We're moving towards that point. More and more Americans are falling deeper and deeper into the hypnotic sleep in which they see no evil, hear no evil and know little about what is really going on. They still believe Saddam caused the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. They believe Brownie did a good job, it was just that the lazy, no good people of New Orleans didn't get their acts together and they believe that Bush won both elections fair an square.
Here's an email sent in response to an article published on OpEdNews.It is an amazing collection of right wing talking points transformed into a complete delusion of reality.
Note: this email is in response to an article called
The Iron Fist of JesusYour writing is like the words of a mad man spitting and shouting in every direction, out of control and, hopefully, soon out of breath. If your really worried about some poor kid in a middle eastern country not having enough to eat, ask Saddam why he didn't feed the kid rather than build another palace and gold plate his toilets and spend over a decade fighting with his neighbors in one of the most pointless and bloody wars in history. The truck loads of money he and his sons looted from the country could have gone a along way towards improving the everyday lives of Iraq's citizens and the country as a whole.
(of course, Iraqis are worse off now than they were under Saddam. editor)
You make it sound as if it is America's fault in general, and George Bush's fault in particular, if there is a cause for sadness anywhere in the known world. The Katrina victims had thirty years to prepare for the storm. The biggest surge in spending just before the storm, and presumably in preparation for it, was for beer. It is hard to see how it is Bush's fault that a few of them didn't think to stock up on a few gallons of something as basic as water. Every natural disaster preparedness plan I have ever heard of is based on the reality that it will take some self reliance on the part of the victims at least for the first few days following a disaster, before help arrives.
We progressive Op-Ed writers get emails like these all the time. This one was better than most-- with good grammar and use of a spell checker. Most come with pathetically misspelled words and awful grammar. Most come with nasty insults and foul language.
It's simply incredible how completely brainwashed and indoctrinated these idiots become by watching FOX and listening to Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, Savage and the rest of the right wing maggots who infest the airwaves.
These radio vermin are taking normal Americans and dumbing them down into ignorant dupes who believe.... they believe, with FAITH, like they believe the preachers in their megachurch palaces. And it's not just Christians. There are plenty of fundamentalist Jews too, who stay ignorant by ignoring TV and radio altogether, living third world lives in enclaves where girls are raised as breeders, to have ten, fifteen, even twenty children, matched up based on a caste system (converts from non-orthodox Judaism are low. COnverts from CHristianity are lower, and never are allowed to marry, by rabbinic decision, born orthodox Jews, unless they are defective, like mentally ill.) The Rabbis rule these communities, making sure that the only education is from the Torah. It's hard to believe, but some of these people don't even know who Albert Einstein is.
In the evangelical megachurches, where 10,000 to 20,000 sheep flock each Sunday, they're so brainwashed with the idea of having faith, and believing what their minister tells them, they are easily fed the lies and deceptions brewed up by the GOP and RNC to explain the failings and screwups of the Bush administration and Republicans. They are told to have faith in their President and they obey.
Who needs the Taliban when we have Orthodox Jews keeping their women in the dark ages, barefoot, pregnant, ignorant, segregated, denied education? We have Orthodox Jews (Chasids, Lubavitchers) backing Bush because he supports whatever Israel does, even when it lowers the promise for peace.
Who needs Madrassas that preach hate and intolerance? We have the same thing here in the USA. We have Evangelical Christians, taught to hate, to see a war against Christmas, to see evil in Gay relationships, to fear strangers, to believe they have the God-given responsibility to force others to live their Christian ways. We have rapture evangelicals who support Israel's abuse of the Palestinians because they see it as a part of the progression that will lead to armageddon and the return of the messiah, who will bring about the rapture.
The vast majority of Americans do not live these third world, medieval lives in darkness and ignorance. The vast majority of Americans who are members of churches, synagogues, mosques and temples are moderate, tolerant people who respect others' faiths and beliefs. They are the silent spiritual majority. It is time for the members of this silent spiritual majority to raise their voices, to meet in interfaith groups and join forces, declaring the immorality of the fundamentalist minority that has foisted itself upon American politics. The gentle, private religion that these folks choose to practice, which respects other faiths and their differences, does not shout out, does not declare loudly.
But it is time that these faiths come together to put a stop to the forces of darkness that these fundamentalists are trying to force upon the USA and the world.
There are "good" evangelicals and "good" Orthodox Jews-- people who are awake, who know the truth, who respect others. But they are not the pattern. They are not the way the leaders of their fundamentalist groups want them to be. But they prove that these people can be awakened from their Koolaid trances and deep sleeps. These groups are not tolerant. They have no respect for others. They do not deserve respect. They do not deserve tax breaks on the massive amounts of land and real estate they hold.
Rob Kall is editor and publisher of OpEdnews.com and social action chair for his reconstructionist synagogue, where he is working to organize interfaith discussions among non-fundamentalist congregations about the problems of fundamentalism.
