We have been at war a long time. Those who predict we will have a second civil war miss the mark. We have been in a second civil war awhile already. I hesitate to write these words. It too easily will invite comparison to other wars than the one we are in. Just as references to a holocaust always reminds us of the worst one we can remember, which killed millions of innocents selected by a small group within a larger group of those who considered themselves superior beings, while others stood by and watched. We know the details differ from that Holocaust and others before and after. Just as the details of this Civil War differ from the first. But, the strategy of war is clearly present; and we would see it, if we would start noticing what is truly going on.
Wars start with lies. Propaganda machines must be put in place to name an enemy in derogatory terms so vile we can convince ourselves killing the other is not only justified but ordained. Religious leaders must be brought round, lest they stand in the way of those who would destroy other human beings, or deny them their right to live unmolested. All those who would seek to protect the innocents from attack must be corrupted and rewarded for standing aside while war proceeds. The more people who slide into deception, the easier it is to win a war. Once the state approves the action through legislation and courts, it is nearly impossible to turn the tide away from war.
Newt Gingrich enhanced the lies. Media constraints were removed under President Reagan allowing propaganda networks like FOX News and others to assert lie after lie until truth was no longer a cornerstone of journalism. Even FOX newscasters argue in court they are not journalists but entertainers. Of course. More than a decade ago television news was removed from control of a Vice-President for news and placed under the Vice-president for entertainment. Overseas news bureaus were dismantled. These changes allowed for the consolidation of propaganda as news. The New York Times and the Washington Post journalists, old-school journalism, still require three sources to validate stories. How can they compete with an un-regulated internet of algorithm-base-profitability news releases? The Big Lie is not the first lie. It is the one we noticed. The big lie started a long time ago. And after Trump is gone, and the party of lies disbanded the lies will continue unless we stop them by restoring the regulations which insisted on truth-telling. Our democracy flourished when free speech, like other freedoms, were fairly and reasonably regulated to assure freedom for all of us. Autocrats do not want us to have free minds. They want us to have controlled minds.
Think this Civil War we are in has caused no deaths? Tell that to the 800,000 and still counting Americans who have died from Covid. Tell that to Ahmaud Arbery, and to the Native American women on tribal lands who are America’s “missing”, and to Asian-American women fearful of walking alone, and for all women afraid of walking alone at night, and for those whose sexual identity is under attack. There is a commonality to such attacks…those under attack are not white males who believe themselves superior. The attacks are done by white males who believe themselves superior. The number of attacks are increasing exponentially with the increase in the lies sanctioned by certain media outlets and social networks, including comments by members of Congress. The amount of money funding these congressional leaders, secessionist groups, white supremacist groups and social media influencers is staggering. Yet, we are told we are a nation in economic crisis caused by immigrants and refugees, unions, people of color, women in the workforce etc. There is plenty of money in this country. But as part of the new civil war we have continually enacted legislation to channel money to the already rich through our tax code, and bleed dry the middle class. The big lie continues to blame the poor for our economic failures. How can the poor lose money they never had? How can their inability to purchase goods and stimulate the economy be blamed on them? Big lies make us stupid. Big lies make us illogical.
When did secession become acceptable? Or has it always been so? Was it when Sarah Palin whose husband at the time, a known secessionist, was selected to run as Vice-President by the Republican Party? Those statues and monuments to secessionists are Big Lies, too. We have honored the Big Lie for a very long time. We have enshrined it.
Gingrich did not create it. He did see its value in promoting a Republican Party which continues to push white male supremacy as its core belief. It no longer has any other platform. It has become, quite openly, the secessionist party. Donald trump is merely the poster boy for misogynist, racist, wealthy white supremacy. The rest of America, including poor white men of good will are the victims of this Civil War. There is no culture war because America has no culture separate from its diversity of cultures. The American tapestry has served us well. It created a strong middle-class capable of supporting a democratic republic. But, a democratic and culturally diverse America stands in the way of autocrats and oligarchs seeking to consolidate their wealth and power.
