On Propaganda and the Election

[The Minus World]

As indoctrinated as Americans seem, I believe that the "propaganda machine" (FOX news, MSNBC, Washington Times, etc.) is only responsible for the 20-30% of citizens who honestly believe that the republican worldview is one that somehow embraces the best interests of mankind. Beyond that veil, we are still the majority. Most Americans hold very liberal views, yet they are either afraid or unwilling to acknowledge that very fact.

The far-right think tanks and their media outlets can only cast so large a shadow, before they start bringing undue attention to themselves. That would be fatal to their existence.

The infrastructure of republican propaganda has been a long time in the making, yet republicans can still only convince small factions of people of their party's worth; primarily by exploiting their personal fetishism for firearms, homo- and xenophobia, religious fervor, and blind nationalism. It seems republicans have found that the best way to manufacture party unity is to promote a seething, ultra-competitive hatred for democrats.

The rest of us: the ones who carry the cultural zeitgeist, have been solidifying our position on the left. Left-wing mobilization is at a critical peak, and the media are now extending more criticism to Bush's policies than ever before. The propaganda machine is only as effective as people are ignorant of the truth, and every day that passes is a day where more truth leaks out about the misdeeds of our administration. What was once a slight puncture is now an enormous breach in the hull of this behemoth, widening exponentially as republicans are forced to defend their conflicting views with increasingly inane and conflicting explanations.

Knowing that: the only way they'll see Bush elected in 2004 is through a massive, systematic execution of voter fraud.

Short of a nationwide e-voting conspiracy, there is not a hope in the world; regardless of how many doctored polls we see on the nightly news, for Bush to reaffirm his grip on the presidency. Unless, that is, the republicans take a step to wrest democracy from the American people by force.

There is nothing in recent history that has led me to doubt this administration's capacity, and willingness, to carry out an attack on its own citizens in order to suspend the elections. At that juncture, FEMA would be in charge - not Bush.

Much to our benefit, the term "October Surprise" is floating about in the press so loosely that, if something were to occur (short of causing a national security crisis leading to a police state), "B.S." detectors would be sounding, not only here, but around the world.

If they're going to keep Bush in power, they know they need to go big. However, I doubt that, with so much dissension within the administration itself, it would be able to pull off an effective "October Surprise" without triggering major blowback from the American people.

Never has there been a time in my life where paranoia, cynicism and concern have been so justified.

[Old and In the Way]

1. Good post!

I figure they can accept defeat gracefully in Nov. or steal it again and lose their grip permanently when the open rebellion begins.

[Arancaytar]

3. Re: "Open Rebellion"

Second American Civil War? It's been predicted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Titor

[The Minus World]

5. To be useful,

John Titor needs to get his ass back to Florida, circa 2000 A.D. and cast 538 votes for Gore, post-haste!

[Arancaytar]

6. 538?

Is that exactly the number by which Bush won Florida? Yesterday's much-mentioned electoral-votes.com map had Kerry winning 538:0... I'm not familiar enough with the system to know the total number of electoral votes. Anyone care to enlighten me?

[The Minus World]

8. Weird.

Actually, I just read a site which mentioned that the margin was 537 votes. It must be coincidental that such a number would also be the amount of electoral votes.

[rhite5]

10. The number of electoral votes = number of voting members of

the House of Representatives plus the number of Senators.
That's 435 (I think) plus 100.

Washington DC and some of our territories have non-voting representatives in the House, so they aren't included in the 435 total.

[NJCher]

2. there's actually been speculation on this board

That bush and Cheney don't want to win; hence the lackluster performance.

Behind the scenes at their administration, it has to be worse than what we even see. It boggles the mind that these people really did not anticipate what they were getting into.


Cher

[The Minus World]

4. I have my doubts...

I briefly entertained the idea that this administration was on some sort of voluntary mission of self-destruction, but, for all of their tactical planning and manipulation, their flaw is one of hubris. Not to mention the fact that, if the extent of their wrongdoings becomes public (which it undoubtedly would, under a Kerry administration), it would be the downfall of the republican party as we know it. They have the ultimate stake in maintaining power.

The republicans have been building up to this point for 30+ years; fine-tuning their public message, desensitizing Americans through institutional racism and sexism, demonizing the opposition. They are not about to let something as trivial as democracy stand in their way.

[Arancaytar]

11. What do they have to win by losing?

A badly formulated question, maybe, but the point stands. As soon as they're out of office, all the dirt becomes public and they get their asses sentenced from under them. They might delete all of the files in a desperate action, but why should they prefer that over getting reelected?

If they only were after some deals for Halliburton before quitting, they could have done a lot less bungling. These folks are getting ready to establish theocracy.

[rhite5]

7. There is some pretty serious dissension within both the CIA

and the Defense Department. (Not to mention the State Dept.).

If we can believe it is not phony, an implosion could happen.

[rhite5]

9. I agree there is much more widespread opposition to the Bush regime

than the polls suggest. We are seeing "Republicans for Kerry" groups sprouting up in many places. We also know that none of the newly registered voters are being counted in the polls. The majority of those are young and anti-Bush. The numbers of new registrations appear to be huge.

[MatrixEscape]

12. O'Brien Makes His Point ...

'Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?'

- 1984, George Orwell

[Arancaytar]

13. Amazing.

I thought for a moment that was you commenting on the situation. If Orwell wrote this decades ago, that proves there's been something wrong with the system for a long, long time.

[teach1st]

14. This process of grotesque self-deception

"The loud little handful -- as usual -- will shout for the war. The pulpit will -- warily and cautiously -- object... at first. The great, big, dull bulk of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes and try to make out why there should be a war, and will say, earnestly and indignantly, ‘It is unjust and dishonorable, and there is no necessity for it.’

Then the handful will shout louder. A few fair men on the other side will argue and reason against the war with speech and pen, and at first will have a hearing and be applauded, but it will not last long; those others will outshout them, and presently the antiwar audiences will thin out and lose popularity.

Before long, you will see this curious thing: the speakers stoned from the platform, and free speech strangled by hordes of furious men...

Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.

Mark Twain, "The Mysterious Stranger"