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Originally Posted by olyve
Probably numan but I believe somewhere along the line the corporations/whoever figured out fear was where the real power was.

Call it "fear for profit".

that is certainly true, Olyve.

More than a hundred years ago, this manipulation can be clearly seen in the "Remember the Maine!" hysteria that was the cover for America's first imperialist venture. And the manipulation of people's emotions by the Power Elite has only grown with time, until now it approaches out-and-out tyranny.

But the tendency of Americans to be overwhelmed by hysteria can be seen long before all this --- most notably in the 1850's, when a shocking downward spiral into hysteria, in both the North and the South, led to the greatest (until now) catastrophe in American history: the Civil War.

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Originally Posted by 2wins
people in general are prone to hysteria. i would point to the french government's decision to outlaw muslim head wear as just one european example.

I agree with you about the head scarf issue. What a farce! When I was young, women all over North America and Europe wore head scarves as a matter of course.

It is not that hysteria does not occur in other countries, it is just that Americans seem to specialize in it.

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The US is as far as I can tell unique among industrialized nations in that there a large and vocal proportion of the citizenry who consider ignorance a virtue, and wild-eyed sloganeering about the blood of patriots a useful substitute for research and critical thinking. And the workin' folk and NASCAR moms and dads who are getting screwed the worst by the Republican right are the ones foaming about the mouth about "socialism". It would be funny if it weren't so sad.

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Originally Posted by rupert
The US is as far as I can tell unique among industrialized nations in that there a large and vocal proportion of the citizenry who consider ignorance a virtue, and wild-eyed sloganeering about the blood of patriots a useful substitute for research and critical thinking. And the workin' folk and NASCAR moms and dads who are getting screwed the worst by the Republican right are the ones foaming about the mouth about "socialism". It would be funny if it weren't so sad.
An observation, Rupert -- the only difference, in this case, between Dems and Repubs is that Dems tend to whimper about how sorry they are while screwing the working class. coffee
Yours,
Issodhos


"When all has been said that can be said, and all has been done that can be done, there will be poetry";-) -- Issodhos
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Originally Posted by rupert
It would be funny if it weren't so sad.

Marx said that history repeats itself: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.

In the United States, the two occur simultaneously.

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The topic is stultifying, the poster obtuse.


If you want to find protest, look for conservatives. If you want violence, look for the union label.
- Dan Gainor.
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When it comes to "workin' folk and NASCAR moms and dads who are getting screwed", how about this:

Quote
Government scientists figure that one out of three male smallmouth bass in American river basins have features of both sexes... Among largemouth bass, about one in five male fish have those characteristics.

from: Intersex Fish

So all those bass-fishing dads are screwed, too! Many of the fish they are catching are so messed up by pollution, they have both male and female parts. Catch & Release, not "for sport" but for self-protection!

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Originally Posted by olyve
"Put simply, our health care problem is our deficit problem. Nothing else even comes close,"
--- President Obama.

The depredations of the Military-Industrial Conspiracy?

.

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See? Communism is turning all our red-blooded American fish into perverts!

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