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Something chilling occurred to me...
It seems like people are no longer outraged at the idea of things like the government having spin doctors, or elaborate coverups of wrongdoing by people in power, or or public figures directly, actively lying about things.
It seems that not only do people expect and accept those lies, but they *want* to be lied to.
Somehow people have gotten the idea that ignorance really is bliss, and that thinking about corruption and people abusing power, etc. is just too much, and so they'd rather have that glossed over and hushed up. It's almost like little kids who don't want to know that their parents have flaws, so they shut their eyes and cover their ears and pretend those flaws don't exist.
Is this learned helplessness? Is it that we feel we have no power to change these things so we'd rather not know about them so we don't have to be frustrated about being ineffective? How can it be that people have gotten the notion that even voting doesn't do any good so why bother?
It's as if we're all enablers. All abuse victims who have given up trying to fight back. Sometimes that's useful, for keeping yourself sane in a situation you have little control over, but the thing is, we DO still have some control. We can write to our representatives and let them know how we feel. We can vote. We can join political campaigns, or even just contribute to them. We can raise awareness. We're not under a totalitarian state just yet, but as long as we continue to be complacent about the abuses our leaders do, we're going to get there. The paralells between modern-day America and 1930's Germany are stark and frightening. Somehow, Bush and co. have managed to stuff it into people's heads that true patrotism means supporting your president, no matter what awful stuff he does. People have gotten so afraid of the terrorist boogeymen that they want big Daddy Bush to protect them, and are willing to overlook whatever horrid stuff he and his administration do as long as they feel safe. Only we don't feel any more safe than when we started, do we?
True patrotism includes auditing your government. It includes refusing to accept infotainment. It includes following money trails to find out where information is coming from and who's benefitting from it. It includes voting. It includes holding representatives responsible for upholding the constitution.
November can't come soon enough.
It seems like people are no longer outraged at the idea of things like the government having spin doctors, or elaborate coverups of wrongdoing by people in power, or or public figures directly, actively lying about things.
It seems that not only do people expect and accept those lies, but they *want* to be lied to.
Somehow people have gotten the idea that ignorance really is bliss, and that thinking about corruption and people abusing power, etc. is just too much, and so they'd rather have that glossed over and hushed up. It's almost like little kids who don't want to know that their parents have flaws, so they shut their eyes and cover their ears and pretend those flaws don't exist.
Is this learned helplessness? Is it that we feel we have no power to change these things so we'd rather not know about them so we don't have to be frustrated about being ineffective? How can it be that people have gotten the notion that even voting doesn't do any good so why bother?
It's as if we're all enablers. All abuse victims who have given up trying to fight back. Sometimes that's useful, for keeping yourself sane in a situation you have little control over, but the thing is, we DO still have some control. We can write to our representatives and let them know how we feel. We can vote. We can join political campaigns, or even just contribute to them. We can raise awareness. We're not under a totalitarian state just yet, but as long as we continue to be complacent about the abuses our leaders do, we're going to get there. The paralells between modern-day America and 1930's Germany are stark and frightening. Somehow, Bush and co. have managed to stuff it into people's heads that true patrotism means supporting your president, no matter what awful stuff he does. People have gotten so afraid of the terrorist boogeymen that they want big Daddy Bush to protect them, and are willing to overlook whatever horrid stuff he and his administration do as long as they feel safe. Only we don't feel any more safe than when we started, do we?
True patrotism includes auditing your government. It includes refusing to accept infotainment. It includes following money trails to find out where information is coming from and who's benefitting from it. It includes voting. It includes holding representatives responsible for upholding the constitution.
November can't come soon enough.
