I figured I'd jump on the media bandwagon here and comment on the continuing and enlarging debacle that is the Mark Foley scandal. For those of you who don't read the news, he's a republican representative who sent sexually suggestive IMs to a 16 year-old boy page, someone who helps congressmen as a quasi-servant. Further allegations are continuing to come up and, like the Arnold Schwarzeneger scandal years ago, more will undoubtedly continue. The true irony of the situation is that this congressman was the head of several committees creating laws to protect children from predators.
Already of course there are justifications being spun out as damage-control, declaring Foley an alcoholic, someone who didn't get along with his mother and, my personal favorite, that he's gay. This last is particularly pernicious as it only works by standing on the oft-repeated allegations by religious conservatives that homosexuality necessitates child molestation, an allegation that is not only completely wrong but sick.
What is being missed here is the ideological structure that Foley and his compatriots adhere to. This paradigm, in line with fascism, the Old Testament of the christian religion and the protestant work ethic as given by Luther and John Calvin, supports the notion that power equals moral correctness.
Consider this: if one believes that reality exists as the outplay of a divine order where social heirarchy is mandated as representative of intelligent design and that this order is best shown by the increase in monetary and social gain (ala Calvin) being given to those who deserve it, then it is not a great leap in psychological construction that as power is given by the divine mandate and the divine is, by definition, morally right, then those who have been given power by the divine order are therefore in line with that same moral rightness.
Hence, you have Bush's inability to admit the possibility that he could have done anything wrong, Cheney's admission that knowing all that is known now, the Iraq situation would have been handled exactly the same way and people like Foley who see no harm in sexually enticing minors.
What is key here is that the adherence to a strict religious mentality is not needed, only the belief in the general parameters of a dualistic reality in which there is a divine order. This is why fascism, the rule of corporations, stands hand-in-hand with religious movements, for each justifies the other.
Here, then, is the real issue. Yes, the IMs sent by Foley are reprehensible and he and anyone who covered it up should be thrown out of office and prosecuted, but the actions need to be seen as pointing to a general ideology that threatens far more than one or several children, but the very foundation of a democracy that serves to protect ALL children.
www.myspace.com/davidteachout
Graduated from a Bible college, majoring in theology and psychology. Currently working on Ed.D. in counseling psychology.
Bush, Rove et al and supporters are pathological liars
History teaches us the ebst lesson:
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."
nazi progandist, Joseph Goebbels
by
danbos (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 3 comments)
on Sunday, October 15, 2006 at 3:28:46 PM
While I appreciate the comment, I hesitate to use the term "pathological" to describe Bush, Rove, et al. It is not because I don't believe them to be liars, not at all. Rather, like when some call them "idiots", I think the term gets away from the deeper truth of the matter.
Let me explain. If all Bush and company were simply liars, then showing the truth would make people lose their sense of commitment and denounce him, but there are still over a quarter of the population (as recent polls show) that say he is doing a good job despite all the revelations. What Bush is, is someone dedicated to an ideological paradigm that denies him the ability to think critically. This paradigm denies facts from becoming part of his conscious awareness and as such he operates solely on the belief that he is part of the grand cosmic plan of the Creator he obeys.
Call him a liar, for that is what he is, but do not let the lies hide you from seeing that those lies are based on a way of viewing the world, one that is far worse than all the individual lies that have been told.
by
David Teachout (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 21 comments)
on Monday, October 16, 2006 at 12:05:57 AM
I appreciate your sentiments and respect them. Although I believe you proved that the quote was applicable to what our country is going through.
Your comment simply proves my point that if you tell the lie long enough, the people believe it. That answers your questions as to why 25% still believe Bush, Rove et al.
Second, the masses on average think and live at a 7th grade level of education. 40 million no insurance. 30 million children in poverty with 70% one parent.
The middle clas works two jobs to survive and therefore cannot deal with "reality" or "truth."
Therefore, the masses remain ignorant prefering to watch "realitry TV" and hope to dress like Paris Hilton.
Finally, These historic figures say it best, and once again, reflect the Bush, Rove, et al mindset:
"Terrorism is the best political weapon for nothing drives people harder than a fear of sudden death". - Adolph Hitler
"Why of course the people don't want war ... But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship ... Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
- Hermann Goering, Nazi leader.
by
danbos (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 3 comments)
on Monday, October 16, 2006 at 6:34:16 AM
I didn't mean to give the impression that I disagreed with how your quotes from Nazi germany exemplify what is going on in America today. I thoroughly agree that at one level, telling a people a lie long enough will tend to enduce belief. However, as a student of psychology, I tend to ask the why of this fact. It is all well and good to notice the gullibility of a populace, but quite often there is an ideological fixation that makes them incapable of asking questions. Using examples that people work two jobs and operate at a 7th grade level is only descriptive, for there have been numerous individuals, including myself, and population groups with less education and work harder who rise up and ask questions. The difference is social and individual paradigms.
I am reminded of the proverb: "you can lead a camel to water, but you cannot make him drink."
by
David Teachout (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 21 comments)
on Monday, October 16, 2006 at 10:21:26 AM
4 comments
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