I was referring more to the seduction of the American people. The America of today is a far cry from the time when Thomas Paine wrote The Crisis and Common Sense. Those works are quite inspiring, and quite sensible, and the forefathers of our great nation envisioned a country that would be free, with little government interference in the affairs of the lives of the citizens, and a country that did not "go overseas in search of monsters to destroy."
My, how the times have changed, but, they really changed with George Washington taking the presidency. If one reads article from the New England Sun, and also does research about Thomas Paine and some of his seething comments to the General, one starts to get pictures. When one further does research into the history of our great father, one starts to see that what is written in the history books and what really happened are completely different things. He didn't make his money by chopping down cherry trees. One simply has to research to find out how Thomas Paine felt about Washington, and how many of the other influencing figures in the formation of our country felt about him. Of course, we are never given this balanced view in our school text books. The seduction and subsequent deception and debauchment of the American people began when the transformation from Confederacy to Republic was completed.
After this transformation was complete, the stage was set to bring the US into several wars. Another war in 1812, the Spanish American War, the Civil War, and the list goes on and on. In fact, there are very few times in the 228 years of American history that we have NOT been at war with SOMEONE, including the original inhabitants of the country, who were victims of an almost completely successful genocide. After WWII, the US emerged as a super power, with Europe destroyed by the war, and the US able to give loans, they build up their economy, and being the only country in WWII that had its industrial structure intact, America was able to become the leader. But, the spirit that built the US up to that position was dwindling.
If Ideal lovers are masters at seducing people by appealing to their higher selves, to something lost from their childhood, politicians can benefit by applying this skill on a mass scale, to an entire electorate. This was what John F. Kennedy quite deliberately did with the American public, most obviously in creating the "Camelot" aura around himself. The word "Camelot" was applied to his presidency only after his death, but the romance he consciously projected through his youth and good looks was fully functioning during his lifetime. More subtly, he also played with America's images of its own greatness and lost ideals. Many Americans felt that with the wealth and comfort of the late 1950s had come great losses; ease and conformity had buried the country's pioneer spirit. Kennedy appealed to those lost ideals through the imagery of the New Frontier, which was exemplified by the space race. The American instinct for adventure could find outlets here, even if most of them were symbolic. And there were other calls for public service, such as the creation of the peace Corps. Through appeals like these, Kennedy resparked the uniting sense of mission that had gone missing in America during the years since WWII. He also attracted to himself a more emotional response than presidents commonly got. People literally fell in love with him and the image.
Politicians can gain seductive power by digging into a countries past, bringing images and ideals that have been abandoned or repressed back to the surface. The only need the symbol; they do not really have to worry about re-creating the reality behind it. The good feelings they stir up are enough to ensure a positive response.
The people of that time recognized that the capitalist materialist paradigm which has dominated western thought for the better part of the last 400 years does in fact bring wealth, comfort, and wonderful toys. Toys such as Apollo Rockets, Jet airplanes, trains, and what not are part of the justification for this type of thinking and system. This is a lot like a medicine show where if the juggler is good, then the medicine must be even better, and this is not an entirely rational position to proceed upon because with wealth, comfort, and wonderful toys, comes a price. Nothing is free, everything has a price, and so it is with wealth comfort and toys, there are prices to pay. SOMEONE has to pay, perhaps this has some sort of relationship to the fact that the US is constantly at war?
Karl Rove, George W. Bush's campaign advisor has crafted Bush in the image of an old style American man. The continued pussification of American man in contemporary, post modern, information age America is disgusting. Harley Davidson theme restaurants seem to prove my point completely. I think of a lot of things when I think of Harley Davidson, but, the last thing I think about is a family restaurant. Of course, this should come as little shock considering that having a Harley is another way to compensate for lack of having a pair of testicles. A lot of rich people who normally store their testes in their wives' purses have their bikes shipping to Sturgess for the big rally, and then they get on their bikes outside of town, and ride into town as though they've ridden cross country like the hardcore bikers do.
With a punch of weak, pathetic, and fake people like this, someone like George W. Bush has appeal to men who are sick of seeing the men of America become weaker. As I travel, I've noticed that American men walk with a certain poise, a certain sense of confidence (sometimes bordering on arrogance), and I've seen the men of Europe and Canada walking a bit less sure of themselves. Though I will admit, that Canadian men come in at a close second behind the US, its just that I notice more Canadians who walk like European men than American men do.
Many men are afraid to discuss such issues with other men, because of homophobia. I also find this hilarious, but, I will not get off on a tangent about it. However, I will say that if men were able to be secure in their own sexuality, and not worry about what the other guy is doing, and not be afraid to look at what is happening to the other men in one's society, things would be a lot easier. As it is, I will make my views on homosexuality very clear. I completely support gay men, I do this because of my interests in women. My theory is that the more gay men there are, the more available women there will be, therefore, my self interested campaign is concentrated more on the marginalization of lesbianism, as this takes away from the pool of available women. OF COURSE, I am joking, sort of.... I don't discriminate against lesbians, but, I think I've made my ideological point pretty clear, though it was said in jest. I'm not formulating any campaigns to marginalize lesbians, but, it is my humble and secret opinion that the more women available the better, and as such I support homosexual men.
