[Peace-discuss] Power intoxicates
n.dahlheim at mchsi.com
n.dahlheim at mchsi.com
Mon Jul 9 21:58:20 CDT 2007
Sure, they can be on our/your/whichever team that wants to get out of Iraq; but, aren't these standards
just a bit low? I was just rereading a Neil Postman classic Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse
in an Age of Show Business. He strikes a comparison between the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858
and the Reagan-Mondale debates of 1984. The Lincoln-Douglas debates feature and audience capable
of listening to two learned statesmen debate the issues of the day with wit and deft use of language.
The audience sat for SEVEN HOURS. Postman reasonably infers that they possessed a relative
intelligence capable of understanding the rhetoric. Compare that to the Reagan one-liners that served
as the focus of the debate and the centrality of image in 1980s postmodern politics. Forget the
reasonable man test (what Holmes and Brandeis used in the early 20th century to protect at least some
aspects our society from the rapacious greed of bankers and capitalists hell-bent on resurrecting
serfdom) of politics; who looks better on TV? So, I'll let these dimwits on my team; but, when it comes
time to bat with the bases loaded in the 8th or 9th inning I'm sure they'll whiff at 3 straight pitches and
embarrass themselves. Sure, they want to drive in the winning runs but if they can't tell the difference
between the heater and the curveball forget 'em. I'm sure many of these dimwits who want us out of
Iraq also want to get a big Suburban, or better yet a Hummer with which to run over other people....
---------------------- Original Message: ---------------------
From: "Robert Naiman " <naiman.uiuc at gmail.com>
To: "n.dahlheim at mchsi.com" <n.dahlheim at mchsi.com>
Cc: "Jenifer Cartwright" <jencart7 at yahoo.com>, Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Power intoxicates
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 02:47:57 +0000
> If they don't know where Iraq is on a globe, but they know that
> wherever it is, the U.S. needs to get out of it, they can play on my
> team.
>
>
> On 7/9/07, n.dahlheim at mchsi.com <n.dahlheim at mchsi.com> wrote:
> > Also, I am not sure Bush so much sold anything to the American people. Most
> people in this country
> > are woefully ignorant of the most basic facts of politics. The state of the
> Republic is indeed woeful.
> > Polls of my demographic age group taken by National Geographic have revealed
> pretty consistently that
> > less than 1/4 of the people can even point to the location of Iraq on a globe!
> How can people get
> > organized and get disciplined to counteract an Administration looting the
> public treasury, eviscerating
> > the Constitution, and mocking international law when the public ignorance and
> apathy is massive!
> > Some may point out that we have hope because Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert
> receive greater
> > audiences than the nightly network news or that the Internet blogging on the
> war, the environment,
> > health care, civil liberties, or 911 truth represents a groundswell opposition
> to the Bush gang. I would
> > counter with the argument that the Internet represents an masked social space
> where only virtual
> > resistance can occurr; it slyly convinces people that they are resisting the
> corrupt power structure
> > through their discussion but it provides little in the way of the physical
> face-to-face contact with like-
> > minded folks necessary for a real grassroots political movement. Even still,
> the prevalence of political
> > satire does indicate awareness; but, serves to reduce participation by
> convincing people that politics is
> > just comedy. The catastrophic damage this government has inflicted upon the
> Republic is just a part of
> > the show. Just another distraction in the lives of the Cheerful Robots (In
> the C. Wright Mills sense). The
> > transferrence of awareness into grassroots, community action is what is
> lacking in the world of satire
> > and blogging. So, expect social isolation and mass media distraction to
> continue to proliferate as social
> > forces eroding the civic fabric overall. A population that is largely
> ignorant and concerned with Gucci
> > shoes, American Idol, and other trivial banalities will merrily (or,
> robotically/digitally) hopscotch along
> > the path to totalitarianism.
> >
> > Sure, tell the truth; but, you better make people laugh otherwise they might
> kill you---George Bernard
> > Shaw (I paraphrase here)
> >
> > Nick
> >
> >
> > ---------------------- Original Message: ---------------------
> > From: Jenifer Cartwright <jencart7 at yahoo.com>
> > To: kmedina at uiuc.edu, peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> > Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Power intoxicates
> > Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2007 23:47:53 +0000
> >
> > > I appreciate yr positive attitude, Karen. Whoever said, "Change is always
> > > preceded by hope" had it right. Always easier to tear things down, but
> stopping
> > > there is what gets ME down.
> > >
> > > Here's another person who seconds yr tho'ts --
> > >
> > > "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can
> change
> > > the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
> > >
> > > Jenifer
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Karen Medina <kmedina at uiuc.edu> wrote:
> > > n.dahlheim wrote:
> > > * won't change anything.
> > > * Human nature is weak and fallible.
> > > * little can be done
> > >
> > > Why do people keep saying that no one person can make a difference?
> > >
> > > Look what Bush has done. It is amazing the number of things he has reversed
> or
> > > moved along at lightning speed.
> > >
> > > Yes, Bush had Cheney (did I get the order wrong?), and they had a
> Condoleezza
> > > Rice and a Scooter Libby and a host of loyal brawn at Bush's side, but not
> one
> > > of them could have sold any of it to Congress or the American people without
> > > Bush.
> > >
> > > Surely, one candidate for President or Senator could find good people to
> work
> > > for/with them and then they wouldn't be one person trying to change things.
> > >
> > > Individuals alone may not make a difference, but no difference can be made
> > > without individuals.
> > >
> > > -karen medina
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ---- Original message ----
> > > >Date: Mon, 09 Jul 2007 18:26:22 +0000
> > > >From: n.dahlheim at mchsi.com
> > > >Subject: [Peace-discuss] Power intoxicates
> > > >To: Jan & Durl Kruse
> > > >Cc: peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> > > >
> > > >As always, I am going to continue to assume the role of skeptic here...
> Sheehan
> > > running for Congress
> > > >won't change anything. Lord Acton's pithy dictum that absolute power tends
> to
> > > corrupt absolutely most
> > > >certainly fits here. Power will corrupt Sheehan even if she were to win.
> Human
> > > nature is weak and fallible.
> > > >Sheehan and Bush are not that different on an existential level---yes there
> is
> > > a social power
> > > >differential---but, I am gravitating more and more towards believing that
> > > little can be done about the
> > > >endemic Washington corruption from within Washington.
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> > >
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