Money bought legislative power and blocked political funding laws to stop this corrupting influence on legislators. Money bought candidates and blocked transparency in political ads. Money bought judges and blocked voting rights enforcement. While Democratic candidates, for the most part, rely on single low value donors, Republican candidates raise billions of dollars at home and abroad. Money floats across boundaries through multi-national banks and corporations. Trump, the money-launderer understands this.The great con man has always been a great liar. The republican Party thinks he is perfect for the job of continuing its assault on truth. Because trading truth for power is an acceptable value during war.
DEBATING THE OPTICS, By Louise Annarino, October 1, 2012
Even Howard Dean is falling for Republican talking points today advising us to mute our televisions and simply watch the debate without sound. Newscasters on every cable and broadcast network are discussing the upcoming debates as if all the audience is capable of is watching body language,especially in camera shots of one candidate’s reaction to what the other is saying. The only value given to what is being said,rather than to how the candidates look saying it, is the search for zingers. I do realize optics matter; but, they do not matter morethan the substance of what is being said. Such discussions as I have been hearing are disrespectful to the American public. We are not children. We are not fools. We understand the spoken word. We can think and we can analyze. We want and need to listen the details of where and how each man intends to lead our country. Romney consistently refuses, and so, does not want us to listen to President Obama tell us this. Distracting viewers from listening means Romney need say nothing; and what President Obama says goes unheard.
Certainly, newscasters and pundits do not intend to insult us. They need us to continue watching them. But,it is just so easy for newscasters to fall into the Republican trap. They understand optics because looking good means a wider profile and bigger bucks when delivering television news. It’s radio for the less lovely. Howard Dean may have fallen into the trap because he recalls how the “Dean Scream” became a deflating debate zinger in his own run for the presidency. Republicans know they have messengers ready to fall into the trap. It is a brilliant strategy.
The Republican strategy is also brilliant,however, for more sinister reasons. If the debate can be reduced to optics only, Romney can appear on stage as President Obama’s equal. Both can appear equally presidential,even when only one sounds that way. Even worse, the white guy in the business suit almost always trumps the Black guy in the business suit. Although, with changing demographics, Romney may alter his tanning times to appeal to a broader audience, as he has done in the past. How better to attack an African-American president than to make the debate all about optics. This further broadens the appeal of Romney to subliminally racist viewers,without any use of coded language. The racial coding is within the image itself.
If we devalue what is said by the candidates,and focus only on how it is said we allow ourselves to be set up for another Republicantactic Obama is a liar who uses his gifted rhetoric to lie to the American people. If no one is listening to his responses to the moderator’s questions, it is much easier to attack him in this manner. If we fall for an opticsonly debate,we fail our responsibility to be a fully informed voter.
Understanding the optics does give us additional information about each candidate. However, using optics as the central and most significant analytical tool while watching the debate is simplistic and makes us susceptible to propaganda. Listening to news analysis of the debate only from an optics viewpoint demeans American viewers. We deserve better. We have a right to be angry with those who are suggesting we set aside all of our senses to use only the one they can most easily manipulate.
annarino writes 
TRADING TRUTH FOR POWER DURING WAR
We have been at war a long time. Those who predict we will have a second civil war miss the mark. We have been in a second civil war awhile already. I hesitate to write these words. It too easily will invite comparison to other wars than the one we are in. Just as references to a holocaust always reminds us of the worst one we can remember, which killed millions of innocents selected by a small group within a larger group of those who considered themselves superior beings, while others stood by and watched. We know the details differ from that Holocaust and others before and after. Just as the details of this Civil War differ from the first. But, the strategy of war is clearly present; and we would see it, if we would start noticing what is truly going on.
