November 25, 2004

Body snatchers

These days quite a few Democrats talk as if they experienced an invasion of body snatchers on November 2. They keep saying things like "Who are these people who voted for Bush?" They frequently use the "F" word for them--"fascist," that is. You would think Republicans had just materialized out of thin air. Well, they didn't materialize out of thin air.

Were you conscious when it was drilled into your head that America is the best and the greatest? America uber alles? Were you awake in civics and history classes, when they told you America's system of politics and government is what the rest of the world should, and also will, try to emulate?

The propaganda system was so successful that the brainwashing took hold quite unconsciously. Now the November 2 election, like the hypnotist's snap of his fingers, has shocked some of the sleepers out of their deep slumber. They feel like they are in a foreign country. And they are right. The Republicans are the "real" Americans. The Republicans are the ones who believe that they must follow their President/Fuehrer, right or wrong, even when he is criminally insane.

The Republicans are the ones who understand "moral values." And what are moral values? They are the rules that society imposes on individuals when it has no faith in their own ethical inner light. The commandment "Thou shalt not kill" is a good illustration of this point. It was never meant as an absolute maxim of conduct emanating from an individual's understanding of the nature of his/her humanity. It simply meant "Thou shalt not kill members of your own tribe." Killing outsiders was condoned, and even encouraged. The "commandment" was just a contingent guideline.

Moral values or commandments are the exact opposite of ethical values. A moral person does what he is told. An ethical person does what his sense of what it means to be human tells him to do. Moral values are society's means of controlling individuals. Ethical values are the individual's means of influencing society's development.

If American Democrats are unwilling to examine the "values" they have been brought up with, they might as well run a garage sale with the Democratic Party's assets, and get used to a one-party system.

3 comments:

Al S. E. said...

Thanks very much for your comment. I would be pleased to have your comments on some of the other items in this blog.

RB said...

Fascist? President/Fuehrer? C'mon. It is hard to have meaningful communication when such inflated language is used. Do you really believe this to be true? If using such wild language isn't propoganda, what is? (see my other thoughts about this) Both sides on these issues have different and legitimate thoughts, but the language you use exacerbates the polarization. (btw, Conservatives use polarizing language too, so they get the same rebuke from me)

Al S. E. said...

Thank you very much for your comments. I plead innocent to originating the use of the word 'fascist' to refer to Republicans. That's what they seem to be called in at least one out of every five political blogs these days. As to polarization, I don't believe it is a question of reducing or exacerbating it these days. The Bush-Rice-Rumsfeld-Wolfowitz-Rove cabal are absolutely inflexible in their beliefs and methods. It is not possible to ameliorate the polarization between them and sane people. Meanwhile, they are killing tens of thousands of people, and the American people are drugged unconscious by the propaganda they have been subjected to all their lives. I believe powerful polemics is the only thing that has any chance of waking them up to reality.