America's Stages of Grief over Bush's Terror Screwups: Stage 1 - Denial.

[Lex]

I wonder if Bush's numbers not dropping so fast can be attributed loosely to the majority of the country going through something like stages of grief over a 'president' who failed the country in such a breath-taking miserable way.

What are all the stages: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, etc.

This week: Denial.

Let's see if this progresses, or unfolds this way.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. You know what I have found?

If you hit people with the totality of the facts, they get real uncomfortable. Then, a lot of them start waking up, right before your eyes.

So, hit them with the facts. Do it early. Do it often. But do it.

[fearnobush]

2. I think many of us at DU have gone through this greaving process

Now we are at a stage of resolution. May the nation find this same path.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. I am at...

The "Kick Repuke Ass, and eschew taking names" stage. It's fun. ;-)

[burrowowl]

6. I am not going through

this process, long before reading a People's History of the US and Gore Vidal, at the age of 10 and I'm 57, I've known about the injustices promulgated by the U$ and have always been sickened by the fact that the U$ gives lie to our 'Democratic' beliefs.
What I would like to understand is how Ray-gun was swallowed (I was living in France at the time). How after Nixon, the U$ seem to swallow Repugs!?!?

[JohnOneillsMemory]

4. You're on the right track. There are big psych obstacles to facing truth.

Americans are raised with the false assumption that their government actually represents them. So they defend it as they would defend themselves. Most people don't have the education or the intestinal fortitude to face the fact that the US government policies resemble those of Nazi Germany and South Africa combined.

In case anyone thinks I'm a just a scorning elitist out to alienate people, understand that my view is that Americans are raised on lies from birth and indoctrinated unremittingly to maintain the lie matrix. In other words, 'forgive them, they know not what they do.'

Americans don't know what the Bill of Rights is or why it is an important protection against tyranny.
They don't know history, geography, civics, science, or politics.

Around 50% still think Bush* is trustworthy! Given that everything he's said publicly for years has been a lie, why is this?

Perhaps because Americans have been raised to believe that they:
1) live in a democracy.
2) compete in free markets.
3) share equal opportunity for all.
4) see their government spreading democracy and protecting the innocent around the world.
5) inherited the status of Best in Show Among Humans in 1776, 1945, 1991 and 2003 by winning the Revolutionary War, WWII, and both Iraq Wars I and II.

These are all lies taught to American children in school and then reinforced every day in movies and on TV for the rest of their lives. There is a well defined historical narrative that describes America as the strongest and most virtuous moral force in the world ever. So surely the President of these United States must embody all that is good about our country.

I call this Superman-Jesus-in-a-Cowboy-Hat Syndrome. Ronald Reagan fit this movie-role-as-national-identity perfectly for many Americans who didn't realize that he was a senile figurehead for a cabal of murderers who successfully portrayed the poor as lazy thieves and secretly armed terrorists against foreign governments in the name of democracy and freedom.

Here is how Americans have been led down the path to a Master Race group-think that accepts as both inevitable and just that domestic policy should be eugenics and foreign policy, imperialism:

Ever since the US lost the Vietnam War, the social atmosphere here has been very similar to post-WWI Germany. The hyper-nationalist German people were told in the summer of 1918 that they were winning World War I. But in the fall, they were suddenly informed that they had lost. They were stunned and angry as the victorious Allies raped them economically and their orderly society imploded into chaos. They looked around to find who among them had betrayed them and robbed them of their much-deserved victory over their inferiors. They demonized, assaulted, and killed Jews, labor unionists, socialists, Gypsys, and homosexuals.

The same dynamics of blame prevailed in the US after Nixon was disgraced and the Vietnam War was revealed to be a quagmire of atrocities which had also ruined the economy. The Republicans have cleverly exploited this petulant atmosphere of entitlement denied to bring us to where we are today, mired in a culture war against liberals, feminists, blacks, homosexuals, and dangerous Middle Eastern foreigners, pretty much the same targets as the Nazis.
Ever wonder why 'liberal' became a swear word? Now you know. It is the American power structure’s synonym for ‘Jew.’

In fact, there is a name for this late 20th century fascist movement brought into the early 21st century: Dominionism.

It is an alliance between Christian fundamentalists, Cold Warrior Fascists, and the Military Industrial Oil Complex, just like the rise of the German Nazis who, by remarkable coincidence, were also financed and supplied in their day by many US corporations, including George W. Bush's financier grandfather, Prescott Bush.

It all rather makes sense, doesn't it? Military and financial powers work hand in hand to reinforce and protect each other by keeping people starving and fighting each other over worthless things like flags and uniforms. Meanwhile, the powerful swell up like ticks on the blood of the people they fool into doing the fighting and reward them with not much more than parades, plaques, and brass bands.

Some Americans see through this and have evolved past nationalism and racism but lately it seems that a majority have not. And there is an alliance of media corporateers and fascist politicians who are determined to prevent Americans from finding out how this scam works.

If you have figured out anything about life in America, consider sharing it with your fellow Americans so we can all evolve a little faster.

Here's how to help your fellow American evolve:

Talk everywhere you can. People are receptive if you keep it fun and funny.

The way bad things happen is people are afraid to speak up. Period.

1) Read read read so you know what you're talking about.

2) Wear a button or something to initiate discussion.

3) Don't attack people for not knowing what you know. Share information as if it was a beer or a cookie, generously, graciously and with respect.

4) Treat the person you're talking with as if you are on the same sports team and trying to decide what play to make next so that you BOTH win.

5) Leave space for them to speak, don't just motormouth and rant. Do some listening to see where they are at, what their beliefs and fears are, what they've heard, what they wonder about. Then respond to those interests and weave in information that hooks and surprises them.

6) Smile and laugh during the conversation. It really is amusing.

I have a big IMPEACH BUSH NOW! sticker on my computer bag over my shoulder when I fly to work (showbiz) and it draws people standing in lines with me in airports or at service counters or taxis into conversation all the time.

You'd be amazed how many people have come out of the woodwork when they see my buttons or stickers or overhear me talking to someone else. They frequently say "I thought I was the only one who felt that way!" I give them encouragement and some talking points to use with who ever they talk with next.

Being a Grass Root Is a Cool Way to Make Friends!

[LastDemocratInSC]

5. You make a good point

Call it consensus, call it averaging, call it whatever you will. I think that a mass of individuals will behave as a single individual would when presented with a certain set of circumstances. While we are all unique, we share far more similarities than differences because of our biology and natural tendencies toward preservation.

I do think that our nation is reeling right now ... our concept of a nation is being shaken at its core. There are so many millions of us that our individual grief responses tend to get averaged out into a smooth curve, but there's no doubt that a harsh reaction is underway among a considerable part of our population.