Now getting back to the point, with this atmosphere of pussification, weakness, homophobia, and all of the other disgusting traits tattooed on the bloated underbelly of American society, Karl Rove has made the George W. Bush construct that the people of the US and of the world have come to love or hate, there seems to be no in between. Myself, I am indifferent. To me, its all a show, and my voice has little if any power within the system, except maybe to attract the attention of Agents like the Secret Service who visited one Blogger's house, or DHS who made a lady remove her rubix cube copies from her shelves, or the FBI who came to a weight lifters house who had been talking about politics in the gym. Having said that, I do not really care. I spent my time, I had my piece, I said what I had to say, my cries fell upon deaf ears, and now, I will simply sit back and watch the show.
This George W. Bush construct is one where the man does not stop and ask for directions, he does what he feels is right, and if he screws up at the end of the day, then so be it, he is only human after all, right? This is the type of mentality that was prevalent in the US before the pussification of men, and this is the type of man that most weak and fake American men respect and admire, because they themselves lack these qualities, so by all means, their leader MUST have the qualities that they lack, even if this is merely symbolic, superficial, and ridiculous. This is the type of construct Karl Rove has created in George W. Bush submitted for the approval and consumption of the American people, and like all other things that have been fed to them since 1776, they are eating it up.
I prophecize more problems later on in this administration, especially if this thing with Israel and Iran heats up. I don't think the economy will improve all that much, but, I think the next four years are going to be good years for weapons companies and military and weapons related businesses. Karl Rove has done an excellent job seducing the American people, of course, there is also the voting fraud claims running around this year, but, it does not matter. I don't even wish to read these things. It happened in Florida in 2000, and as far as I am concerned from that time things changed, and subsequent study of the descent into fascism and totalitarianism is no longer necessary. It is a slow and gradual process, as it must be, or it would not work, but, that is the direction that the country is going in.
Right now, America is not only deciding what to do, but, what America is. With the re election of George W. Bush, and his subsequent cabinet shake up, it appears that things will stay their course, and continue for four more years, in the same direction. I can only hope that The President sees something that I do not see, or knows something that I do not know. It seems that resistance is futile, and as such I am only watching the show. I can only hope that things turn out for the best, but, it doesn't look like that from where I'm sitting. A great many of our fathers, grandfathers, et al, have been seduced by politicians, and this trend shows no signs of ebbing. In fact, the condition has been exacerbated and the continuance of this process may be foreshadowing a much greater catastrophe than anyone has imagined.
As Kennedy used dreams and lost glories to revive a nation, this administration uses fear. But, fear only works for a short period of time, otherwise the people will have severe mental problems. There are only two ways to go when fear is used to manipulate a person. The person either adjusts to it by minimizing the risks, and ignoring it, or the person becomes a paranoid nervous wreck who loses his control and cannot function in society. The American people can either realize that the odds of being killed by a terrorist are practically zero, and that these scare tactics are simply that, scare tactics. There is big talk about snipers, and that whole "one shot, one kill" mentality, but, snipers are simply for harassment. One sniper is not going to produce a massive amount of casualties, he simply terrorizes the group he is perusing. He fires one shot, and moves, and while his prey is looking for him in one place, he has moved to another, and fires another shot, and moves again.
A machine gun is a massive casualty producing weapon, and it will create a high body count in a short period of time, but, it is easy to see, easy to react to, and eventually, that machine gunner will be neutralized. A good sniper, however, will not be found. He will get a guy's grape in his scope, fire, and there will be grape juice everywhere. Imagine, if you will, walking down the street with your friend, wife, or even a stranger, and suddenly his head explodes. That is the type of situation a sniper creates. He induces fear, while producing very few casualties, and though he is harder to find, it is not impossible to find him and there are methods to disable and neutralize a sniper.
The American people have two choices, they can be motivated by the fear and harassment, which the government is also getting in on to tighten their hold of the people, to make more money, and for whatever other reasons one can imagine. There are many politicians, with many agendas, and so I will not even speculate or move into the realm of what some would call conspiracy theory and practice. The second choice is to simply analyze the risk, minimize the risk, and go on with your lives. More Americans die of alcohol related incidents than terrorism, but, you don't see a massive movement against alcohol. In fact, the times when the government tried to ban it they incited the whiskey rebellion, and the allowed for the formation and growth of a powerful new organized criminal element, that necessitated the creation of an unconstitutional FBI.
There we have it. We hide under the bed, let George W. Bush define reality for us, and cry to "make the bad man go away." -OR- We take some responsibility, do some assessment, analysis, research, and take the appropriate action. It is a choice that EACH person must make, and nobody can make it for anyone else. Anyone who is simply doing it because they see someone else doing it, is simply hiding under the bed. It takes an honest effort from a person who truly believes in what he/she is doing, otherwise, they might as well just hide under the bed, and maybe enough of us will rise up to make the bad man go away for them.
Notes in the margin:
With the visit of the Secret Service to a blogger's home, I must make the point that I in no way advocate the violent overthrow of the United States government, and I am in no way a physical threat to any elected official. I have my ideas, I have my opinions, and I am expressing them. I am often passionate about what I say, but, I'm not a revolutionary. The whole concept of revolution is a socialist concept, it is dead, and it is stupid, and it does not work as history has proven. I simply wish to make the point that I am not violent, and I'm not a physical threat to anyone just in case someone at DHS has taken an interest in what I am saying. Also, how Gestapo is that? I feel that I have to leave a disclaimer at the end of an expression of my political views in a public forum so I don't get harassed. What does that tell you about the state of affairs? Or maybe I'm just paranoid? Or maybe those who think I am, should get a cup of coffee and look around.
