These attitudes are carefully cultivated not just by BushCo, who spreads the seeds wherever it can, but also by the profit-driven MSM, whose complete lack of curiosity and objectivity serve only to parrot the propaganda about America's being a shining beacon of freedom and hope, called upon to fix the world's problems by spreading same with tanks and bombs.
When, on the receiving end, there's a populace concerned mostly with deflecting responsibility for the war crimes, torture, and murder it implicitly supports, the message that we're killing them (whoever 'they' may be) for their own good assuages many a troubled conscience.
Smokescreen:
With expert use of the smokescreen device, the American public has been kept distracted by such nonsense as the 'runaway bride', Michael Jackson's trial, the second-by-second coverage of the Pope's death, and the latest hurricane or baseball 'scandal'. Like the Pope, some of the smokescreens are newsworthy in themselves, but most are there simply to keep people from talking about anything that really matters; like the economy, health care, the war in Iraq, the war in Iraq, and the war in Iraq.
Slippery Slope:
When US Senator Rick Santorum said that if gays are allowed to marry, next thing you know, we'll be allowing 'man on dog' and other visual niceties pegging him as a true sexual and moral deviant, he was resorting to the time honored fallacy of the slippery slope. The slope is just what the name implies. Once we legalize, allow, or condone a certain policy or practice (get the ball rolling), it is inevitable it'll spin out of control (picking up dangerous speed as it hurtles down the slope).
Can't legalize pot. Next thing you know, everyone's a junkie, or worse, hooked on pain pills. Can't legalize physician assisted euthanasia. Next thing you know, we'll be handing out morphine ODs to Grandma, the Crazy Guy on the Corner, and the helmet-wearing lunatic in the institution. Then there's the steepest slippery slope the regressive right has - that all progressives policies and all secular government will lead to the downfall and humiliation of the American Way Of Life. This one keeps the gullible and thoughtless nice and fearful so they won't notice what's happening right under their noses.
How by making corporations and the filthy rich pay their taxes, having national health care, feeding and housing the poor and hungry, returning religion to the privacy of homes and churches, butting out of others' affairs, supporting trade unions, and reducing our military spending, the world will come to an end and America will cease to be is completely beyond me.
But, then, I haven't been drinking my Kool-Aid.
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These are only a few of the more obvious symptoms of LDD. Others include yelling 'Terrorist!" or plugging the ears and shouting "La, la, la - I can't hear you" when confronted with uncomfortable facts about BushCo crimes, corruption, and treason.
Good luck.
Allen Snyder can be reached at asnyder111@hotmail.com This article is copyright by Allen Snyder and originally published by opednews.com but permission is granted for reprint in print, email, blog, or web media so long as this credit is attached. Read more of Allen's articles at Allen Snyder Archives
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