A Nation on the Edge of the Final Descent (IV): A Country Ready to Follow Orders -- Even into Hell

[seemslikeadream]

http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2007/11/nation-on-...

Part I: Glimpses of the Horrors to Come

Part II: A Culture of Lies, and a Desperate Need for Action

Part III: Obey or Die

The tasering of Andrew Meyer became and remained a major news story for at least a week after it occurred. I didn't attempt to follow all the commentary; it would have been impossible for anyone to do so -- there was simply too much of it. But I tried to listen to and read a representative sampling of opinion, across the political spectrum. (Since I can't afford and thus don't have television, my listening was confined to radio.) As I showed in Part III, two primary themes announced themselves, regardless of whether a person identified himself as conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat: the axiomatic assumption that the authorities are almost always right in whatever they do, and the uniform insistence that the authorities must always be obeyed.

I heard only one person who offered an impassioned contrary view: Randi Rhodes. (I apologize if there were others who made the points she did, and if I unfairly overlook them. As I said, no one could have kept track of what everyone said on this subject.) Rhodes is a difficult case for me, for I very often find her to be deeply irritating. At her worst, she is an unconvincing partisan hack, offering the most threadbare defenses of the Democrats. For several months earlier this year, she offered the "Innocent Bystander Fable" at least three or four times a week; based on my irregular listening habits, it appears she still repairs to these falsehoods with untiring dependability. This fable is very obviously false, as David Sirota regularly demonstrates, and it is deeply insulting to any intelligent listener. When I hear Rhodes and other Democratic defenders rely on transparent falsehoods of this kind, I always wonder who the target of such disinformation campaigns is: those they appear to be addressing, or themselves. I suspect it is both. I'll consider this question further in some upcoming essays.

But about the Meyer incident and the subjects it raised, Rhodes shone very brightly. I extend my great thanks to her for her treatment of these critically important issues. Rhodes noted that many others characterized Meyer as rude and obnoxious, and they considered him to be only a troublemaker and rabble rouser, someone who was "looking for trouble" and was "asking for it." To all this, Rhodes responded: No, I would say he is informed. She went on to say that given what has been transpiring in the United States for the last several years, and what continues to transpire today (none of which has been altered or even slowed down in any significant way by the Democrats whose virtues Rhodes still attempts to sell her listeners on), people who are informed tend to be agitated.

[DCKit]

1. "...people who are informed tend to be agitated."

So THAT'S why I've been in such a pissy mood for the past seven years!

[mmonk]

2. Agitated, aggravated, angry, annoyed,

frustrated, frightened, disgusted, beside one's self, impatient, flabbergasted, flummoxed, confused, concerned, pissed off, incredulous, bewildered, stunned, restless, tearful, alienated, cynical, amazed, worried,...