[TAML] Re: [TAML-WNT] Waterboard Dick
- From: Kevin Hopkins <kh2@xxxxxxxx>
- To: teamamiga@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 12:41:38 -0600 (CST)
---- Original message ----
>Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2006 10:57:08 -0500
>From: Dave Haynie <dhaynie@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
>On Thu, 2 Nov 2006 21:51:55 -0600, Kevin Hopkins <kh2@xxxxxxxx>
jammed all night, and by sunrise was heard saying:
>
>> At 10:13 AM -0500 10/31/06, Dave Haynie wrote:
>
>> >Well, thing is, MOST of the Republican fodder for the Religious Right is
>> >just so much hot air. It pretty much has to be. I mean, think of all of
>> >the promises they've been making since they started that dance. If they
>> >actually came through on any of this stuff (at least intentionally),
>> >then they'd be looking for something else to promise them. And in the
>> >meantime, at least the less nutty in that crowd might start noticing
>> >things. Like, just how un-Christian the Republicans, as a whole, are
>> >behaving. Or perhaps that other than that lip service, the Republican
>> >vote has left them much, much worse off... that this is only good for
>> >Rich People (and then, only for the short term).
>>
>> I think that "start noticing things" is pretty much at the heart of
>> David Kuo "Tempting Faith." It was certainly at the heart of the
>> lament in Thomas Franks's "What's The Matter With Kansas?"
>
>Of course.. but you can't tell them anything, they have to discover it
>on their own. That, of course, is the classic "path to enlightment"
>story, but it's got a ring of truth in this case. For one, these are
>people who claim to be "People of Faith"... unfortunately, there seems
>to be little distinction between "Faith" and "The Ability to Rationalize
>or Ignore Just About Anything". And as we see so many of the leaders of
>"the Faithful" falling, in scandals of the worst kind, that message is
>just driven home.
The thing that is sad is that it seems to have to be one of their own telling
them
something is so before they'll begin to open their eyes. I mean, "Liberals"
have
been telling them for years these social Darwinists have been taking them for a
ride just to get their votes to able to enact their mean spirited agenda, but
it
wasn't until the likes of John Dean or David Kuo started pointing out a few
things that these People of Faith started getting a whiff of the stench that
has
been filling everyone's nostrils for years. Kuo seems to be genuinely upset
that
the poor were not addressed by "compassionate conservatism." [I know, I know
"Well DUH!" "You f#@ked up; you trusted me."].
It has been one of the questions I've been trying to answer for myself - "How
can genuinely good people believe this crap, swallowing the hypocricy hook,
line and sinker?" I think the John Dean book has put a finger on the reason.
These are authoritarian followers that will walk off a cliff for their leaders,
will
never question ... perhaps until it is too late. It is that ability to suspend
conscience that Dean talks to. He mentions the experiment where ordinary
people will administer shocks to others because an authority figure tells them
to. It's just disheartening to find that there are so many of these kinds of
people. My own belief is that is deeply hard wired into our species, following
the
lead of the old silver back. This is what makes democracy such a revolutionary
leap of faith. It goes against our evolutionary inheritance. Thus the need for
"constant vigilance." It is so easy to backslide into our natural predilections.
The fear of leaving the troop to journey down the pathway to enlightenment
alone is a powerful force to overcome. Some seem to just prefer being lead by
the nose to a pseudo-spirituality.
---
Kevin Hopkins <kh2@xxxxxxxx>
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