There is something eerily familiar about the unwillingness of editors and politicians that are unwilling to call a spade a f*cking shovel. Perhaps it was answered by Stanly Milgram in his investigation of obedience. Stanly Milgram was one of a number of post war psychologists and sociologists who tried to address why people obeyed immoral orders in the holocaust,. Milgram's findings demonstrated that reasonable people when instructed by a person in authority, obeyed commands entailing what they believed to be the death and suffering of others. These results were confirmed in other experiments as well, such as the Stanford prison experiment. Adolph Eichman who officiated at the holocaust defended himself before an Israeli court by pointing out that he was a good family man and was only following orders. Needless to say this got him hung.
This is the only possible explanation for the problem of normal people being complicit in the many crimes of the Bush administration even if they only refuse to object. It seems to be the result of deeply rooted tribal nature. The German people knew that Hitler was rounding up Jews and putting them in box cars to be hauled to Auschwitz or Buchenwald but patriotism kept them powerless. In spite of sixty percent of the American people calling for an end to the occupation of Iraq; the horror goes on. Even in the face of an obvious cover up and the testimony of numerous scientists we have trouble believing that the actions of our government are crimes. We are like the majority of American Blacks who believed that O.J. Simpson was innocent and the Whites who were convinced that Black people were not fully human before the civil rights act.
Let it be known that our tribe is in danger from the terrorists who inhabit the White House and we can not depend upon an election or the Congress or the Supreme Court. We must like the Latino population, take to the streets as they are doing when 11,000,000 of them were threatened with being jailed as criminals. Like the German people we Americans are going to be judged by history as criminals. If we stand by while someone is robbing a bank and don't call the cops we are guilty. The statement by Samuel Johnson on April 7, 1775: "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel was echoed by such notables as Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein. "My country right or wrong" has been shown by history to have resulted in great damage to the country so honored. It is well that we be untouchable so far as bribe money is concerned and untouchable by not allowing our morality to be swayed by the lies of the demagogue.
st.johnj@cox.net
State field representative California Dairyman's Association. Editor California Farm Reporter. President Eagle Lodge Number One AFL Papermakers Union. Shop Steward Local 600 United Auto Workers.
