Bigots and Gangsters

In his informative article on the bigotry of Ron Paul, Frederick Clarkson illustrates the political illiteracy of Americans and the perils of piety. As Americans leave the two major political parties in droves, bigots like Paul are forgiven their misanthropic prejudice toward gays and blacks, as long as they oppose the war-mongering and hippie-bashing by Democrats and Republicans. Given these limited choices, is it any surprise the United States is following in the footsteps of its once archenemy the Soviet Union? After all, what could be more anti-democratic and inhumane than gangster capitalism?

Noise

In the 1971 book Crimes of War, Robert Jay Lifton described theatrical militarism as the inevitable conclusion of US dominance. Looking at the role militarism plays in today's media, it's not surprising that mainstream news is mostly noise generated to drown out other points of view.

As Lifton explained, the collective psychic trauma and delusions of dominant society are fostered by prior atrocities (the most egregious of which were perpetrated against indigenous peoples). Violently defended illusions of benevolence and an inability to come to terms with either defeat or loss of status are symptoms of this psychosis.

With the end of the American Dream, the indistinguishable corporate media and government propaganda respond by not only distorting the news, but by literally searching out and destroying all dissenting perspectives.