tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851578517872251953.post960185269857515623..comments2023-10-10T05:07:13.577-07:00Comments on En Tequila Es Verdad: Happy Hour DiscursoDana Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00890312745525306991noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851578517872251953.post-61834633340375660632008-06-23T08:46:00.000-07:002008-06-23T08:46:00.000-07:00"Why do they believe that every country that shows...<I>"Why do they believe that every country that shows the slightest sign of disagreeing with us should be held at the point of a gun?"</I> -- If I had time to draw and post a diagram of how things look to me, this is roughly how it might be described:<BR/><BR/>Picture a small clump of powermongers. The movers in the Bush administration (Cheney/Rove/Wolfowitz/etc.) are probably the most obvious example, but there are others (just within the US, think of megachurches and large corporations). These people benefit when wars happen. They are kind of like vampires, only not as warm and friendly.<BR/><BR/>There are a number of such clumps, but I don't know how many. They communicate and negotiate with each other via backchannels typically not transparent to the public.<BR/><BR/>Surrounding each clump is a larger cluster of helpers, active collaborators -- people who think like the core powermongers do, and who have specialized skills (e.g. political framing, marketing -- meme-spreading) needed by the core. They aren't in the topmost positions, but they either aspire to be in those positions or else have bought into some form of idealism which blinds them to the evil they are aiding.<BR/><BR/>Surrounding these clumps are the people they manipulate best -- authoritarian followers. They believe what the powermongers are doing is for the best, because the manipulators have pushed all the right authority-buttons, but they aren't basically evil people. At the outer fringe of this crowd are people who are mostly doing good, but will defend the next layer in when it appears threatened. (I submit, for further consideration, the idea that well-meaning people like Karen are in this group.)<BR/><BR/>And on the outside are the rest of us schmucks, who are (at best) persuaded to reluctantly go along with the well-meaning majority protecting the non-evil but sheeplike followers being manipulated by the professional manipulators who sell the ideas the powermongers want sold. (At worst, we say "Hell no!" and they call us <A HREF="http://issuepedia.org/Dissent_is_disloyalty" REL="nofollow">traitors</A>.)<BR/><BR/>And right now, they want another war.Woozlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17948248776908775080noreply@blogger.com