Opinions of Peter Belmont
Speaking Truth to Power
Dictatorships and USA-style oligarchies alike infantilize the public
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by Peter A. Belmont / 2011-02-07
Who hasn’t heard of For the first essential task of a dictator is to “infantilise” his people, to transform them into political six-year-olds, obedient to a patriarchal headmaster. And what shall we say is the “first essential task of the oligarchic variety of democratic government” (in which America rejoices)? Do the American people understand the vast sweep of the military-intelligence-mercenary-contractor-industrial-Congressional-media-university complex? Do they know its expense, year in and year out, in mere money? Do they know the damage it does in the world? Do they imagine the dictators it supports? The torturers? Do they know of the vast expanse of Do the American people understand the on-rush of global warming, the perils predicted, the scientific credibility of those who do the predicting? Do the American people understand the very, very moderate danger they face from terrorists and the very, very vast amounts of money (and the not inconsiderable elements of America’s heretofore freedom) that have been sacrificed for the transformation of USA democracy into the “security state”? And do they understand that terrorism from Islamic sources is almost wholly generated by the USA’s military bases in Arab and Islamic countries and by the USA’s support for Israel’s cruel and lawless 43-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza? And if the American people do not know and understand these elementary things, why don’t they? My answer is that the oligarchy ( Look at the popularity of Sarah Palin as an example of the thinking and reasoning powers of the American populace. Look at the popularity of sports and popular music/film stars and the amount of time and “space” they get in “news” media (including NPR!) for a hint at the degree to which the American public has been pacified, made docile, as “subjects” of the oligarchy. And if you doubt that oligarchic rule is dangerous, |
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