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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Suma who wrote (11051)	2/7/2006 10:49:16 AM
From: Fred Gohlke	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 541513

When I was very little, "The only good Indian is a dead Indian." was still a popular fable. Then, the Germans went from the greatest engineers on earth to bayonet-wielding, child-stabbing monsters and sub-human Jap animals raped and pillaged everything in sight. (Check out the comic books ... and news stories ... of the time. I grew up with them.) Less than two decades later, Communism was going to take over the world. When the Communists (at least the European version) went out of existence, we encountered the elusive threat of terrorism. During all these eras, we had a wealth of commentators assuring us that our life, liberty and happiness were threatened. I wonder if anyone sees a pattern here? The point, for those who find it elusive, is that the truth of propaganda is not in direct proportion to its volume (actually, inverse proportion may be closer to accurate), and nothing excuses us from applying reason to the circumstances of our lives. Fred

To: Suma who wrote (11051)	2/7/2006 11:06:58 AM
From: Lane3	Respond to of 541513

However, kept in a state of fear makes a population easier to control... One problem with fostering a state of fear is that it's hard to read from it whether it's contrived population control or a warning of something actually fearsome. When fear is being fostered, it could be that there is something real to fear or the opposite. It tells us nothing. Maybe that is why Roosevelt said the ONLY THING WE NEED TO FEAR IS FEAR ITSELF. I was so hoping for this kind of message. Not that that gives us any more information. But it seems more satisfying to me to put on a brave front than to be outwardly fearful.