You have just crossed over into...The Twilight Nation.

[Philosoraptor]

I watched way too much t.v. as a kid, and I know what has happened. You know it too, you are just too terrified to admit it aloud. You are there. That IS Rod Serling's voice you hear in the other room.

The awful realization hits you the hardest when you see the president speaking, especially since the last election, I am in the Twilight Nation.

Like the punchline in some cheap joke about damnation, when the main character says, "Wait a minute, this is not heaven"! You are a character in a Rod Serling short story, you walk down the street to work and you know that you are surrounded by zombies.

Zombies who all think we are at war, yet wile away the evenings watching a machine that has reality shows. Zombies who shop and work like fat bees in a monstrous hive.

Does this ever happen to you? Or am I truly the only one?

Attacking Iraq because the Saudis attacked us? Calling Osama public enemy number one, then never looking for the perp? Sending more men and women to die so that the already dead will not have died in vain?

Attacking Iran? Rationalizing torture? Hanging a nation's leader on t.v.? Banning gay marriage? Hiding a powerful pedophile? Hiding flag draped coffins? Ratting out agents for revenge? Stopping the raise in the minimum wage? Laughing at global warming? Laughing at the disabled? Leaving the war to the next several presidents?

When you see the vice president on t.v. defying us all, spitting in our faces with baronial contempt, when you see the obviously insane monster president giggling and grinning about all the dead people he's left in his wake, drooling at how many more are soon to die, does it ever hit you? Does it ever occur to you that you have just crossed over into...The Twilight Nation?

[WinkyDink]

1. Psycho Nation. Waiting for Barney to be appointed Vice-Consul.

[sendero]

24. Barney..

.... would be an improvement.

[cassiepriam]

2. I have feel like I am in some weird parallel universe.

This can't be happening in real life.

[Philosoraptor]

3. Only we are even troubled by it, most zombies are good with it.

You can't make this shit up, no one would believe it. If you suggested we'd be where we now are 25 years ago, you'd be laughed at.

[magellan]

6. Even 6 years ago you'd be laughed at

And I'm not too proud or high and mighty to admit I would have laughed at anyone suggesting it that recently. Much as I hated Bush** and company from the start, I never imagined they'd do anything like this much damage. Check that -- be permitted to get away with doing anything like this much damage.

[Nay]

8. Ain't that the truth? Frankly, the zombies are so easily propagandized

and led around by the nose (and TV has much of the blame for how easy this has become) that it's now just a matter of who has the best grasp of which emotionally-charged sound bite will work on the masses. Facts don't seem to matter; people can't distinguish between an important issue and a trivial one; need I go on?

The thing that scares me the most is the word-for-word spewing of RW talking points by your everyday Joe. This is how a whole population is brainwashed, folks. It works, it is working, and we will be the worse for it--because the propaganda this time is black-hearted. We all are socialized as we grow up, sure, and that's a good thing, or we wouldn't have cohesive societies. But this is something different. Again, TV (and to a certain extent radio) has made this possible.

The poster above said it: the zombies are good with it. That's the scariest part of all.

[Philosoraptor]

11. Terror mixed with stupid slogans works every time.

Don't make eye contact, act as if everything is normal, do not bring attention to yourself, and stay calm.

[cassiepriam]

10. That is the oddest piece of all. Few seem to care.

Like Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Everyone is a pod person.

And if someone had written a novel about a Bush CO regime in American I would have scoffed.

[Philosoraptor]

13. Don't go to sleep. That's when they get you.

My wife just doesn't seem like herself these days.

[cassiepriam]

16. Bingo, I drink caffeine all day to stay awake.

I heard hubby say he liked Bush's tie the other day.
Think he must have flipped into a pod during the night :(

[tbyg52]

4. Oh, yes. Scary stuff. nt

[Berry Cool]

5. But don't you see?

It's a GOOD thing that the country is like this. It's a REAL good thing. And if you don't agree so, Georgie will wish you into the cornfield.

You don't even have to say it. Georgie knows what you're really thinking. Besides, he has spies who tap your phone and read your mail.

[Philosoraptor]

7. I told george that you hate him.

See george? See? BerryBush hates you! BerryBush mocks you! I am your friend george, not BerryBush, who said you were bad and your war was a bad thing.

I told george that making you go away was a real good thing.

[Philosoraptor]

9. & WHY am I facing retribution in The Twilight Nation?

Why me? Why am I being punished for all eternity? Oh. Nevermind. I understand now. Now that it's too late.

[cassiepriam]

12. Maybe we have some bad karma and need to learn some lessons :(

I think I must have abused power in a past life, and have been chosen
to learn some strong lessons about it in this one.

[rock]

14. "It's a cookbook!"

on decoding bush*s plan.

[Philosoraptor]

19. "To serve cheney"

[Skidmore]

15. Baby, we done been there for a long time...Twilight Nation, Psycho Nation,

AlieNation.

We need to find some ______nation of our own.

[leftofthedial]

17. There has been a growing gulf between reality and American perception,

fueled by the most pervasive propaganda machine in history, since the cold war, which required the unquestioning acceptance of a central "big lie." We truly and fully went through the looking glass in December of 2000.

[Philosoraptor]

18. Who would have believed it?

Mr. Serling tried to warn us.

[leftofthedial]

20. submitted for your approval

a nation of brainwashed zombies, unable to find with both hands the SUV shoved sideways up their collective ass.

[Philosoraptor]

21. NBC: 'A look back at the remarkable life of Barbaro the race horse"

[Philosoraptor]

22. Followed by: "We are at war with Iraq...or is it Iran"?

[caseycoon]

23. YES!

Frequently.
:hide:

[JohnnyLib2]

25. Philosoraptor, you've won the jackpot!

(and not the first time)

I want to think that the majority now see or are beginning to see the warp.
But, there's that generous streak in the U.S. that lets people fall prey to CONMEN over and over again.

I'm hopeful that the big expose and then disgrace is not too far off.

[Philosoraptor]

26. You are looking at Mr. g. w. bush, who carries on his shoulder a chip the size of the national debt,

You are looking at Mr. george w. bush, who carries on his shoulder a chip the size of the national debt. This is a sour man. A friendless man. A lonely man. A grasping, compulsive, nervous man. This is a man who lived thirty-six undistinguished, meaningless, pointless, failure-laden years. And who, at this moment, looks for an escape, any escape, any way, anything, anybody to get our of the rut.

[raccoon]

27. Is that Billy Mumy in the photo? nt

[Philosoraptor]

28. But of course.