- Recovering from the stupor initiated by the shock and
awe of witnessing the total and deliberate paper-signing destruction of
this former government of, by and for the people, my sabbatical of excruciating
anguish has been rudely terminated by the voice of the people on Election
Tuesday. Seeing the greatest nation of bounty and freedom destroyed
by a chief executive and his captive collaborators, mockingly categorized
as "representatives of the people" of the United States, made
me just want to pull the blankets up to my eyes and sleep off my depression.
But in spite a vote-recording system less than ideal, and through a cacophony
of neocon propaganda, Americans displayed their grasp of the error of big,
centralized government.
-
- Being sold out by our smiling backslapping "leaders"
to fascist foreign and criminal corporate interests has induced a vacuum
of huge political potential for noted Americans and those of high military
stature. The vacuum is beginning to become populated by some courageous
American patriots of the 21st
- century. Most notable among these are Keith Olbermann,
celebrated author Gore Vidal, and other leaders such as Dr. David Ray Griffin,
Dr. Steven E. Jones, Jeff Rense, Alex Jones, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, Charlie
Sheen, the Scholars for 9/11 Truth, Cindy Sheehan, Dr. Steve Fetzer, Dr.
Kevin Barrett, Dr. Ted Pike, and many others too numerous to mention in
this limited space and effort.
-
- It was Butler Shaffer in his brilliant paperback masterpiece,
Calculated Chaos, that identified our institutionalized biases, and who
offered the observation that I now appreciate more than ever; namely, that
inquiry, and not answers, leads to understanding. Shaffer points
out the staggering ignorance individuals impose on themselves by seeking
problem resolution relying on finalized answers to troublesome issues.
Those who feel satisfied "intellectually" by believing pat answers
are most assuredly not intellectuals. In all likelihood, such individuals
will never aspire to, nor succeed in, acquiring meaningful astuteness.
Imagined answers terminate further inquiry.
-
- Shaffer offers, "Those who are more concerned with
understanding nature than with trying to twist reality in an effort to
conform it to their own biases would have no need to structure their conclusions
into a philosophic system. Such people would be well aware of how
prior experiences can interfere with present understanding. If their
present understanding conforms with reality, that is sufficient confirmation.
If it does not, they will modify their past understanding to harmonize
it with the present. Their attitudes could be expressed as follows:
'my conclusions are all tentative. If there is a position more consistent
with reality, I want to know about it.' A mind that searches with
intense energy will give consideration to the philosophic statements of
others. But when inquiry is replaced by moral certainty, and working
hypotheses are superseded by eternal truths, philosophy ceases to be a
tool for understanding. It becomes, instead, nothing more than an
intellectual device for attempting to control the lives of other people
through such psychic pressures as fear, intimidation, ostracism, and humiliation."
[p. 176]
-
- Shaffer continues: "For those of us who are discomforted
by intellectual uncertainty, however, a state of continuing doubt produces
anxiety. As we have already seen, our inquiries are motivated by
a desire for understanding, and we have allowed ourselves to believe that
understanding requires answers. Because we are not aware that understanding
comes from questions rather than answers, our inquiries become very results-oriented.
This, in turn, disposes us to the certainty of fixed answers, and away
from the tentativeness associated with the processes of constant inquiry."
[p. 177]
-
- Shaffer concludes his argument of inquiry over finalized
answers: "Regardless of the origins of the practice, there is little
denying our preferences for the certitude of answers over the inconsistency
of persistent questions, even though unfettered inquiry produces a greater
awareness of reality." [p. 178]
-
- Here is a quote from Dr. David Ray Griffin's paperback
masterpiece on 9/11, The New Pearl Harbor, relating directly to Shaffer's
observation that inquiry rather than answers leads to understanding: "Ahmed
is right to put it that way, because there well may be other facts that
would cast the facts discussed by the revisionists in a different light.
Also, some of the items presented as "facts" may not be such;
only further investigations can decide. Moreover, the judgment that
a case for some thesis is "conclusive" is always in part a judgment,
depending upon the biases of those making the judgment. The question,
accordingly, is not whether the case for official complicity the
best case that can be constructed from the writings of Ahmed, Chossudovsky,
Meyssan, Thompson, and other researchers is conclusive. The
question is whether it is likely to be widely perceived as conclusive.