Wars start with lies. Propaganda machines must be put in place to name an enemy in derogatory terms so vile we can convince ourselves killing the other is not only justified but ordained. Religious leaders must be brought round, lest they stand in the way of those who would destroy other human beings, or deny them their right to live unmolested. All those who would seek to protect the innocents from attack must be corrupted and rewarded for standing aside while war proceeds. The more people who slide into deception, the easier it is to win a war. Once the state approves the action through legislation and courts, it is nearly impossible to turn the tide away from war.
Newt Gingrich enhanced the lies. Media constraints were removed under President Reagan allowing propaganda networks like FOX News and others to assert lie after lie until truth was no longer a cornerstone of journalism. Even FOX newscasters argue in court they are not journalists but entertainers. Of course. More than a decade ago television news was removed from control of a Vice-President for news and placed under the Vice-president for entertainment. Overseas news bureaus were dismantled. These changes allowed for the consolidation of propaganda as news. The New York Times and the Washington Post journalists, old-school journalism, still require three sources to validate stories. How can they compete with an un-regulated internet of algorithm-base-profitability news releases? The Big Lie is not the first lie. It is the one we noticed. The big lie started a long time ago. And after Trump is gone, and the party of lies disbanded the lies will continue unless we stop them by restoring the regulations which insisted on truth-telling. Our democracy flourished when free speech, like other freedoms, were fairly and reasonably regulated to assure freedom for all of us. Autocrats do not want us to have free minds. They want us to have controlled minds.
Think this Civil War we are in has caused no deaths? Tell that to the 800,000 and still counting Americans who have died from Covid. Tell that to Ahmaud Arbery, and to the Native American women on tribal lands who are America’s “missing”, and to Asian-American women fearful of walking alone, and for all women afraid of walking alone at night, and for those whose sexual identity is under attack. There is a commonality to such attacks…those under attack are not white males who believe themselves superior. The attacks are done by white males who believe themselves superior. The number of attacks are increasing exponentially with the increase in the lies sanctioned by certain media outlets and social networks, including comments by members of Congress. The amount of money funding these congressional leaders, secessionist groups, white supremacist groups and social media influencers is staggering. Yet, we are told we are a nation in economic crisis caused by immigrants and refugees, unions, people of color, women in the workforce etc. There is plenty of money in this country. But as part of the new civil war we have continually enacted legislation to channel money to the already rich through our tax code, and bleed dry the middle class. The big lie continues to blame the poor for our economic failures. How can the poor lose money they never had? How can their inability to purchase goods and stimulate the economy be blamed on them? Big lies make us stupid. Big lies make us illogical.
When did secession become acceptable? Or has it always been so? Was it when Sarah Palin whose husband at the time, a known secessionist, was selected to run as Vice-President by the Republican Party? Those statues and monuments to secessionists are Big Lies, too. We have honored the Big Lie for a very long time. We have enshrined it.
Gingrich did not create it. He did see its value in promoting a Republican Party which continues to push white male supremacy as its core belief. It no longer has any other platform. It has become, quite openly, the secessionist party. Donald trump is merely the poster boy for misogynist, racist, wealthy white supremacy. The rest of America, including poor white men of good will are the victims of this Civil War. There is no culture war because America has no culture separate from its diversity of cultures. The American tapestry has served us well. It created a strong middle-class capable of supporting a democratic republic. But, a democratic and culturally diverse America stands in the way of autocrats and oligarchs seeking to consolidate their wealth and power.
Money bought legislative power and blocked political funding laws to stop this corrupting influence on legislators. Money bought candidates and blocked transparency in political ads. Money bought judges and blocked voting rights enforcement. While Democratic candidates, for the most part, rely on single low value donors, Republican candidates raise billions of dollars at home and abroad. Money floats across boundaries through multi-national banks and corporations. Trump, the money-launderer understands this.The great con man has always been a great liar. The republican Party thinks he is perfect for the job of continuing its assault on truth. Because trading truth for power is an acceptable value during war.
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