"Conservative" George Bush?? "Mainstream" media?? A rant about WORDS!

[Peace Patriot]

There is a photo poster somewhere created by Earth First! which shows...

a devastated, clear-cut landscape, all the trees gone, just piles of dirt and slash remaining over vast acres of destroyed forest...

and one little scraggly tree sticking up (where a magnificent forest stood shortly before)...

with the caption: "And they call US 'radical'?"

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Got me to thinking again about the word "conservative."

There is NOTHING "conservative" about the Bush Cartel.

NOTHING!

There is NOTHING "conservative" about predatory capitalism.

NOTHING!

These are the MOST radical forces on earth!

They are trying to RADICALLY change EVERYTHING--from a century of social progress and social consensus, to all the post-WWII agreements about international order, peace and justice.

They are DESTROYING our planet for short-term profit. 80% of the world's forests have been destroyed or severely damaged in the last 30 years! 80%! Pollution is rampant. We have a world water crisis, mostly brought on by deforestation. The ocean fisheries are DYING! Global warming is upon us. The polar ice caps are melting. And most of this is directly caused by predatory corporate profit-taking!

They are conserving NOTHING. Not our laws. Not our Constitutional principles. Not the world's natural resources. Not our financial savings and budget surpluses (gone, gone!). Not the value of the dollar. Not our labor protections. Not our middle class. Not our reputation the world. They are pirates, brigands and thieves; pillagers, war profiteers, and robber barons. They are NOT CONSERVATIVE!

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You may have read my rants here about the phrase "mainstream media" (MSM). Here's what the "mainstream " really thinks: 63% of Americans oppose torture UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. 60% to 70% of Americans oppose ALL major Bush policies, foreign and domestic! Bush has a 42% approval rating for godssakes! And all this huge, anti-Bush sentiment has been consistent over time, throughout the post-invasion period.

Yet the so-called "mainstream" media not only helped create the ILLUSION that Bush had won the 2004 election (by CHANGING the exit poll data on everybody's TV screens on election night), they continually try to create the ILLUSION that, a) Bush is popular; b) Bush has a mandate; c) there is a rightwing surge in the country, etc. etc.

Their own polls contradict them--yet they persist!

The news monopolies' presentation of news and opinion is NOT reflective of MAINSTREAM American views, and is not even anywhere close to being "mainstream." They, too, are RADICAL FASCISTS.

STOP CALLING THEM "MAINSTREAM"!!!

And STOP CALLING RADICAL BUSHITES "CONSERVATIVE"!!!

The news monopolies are only "mainstream" in terms of their nefarious GOAL of forcing their fascist corporate views on all the rest of us, and making us THINK that that is what most people think.

The Bush fascists are only "conservative" in terms of THEIR nefarious GOAL of FOOLING PEOPLE that a trillion dollar deficit, and overturning a century of social progress and consensus, and invading another country and slaughtering over 100,000 innocent people, are the actions of responsible, ethical, cautious, CONSERVATIVE leaders.

These are LIES. These are ILLUSIONS. These are deliberate BRAIN-WASHING.

And if we don't stop it here, with the WORDS that WE use, it goes on and on FOOLING people, and creating an overall DELUSION that is driving people nuts.

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Please STOP describing the Bush regime as CONSERVATIVE!

Please STOP describing the news monopolies as MAINSTREAM!

Please use "radical rightwing" instead "conservative" (or, alternatively, always put "conservative" in quotes).

Please use "news monopolies" or "corporate media" instead of "mainstream media."

Do you want to keep infusing these LIES into peoples' brains?!

Do you want to keep HELPING these mass murderers and radical fascists cast their propagandistic spell over the country?

Stop doing it!

[Pacifist Patriot]

1. I agree completely. Words are more powerful than some people

give them credit for. Classical conservatism does not deserve to be confused with the actions of this regime. "Neocon" works fairly well because it is definitely picking up a pejorative connotation and "conservative" gets buried. I tend to use "far right wing" or fascist as modifiers for the Bush bunch.

Yes, the changes they have wrought are certainly not conserving anything!

And I use corporate media instead of mainstream now.

I choke when I refer to them as Republicans. They bear little to no resemblance to Abraham Lincoln, Coolidge, Teddy Roosevelt, Taft or even Eisenhower. They have hijacked the Republican party and twisted it into something it was never meant to be. I really feel sorry for some old-timer Republicans I know who are seriously grieving the death of their party.

[Peace Patriot]

3. "Powerful" is right. These words are very powerful...

..."conservative" Republican...

..."mainstream" media...

