The main weakness of the mind of a Liberal is its inability to deal effectively with inconsistencies, absurdities, chaos, irrationality, and evil (immorality), and to understand that in an immoral world, the adage that applies the most is that "might makes right."
The contemporary Liberal also has an aversion to the concept of not only having real power, but to use it effectively.
Scenario: I request a hearing with the United States Attorney General, which is attended by other corporate scumbag-looking officials who more than likely were recently working for law firms or lobbying organizations for the financial industry.
As a citizen, I tell the AG that I'm extremely concerned about the fact that the Administration is refusing to criminally prosecute top Wall Street executives who by all accounts seem likely to have committed massive fraud. And I tell the AG that I'm terribly disappointed that he actually confirmed that we do have a two-tiered justice system by saying he can't criminally prosecute these Wall Street scumbags because by doing so, a global financial meltdown may ensue.
And so as the AG proceeds with some bullshit corporate speak justifying their decision not to prosecute these alleged criminals, I interrupt him politely and tell him that right now there is a posse of 50,000 men on Wall Street willing to move forward with citizens' arrest of a list of top Wall Street executives that has been vetted by an army of lawyers for the last six months, and that we feel pretty confident that those on the list should at least face criminal indictment.
He laughs, nervously, and makes some calls, and confirms that there are indeed 50,000 men. When he starts making noises about sending the NYPD to disperse the posse, I calmly take my cell phone from my pocket and make a couple of phone calls; then I hang up and calmly tell the AG this..."Okay, so here's what's going to happen; if this office refuses to file criminal indictments against these alleged criminals within 24 hours, we're going to shut down the whole goddamned country with a general strike starting in exactly 24 hours. In addition, as of right now, 500,000 people are going to start withdrawing their money from these criminal banks, and the same amount of people are going to continue doing so every 12 hours until there is run on the banks."
That scenario is a caricature, of course, a wet dream of a revolutionary wannabe, but I posit it to illustrate the concept of leverage, of power.
The typical liberal mindset revolves around the notion that when there is wrongdoing, injustice, corruption, or conflict, that it can all be handled through a series of logical or rational steps. If the corruption is endemic, then the liberal beliefs that by exposing it through reasonable arguments, that people would then take some action, like voting the corrupt politicians out of office.
No matter the issue, the liberal is always operating in the "rational" and "logical" realm, thinking that through an appeal to reason and sense of justice, things can be worked out.
I've argued this point before, but I've come to believe that because the liberal mindset relies heavily on logic, reason and empiricism, it tends to under-develop its capacity to understand raw, unadulterated displays of in-your-face power. In other words, and as I've argued before, the liberal mindset lacks the ability to understand malice.
Also, because the liberal mindset tends to be of higher intellect, it builds a very dangerous blind-spot by believing that the way you communicate with and influence average citizens is by putting forward reasoned arguments and propositions.
In reality, humans, being members of the animal kingdom, act based on both, consciousness, logic, and reason, as well as subconscious and irrational instincts, much of which can be manipulated through external stimuli.
For some reason which I'm still trying to understand, the fascist right wing mindset has always known this about the way to influence the "crowd."
Many on the Left are sometimes dismayed at how the Republicans and the right wing in general often present their arguments in a very narrow and repetitive format, basically repeating three or four main notions as answers to any question.
They do it because it works. Here's the advise by one of the most vile characters in world history:
- Appeal to the masses: "[Propaganda] must be addressed always and exclusively to the masses", rather than the "scientifically trained intelligentsia."
- Target the emotions: "[Propaganda] must be aimed at the emotions and only to a very limited degree at the so-called intellect."
- Keep your message simple: "It is a mistake to make propaganda many-sided…The receptivity of the great masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous."
- Make no half statements: "…emphasize the one right which it has set out to argue for. Its task is not to make an objective study of the truth, in so far as it favors the enemy, and then set it before the masses with academic fairness; its task is to serve our own right, always and unflinchingly."
- Repeat your message constantly: "[Propagandist technique] must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over. Here, as so often in this world, persistence is the first and most important requirement for success.
And herein lies one of the most cruel contradictions in human society. Those who are evil and immoral have mastered the art of influencing the crowd, while those of higher morality and intellect have not.
For is not enough to be right, to have science, and empiricism, and logic, and reason, and empathy, and morality, on your side, if you don't understand that influencing the crowd is more about the mechanics of it than about carefully putting forward a reasoned and logical proposition.
Finally, and getting back to where I began, with the concept of "power," of "leverage," my impression of the liberal mindset is that it tends to reject the acquisition of raw power, and even when it somehow lands on the proverbial lap of the average liberal, he or she does not know what to do with it.
By contrast, the right wing mindset totally embraces the concept of raw power, so much so, that even from a seemingly weakened position, right wing ideologues push their agenda forward marching in lock-step, using whatever power they have to the maximum possible.
My main point? It's not enough to be right, to be moral, to have a higher intellect, to have a sense of empathy (necessary for a decent society), to believe in science, and empiricism, and be logical and reasonable.
The rule of law, decency, justice and equality under the law for all, have to be defended with tooth and nail, fearlessly, relentlessly, understanding that we are dealing with a mighty, mighty struggle against those who are always willing, ready and many times able to impose tyranny.
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Ray Pensador |
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