On Fri, 29 Jul 2005 10:44:51 -0400, HarryKrause wrote:

John H. wrote:
On Fri, 29 Jul 2005 06:38:14 -0400, HarryKrause wrote:

(Sprry, can't seem to find your email addy, Dr. HappyToof)

I Used To Be a Neocon by Drew O'Neill

Two years ago I was a neocon. I supported Bush’s war on Iraq and I
called everyone who didn’t a liberal Kool-aid drinker. I voted for Bush
in 2000 and I listened to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and just about any
right-winger on the radio that I could get a four-word talking point
from to use against liberals. I would say things such as "liberals won’t
defend America," "shut up and sing," "freedom is on the march," and
"you’re a great American." I supported the war at first because I bought
into the lies and propaganda.

I no longer do. I’m a recovering neocon.

The fact is, the neocon movement is a lot like a cult. I don’t remember
how I got so involved and the details are hazy on how I got out. I just
woke up one day and said "WTF!" and then ran outside to rip the "bring
it on" sticker off of my car bumper. What pulled me in to the neocon
cult however was a combination of American nationalism and group
mentality. It was a time when questioning the government’s response to
Iraq divided you between being with your country and government at a
time of need, or against them. I wanted to be with them.

So this cult took me in and I watched Fox News, I bought Factor Gear and
I was brainwashed into common reflexes for liberals and dissenters. When
I heard dissent in the media over Iraq I’d call it liberal bias. If
someone presented me any website that mentioned a "war for oil" or the
phrase "illegal war" I would blow the site off as conspiracy hogwash.
When someone would talk ill of the President and his march to war, I
would call them a liberal and anti-American. When someone would say that
Saddam was not a threat after I was done calling them part of the
liberal "hate America" crowd, I would launch into a diatribe that Saddam
was Hitler-like and hell bent on world domination. If someone persisted
I would take out my wild card:

"Saddam believes he’s the reincarnation of King Nebuchadnezzar, and he’s
harboring Al Queda!"

I couldn’t believe these liberals. I was outraged. The audacity of them
to question our President during a time of war! I listened to similar
sentiments on right wing radio while driving to work to reinforce my
belief.

Little did I know at the time, but I was an important part of the neocon
movement. I was but a tiny wheel in the machine of neoconservatism, but
the survival of the neocon agenda depends on millions of us tiny wheels,
or it cannot go anywhere. Most of all the neocon agenda depends on a
much bigger wheel, the media. For the neocon machine to roll, the big
wheel of the media must pull the millions of tiny wheels without the
tiny wheels knowing they are being pulled.

This is a difficult trick that requires the media to be an active
participant in government deception. To imply that they do so knowingly
would be too conspiratorial, and it would be too grand an operation to
be plausible. In truth, the mainstream media doesn’t believe they are
participating in lies.

During the build-up to the war they were being pulled without knowing
it, by the engine of the U. S. government. This swarm of nationalism
begat a pro-American media, a complacent media, a lapdog media and a
corporate media that to this day will not inform the American public.

When the Bush Administration was found to be creating fake news
propaganda for public consumption the media did not inform the public.
When the Bush administration marched towards pre-emptive war with Iraq
the media was a lapdog instead of a watchdog. When the Bush
administration described the assault on the Iraqi public as Shock and
Awe, the media used that phrase to scroll alongside the words "War on
Terror" without questioning if the assault on Iraq had anything to do
with terrorism. When the Bush Administration tore into the U. S.
Constitution with the Patriot Act, causing the illegal imprisonment of
American citizens while denying them counsel, the media acted more like
a timid cocker spaniel than an aggressive Doberman pincher, and failed
to defend a sacred American document. When the UK’s Downing Street memo
implicated the Bush Administration as being hell bent on a pre-emptive
invasion on Iraq before even going to the UN, the American media was
silent and once again failed to inform the public.

But the tiny wheels still want to call the media liberal. The tiny
wheels still want to say the media isn’t reporting the good things
happening in Iraq. Most of all the tiny wheels do not know about the big
wheel that’s pulling them. But now I do. That’s why I am an ex-neocon
and I am in recovery. It’s more clear to me now than ever that the most
American thing one can do is speak out against the actions of their
country because it means you love your country.

And in the end it doesn’t matter if we are liberals or conservatives
because all that matters is that we are on the side of the U.S.
Constitution and of international law. Both of which have been thrown
into the toilet by this administration. At least the Qur’an has company.


http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/oneill1.html

Started stupid and got worse.



Hit you a bit too close to home?

Didn't hit me at all, Harry.

--
John H.
On the 'PocoLoco' out of Deale, MD