Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree
The New American Pastime - Ignoring the Truth to Accommodate a Lie
As I watch the political machinations of extremists of every stripe in this country, it occurred to me that maybe I should write a book of fiction. That seems to be the only way left to slip a little truth in to the American people. The people of this country have been lied to for so long and so consistently, that they’ve become much more responsive to a well articulated lie than they are to reality. So at this point, a work of fiction would have to be about fairies and pixy dust not to come closer to the truth than what currently passes for political reality in America.
Over the past thirty years we've allowed the most extremist forces in America to take over our political environment. As a result, truth no longer matters. What's become more important is how effectively truth can be distorted to conform to a given ideology. This philosophy has become so fully embraced by our society that instead of the press digging for the truth as was traditionally the case, they're now more like handicappers, reporting on whose lie is likely to play most effectively with the American people - "Mitt Romney's latest lie on job creation seems to be polling well in the battle ground states."
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But lying is not limited to the GOP. Tavis Smiley and Cornel West have also elevated lying and demagoguery to unprecedented levels in the Black community. With their highly innovative "Poverty Tour" scam, Tavis and West are using Obama's-not-Black-enough rhetoric, along with impossible demands, to marginalize the President. The tactic is designed to anger Black people and drive them away from the polls. That, in turn, benefits the GOP, and delights Tavis and West's corporate benefactors - ca-ching!
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But in spite of the fact that every available indicator, and simple common sense, suggests that Tavis and West are, let's say, less than sincere about their deep concern for the poor and middle class, there are people who are so passionate about their own one-issue ideology that they find it more convenient to embrace a lie than to face the truth.
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For such people, the truth is inconvenient, so it doesn't matter how hard Tavis and West are fighting to bolster the position of the GOP, a group whose sole purpose in life is to cut the throats of the poor and middle class. Instead of facing this truth, they'd rather be angry at Obama for refusing to shove their personal religious beliefs down the throat of the rest of America. Thus, instead of facing the reality that corporate fascists are poised to change the very character of American as we've known it, these people would rather embrace smoke and mirrors, and promote arguments that distort reality in a way that conforms to their particular ideology. In short, the American people have been conditioned to give ideology priority over truth.
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I mean, what do you say to a man who says, President Obama is un-American because he's engaged in a socialist plot to make sure my family has health care? And what do you say to people who take the position that Obama is an arrogant elitist - "How dare he try to send my kids to college!!?" And then there are the people who say, "Sure, Obama stopped the the country from hemorrhaging 800,000 jobs a month under Bush and then created more jobs in 27 months than Bush did in 7 years, but that's not good enough, so we need to go back to the old way."
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There's nothing logical left to say to such people. They're immune to logic, so the only thing left is to write a book of fiction to give them a sneak peak at the kind of world they're asking for - and I was thinking, maybe it would help to have it animated and staring Yogi Bear. But I've decided to try logic one more time . . . MORE
http://wattree.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-new-american-pastime-ignoring-truth.html