And for this to be so, critics of the revisionist theory could well claim,
these revisionists must do more than show that the official account is
implausible. They must also present an alternative account of what
happened that incorporates all the relevant facts now available in a plausible
way. Furthermore, these counter-critics could continue, insofar as
an alternative account is already contained, at least implicitly, in the
writings of the revisionists, it could be subjected to a great number of
rhetorical questions, to which answers do not appear to be at hand."
[p.134]
-
- For glaring examples of methods aggressively employed
in limiting inquiry by offering pat answers and half-baked conclusions
inspiring such cerebral dullness and comfort, one need only listen to the
echo-filled wasteland of Limbaugh's talk radio, or view the talking heads
on Faux News populated by the likes of Hannity and O'Reilly.
-
- A "crisis" meeting was called by the Bush shortly
before the GOP midterm election disaster wherein our chief executive genius
and "decider" sought to motivate his pet collection of neoconservative
talk radio and Faux TV fascist propagandists to agitate more fervently
on his and his regime's behalf to influence the dumbed-down American populace.
Not that the party of John Kerry or Hillary is any better AIPAC-genuflecting
Democrats and now Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi seemingly intend to
continue their financial and media dependence upon the Israeli Likud Party
and its lobby in Washington. It has accurately been described as
the most powerful lobby in America.
-
- One wonders how the greatest nation on Earth could so
easily and quickly be terminated. Where is the outrage from the public?
Where is the outrage from our military? Where is there a noticeable
organized outcry from the grassroots all across the "fruited plain?"
Why do Limbaugh, Hannity and O'Reilly continue their self-imposed and enforced
ignorance in denying the mounting abundance of the many facts so plainly
visible? Is their continued acquisition of wealth and fortune still
so critical a motivator for these media millionaires? Doesn't saving
America appeal to them in the least? All they simply need to do is
articulate what is so blatantly obvious: The emperor is naked!
-
- Their self-denial lulling their supporters to sleep to
prop up and make acceptable American tyranny requires a universally agreed-upon
enemy or bogeyman. It was, for the justification of our entry into
World War I, "the Hun." Then it was the black-garbed cloak
and dagger bomb-throwing Bolshevik and communist. Nowadays, it's
the "Islamofascists" and their "mullahs" who are responsible
for all the evils in the world. This is the same hefty dose of government
propaganda designed and used to fool the people into hurting themselves
for the profiteering corporations and their political prostitutes.
-
- But the people have spoken. It is their current
voice that is the highpoint in what just passed as the most crucial election
in the entire history of this now-crippled republic. To be sure,
we have had many tyrannical presidents, presidents who have damaged this
once great and free republic more than would have been possible by the
very worst of the world's most frightful dictators. Who was first
to stifle opposition and dissent if not the second president of the United
States, John Adams, with his unlawful Alien and Sedition Acts? Who
displayed more tyranny than Abraham Lincoln, initiating and unleashing
the greatest terror ever perpetrated against Americans via his so-called
"Civil War?" And who maneuvered US into war with Spain
to steal Cuba and the Philippines if not President McKinley? And
Teddy Roosevelt's "big stick" got US the Panama Canal.
And President Woodrow Wilson, bowing to Zionist pressure and manipulation,
got US entangled and involved in a European war we had no business being
in to make the world safe for Zionism. This was followed up by Winston
Churchill and FDR's efforts to ensure that the world was also safe for
communism.
-
- The American people finally began to catch on after Lyndon
Johnson lied US into a major escalation of the Vietnam War via his fraudulent
Gulf of Tonkin farce. People, mostly college students and draft age
cannon fodder, poured out into the streets and rallied at political party
conventions, demonstrating their anger via organized and ad hoc protests
letting the Johnson administration know of their anger over the manufactured
pretexts to wage an unnecessary and nation-dividing war. People connected
and organized their discontent via music, speeches and rallies.