By these words, they have created a delusion of democracy, and a delusion of what our nation IS. We've got to break into that delusion--for the sake of all the people who are being brainwashed by it, and I don't just mean the stupid, uninformed and foolish--I mean also the intelligent, fairly well-informed and even the wise, who ACCEPT these delusions, even if they wouldn't agree with all they're being told, on a conscious level. The delusion that ABC, AP, CNN, Fox, NYT, WaPo, et al, is the MAINSTREAM. The delusion that Bushites are in any sense careful, cautious, responsible people--CONSERVATIVES--and the delusion that fascism IS the mainstream.

IF it were true, that would be one thing. Then we would have a huge educational and persuasion job to do. But this is the key: these things are NOT TRUE. The news monopolies do NOT reflect mainstream American opinion. Bushites are NOT in any sense conservative. So we have got to stop describing them that way--with the very words that THEY are using to fool people with.

[PsyOpsRunsOurCountry]

5. Neuro-linguistic programming works. Maybe our usernames will, too.

The science of manipulation is so far advanced beyond what Americans realize.

Hitler knew it. Strauss knew it. The Pentagon has known it for decades.

I wish public school kids were taught how power decieves them into the military to commit horrible crimes for other's profits.

[LisaLynne]

2. Well said.

It's hard to keep in touch with the truth and any sort of perspective with all the manipulation that goes on in the media. The Bushies are so blatant about the propaganda that sometimes it seems impossible that they could actually be lying that boldly -- that there must be some truth to what the news is saying -- but, we have a responsibility to keep our heads clear and know that it IS possible and it IS being done. It has been done before, throughout history.

The propaganda is so bad that I saw some dude from The Nation on CSPAN talking about how Democrats are really a minority party. Yeah, keep talking like that -- that's what the Repugs want us to think. They might be a minority party in numbers in the government, but the polls show that more people agree with them than with the Repugs. So, what sort of a minority is that? I just hate it when I see progressives doing the work of KKKarl.

[Peace Patriot]

4. The Democrats blew the Bushites away in new voter registration in...

...2004, nearly 60/40. People were FLOCKING to the Democratic Party, urged on by Gore 2000 voters who knew we were cheated then--and who got all their non-voting family members, co-workers, friends and acquaintances to register and vote.

Most new voters voted for Kerry.
Most independents voted for Kerry.
Most Nader voters voter for Kerry.

So, where did Bush's margin of victory come from? Karl Rove's "invisible" get out the vote campaign???

Minority party, my ass.

And do you see ANYBODY in the news monopolies EVEN ASKING A QUESTION about the huge surge in Democratic Party registration in 2004? Or about the huge discrepancy between what Americans think of Bush and his policies, and the official election tally?

They are complicit in the Bush DELUSION. And neither Bush and his Cartel nor their lapdog press are in any sense mainstream.

[GuvWurld]

6. Nominated. Framing is key. Here's another...

Fraud is no longer a relevant topic for debate. There will never be a consensus, and if there is, it will never have an effect equivalent to community by community unification around declaring the Consent of the Governed withdrawn. Does anybody seriously think the Consent of the Governed is still being sought? If our Consent is not sought then it is not a stretch to suggest we should withdraw it. This is a path to peaceful revolution, defined as a shift in the balance of power between the people and the government.

On Wed AtLiberty started this thread called "How can we speak in one voice for election reform?" What I posted there about framing also applies here so I'm reposting the following:

Key point #1: U.S federal elections are conducted under conditions that ensure inconclusive results.

Key point #2: Because inconclusive results, by definition, mean that the true outcome of an election cannot be known, there is NO BASIS FOR CONFIDENCE in the results reported from U.S. federal elections.

Key point #3: When elections are conducted under conditions that prevent conclusive outcomes, the Consent of the Governed is not being sought. Absent this self-evident source of legitimacy, such Consent is not to be assumed or taken for granted.

The Voter Confidence Resolution also includes a list of reforms likely to ensure conclusive outcomes and create a basis for confidence. This is the frame that is letting me build bridges even with the head of the local Republican party.

The Voter Confidence Resolution will be getting a public hearing on July 6 at the Arcata, CA City Council. The prospects for passage seem solid. We need to see other communities follow. The frame for this trend then becomes:

Key point #4: Has the Consent of the Governed been withdrawn, YET?

This resolution provides a message and a means for us to speak in one voice. Even better, what I've linked to is really a template that is meant to be customized by each group or community that wants to support it. If the changes leave intact the key points above then the national collection of resolutions would appear to have this one voice component, despite minor differences; and each local version would have the one voice component borne of community meetings and consensus building.

Regardless of whether the one voice impression is created, it is essential that a healing unification occur among our countrymen. Stay mindful of tending to this. Instead of telling people about lies they shouldn't believe, or events that may have been spun into fantasy by their preferred infotainment source, talk to people about what they believe until you find them contradicting themselves. It is inevitable and it is the path to freeing people from their cognitive dissonance. Help people see how they lie to themselves and you will flip a switch that makes everything else above possible.