I keep waiting for this country to wake up to the lies and the hate infecting society. Unfortunately, I cannot see any indication that things are getting better in the USA. I certainly cannot see any evidence of honesty within the mainstream media we once depended upon to give us a critical view on the country as a whole. News today is merely corporate-managed infotainment, providing stories that defy reality and promoting agendas in opposition to the average American's.
One example: Yesterday Massachusetts conducted a special election to fill the Senate seat formerly held by the late Ted Kennedy. Scott Brown, a Republican, won the election by 5 percent over Martha Coakley, the Democratic candidate. With this victory the GOP now has 41 Republicans in the US Senate, with the Democratic caucus accounting for the remainder.
So how did the media react to this election? It was national news. The mainstream media and cable channels were buzzing with reaction, declaring the political tide has shifted back to the GOP and that the Democratic party has all but lost control of the Senate. All this sound and fury over one election that - despite the volume of rhetoric - still leaves the GOP with only 41 seats out of 100.
In previous generations this would be regional news at best. But in today's America, it supposedly signals total collapse of the Democratic party. Even more ridiculous, the media is pushing the meme that somehow this is President Obama's fault, as though he were on the ballot in Massachusetts instead of Martha Coakley. Her loss is portrayed as an indictment of Obama's entire presidency.
This is one story. There are many others, every day, every year. I'm convinced there are forces at play here steering news/propaganda in an attempt to confuse the public and manipulate opinion. Americans are being deliberately and systematically dumbed-down. As most rational people understand, an ignorant and fearful population is more easily controlled. Obscene amounts of money are being spent on media, lobbyists, and elected officials to push the agendas. The voices of reason are few and far between, and not combined in a way to serve as an effective counterbalance.
More and more, I see evidence that we are being led down the path to a nation-state eerily familiar to the United States depicted in the movie "Idiocracy". A dystopian future designed by powerful interests to be a government of the ignorant, by the ignorant, for the ignorant. Our society is being managed politically to produce a permanent state of gridlock for social causes, with legislation passed only to the extent that it benefits the special interest groups that run congress through their lobbyists.
Not everyone has to be gulled for the manipulation of opinion to be successful. Only a critical mass, enough to influence popular opinion and affect the outcome of elections. Dumb down and control 20-30 percent of the country and the media can do the rest, producing the desired storylines of a sea change of opinion even when it differs from actual conditions. Media storytellers create just enough visibility to make the rest of the country waver. We've seen this formula employed repeatedly over the years. It's how we buy into war cries time and again, despite the false pretenses used to justify them.
If you think I'm overreacting, read any news or political story that allows comments. Read what American citizens write. Incoherent, barely legible rants
filled with irrational hate and anger, completely bereft of facts and reason. This irrationality is especially prevalent among the right wing partisans. Nothing fair or balanced in the level of their hatred. They're like blind people in a shooting gallery, desiring only to create lots of noise and damage, not caring who or what gets hurt in the process - so angry they can't even explain why they came to be this way. In the nature of fanatics, this group makes themselves believe anything no matter how preposterous, so long as they maintain the facade of righteousness in their positions. Day is night, up is down, and double-standards ignored as quickly as they surface. Saner people watch with alarm as their neighbors and fellow Americans willingly let go of their grasp of truth, honor, decency, and ethical behavior, succumbing to the the conditioning of the monied interests that seek to divide and conquer.
Think I'm overreacting this time? Try disagreeing with one of these "true believers". Please have a thick skin and a heat shield because the response from the right wing will be stunning if you are unprepared for the rage and invective that will blast back from their mouths and keyboards.
That's an unmistakable sign of a nation devolving before our eyes.
Idiocracy: It's closer than you think.