-
- Today, there are two crucial restraints not previously
in existence and posturing as severe impediments on the freedom of speech
and its underlying justification as a means of dissent. These restraints
silence protest and enfeeble the efficacy of the American people.
One is technology, which has been hijacked by our colossal centralized
government in Washington, and which in turn has been hijacked by the GOP.
Technology, in the form of horrendous deadly military power, can be unleashed
against both domestic and foreign enemies of the American political state.
Rubber bullets, laser-directed energy, anti-human/personnel audio frequency
disabling weapons, specialized gases, x-ray scanners that can penetrate
buildings and other structures, video monitoring systems, electronic chip
implants, telephone and computer eavesdropping equipment and systems, unmanned
flying drones, and not last nor least, horrific nuclear weaponry not yet
known to the public.
-
- Then there is the astonishing disconnect that blocks
and/or enfeebles organized protest, whether or not such dissent is desired
by either a majority or a significant minority of Americans. Formerly,
there were such vehicles as both rock and folk music, sometimes employed
by former military personnel protesting America's unnecessary involvement
in Vietnam. There were also several publications from an "underground"
press, as well as dissent from notable individuals even in the mainstream
press. Protest was also expressed by organized unrest and demonstrations
on college campuses all across the country. To really appreciate
the level of suppression deployed by the Bush regime, consider the natural
deterioration of the means of protest in the arts, in the press, and the
media in general. This deterioration could be attributed to a condition
emerging as the natural byproduct of a society grown intellectually lazy
by the advent and availability of complex electronic toys and computer
games and their recreational programs. Why learn to sing and play
a guitar when you can jaw and rap your way through a gig as a "DJ"
using error-free electronic equipment? Our society is today less
informed and less motivated than it was during the days of Tom Paine's
pamphlets and Ben Franklin's printing press.
-
- As Bob Dylan admonished, "You shouldn't let other
people get your 'kicks' for you." Americans must stop "leaving
it to George" and start directing some protest energy at the media
and our smiling backslapping "leaders" in Congress. There
is no media or media entertainment means today for Americans to express
their organized dissatisfaction with the horrendous un-American and unconstitutional
abuse our country's present government is aggressively saddling US with.
As Griffin points out in his book, "I have argued that our Fourth
Estate needs to carry out a thorough investigation of the kind of information
summarized in this book. It is usually only when the press leads
the way that an official investigation is undertaken." We must
all work together to ensure that this happens.
-
- Of course, Griffin's book attacks directly the foundation
of the current regime's power, the 9/11 massacre of Americans that put
Bush over the top and made him America's worst and most powerful presidential
dictator. Questioning, investigating, indicting and holding Bush
accountable for his and his administration's undeniable direct involvement
in the 9/11 massacre of innocent, unarmed and unsuspecting Americans, should
now be number one on the agenda of the American people. It is clear,
that in spite of the seeming complicity and protection provided to Bush
and his administration by the American press, the people of America have
been exposed to sufficient levels and "leaks" of truth and fact
such that the mass media and the propaganda from neocon talk radio and
Faux News wasn't able to stifle and negate opposition to the Bush administration
in this significant election. Bush's GOP deservedly took a massive
hit.
-
- Americans are increasingly rejecting Bush's war on Iraq
and learning that the "facts" and explanations concerning the
"war" were deliberate falsehoods. This brings more focus
as well on the Bush lies concerning 9/11. Griffin's book effectively
serves as the case for the people's prosecution against what can easily
be described as the most corrupt and dangerous regime ever to control America,
if not the entire world. A vigorous and politically neutral investigation
regarding the precise levels of Bush and his administration's involvement
in the 9/11 massacre of Americans is now not only in order, but long overdue
and vital to the continuation and survival of our republic. And winning
and previously long-suffering Democrats are not to be let off the hook
in terms of letting "fellow professional" [Pelosi-"60 Minutes"]
Bush get away with both the mass murder of 3,000 American and 655,000 Iraqi
citizen non-combatants.
-
-
- © THEODORE E. LANG 11/12/06 All rights reserved
-
-
- Ted Lang is a political analyst and freelance writer.
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