainstream media"! Yet every time we use it, we reinforce their brainwashing message in our own brains, and in those who hear us--that the fascist propaganda of the news monopolies reflects "mainstream" opinion.
Can we--the majority, the MAINSTREAM OF AMERICA, which is essentially progressive--be heard on our fascist-controlled airwaves? No! So what is the use of "framing our debate" for those fascist newsmongers and commentators and the MINORITY rightwing citizens whom they pander to (and I mean the lot of them--the NYT, the WaPo, the WSJ, as well as the alphabet soup of wretched TV and radio news monopolies--not just the Rush Limbaughs)?
I repeat: WE ARE THE MAJORITY, and we are not being served by the news monopolies, we are being brainwashed by them. And we have to CAST THEM OFF--not "debate" with them. They aren't listening. They don't care. They are elitist greedbags and war profiteers--just like the Bush oil cartel and the corporate fatcats that they serve. If we think they will permit any real debate--or provide the majority with any stage upon which to "frame the debate"--we are badly fooling ourselves.
This is my chief argument with Lakoff. He assumes that we have a podium at which to speak! We do not! They've taken the podium and the stage away, and have tossed the majority of Americans into the garbage bin, after robbing us blind.
How do you "debate" with murderers and thieves? How do you "frame a discussion" with mobsters? How do you even talk with rightwing Christian fanatics when they are smelling the power to enforce a state religion?
You have first to get over your fear of them. You have then to ENTIRELY REJECT their terms and their power over you. And, finally, you have to act in concert with all the peaceful people who disagree with fascist rule--the vast majority--and EJECT the bad guys from your community, because they are not civilized; they do not want debate; they want to enforce their will upon you.
How we are going to eject the bad guys is election reform at the local/state level. That is the most feasible plan.
All of the debate on the left about issues and about "how to frame the debate" is okay. It helps people realize just how out of the mainstream the Bushites are. But, again, BEWARE, BEWARE, BEWARE of thinking that minority Bushites are persuadable. They are into power, not persuasion. Raw power. Smashing your face in. They need to be removed from civilized society, and democracy restored.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
