Who's Nutty Now?
As conspiracy theory and paranoia become an integral part of an entire political party's ideology -- from Glenn Beck, to the Birthers, to anti-healthcare reform protesters screaming about Dachau -- it's worth remembering how anything that could possibly be depicted as conspiracism was treated for eight years.
posted by The Cunning Realist at Thursday, November 12, 2009
8 Comments:
Remember those paranoids and conspiracy theorists who claimed the war in Iraq was about getting the oil? Care to comment on them, Peter Galbraith?
Conspiracies for me, but not for thee. Just another facet of IOKIYAR.
ALOHA !!
Lets not forget this one ... Back in the day it was labeled the DOMINO THEORY and a couple years ago Rumsfeld and Bush were in Vietnam welcoming Vietnam to the WTO. I wrote about that day here on this blog when it happened.
Now lets go back ...
God only knows what is said behind closed doors! For an example of what is possible behind closed doors just review the LBJ TAPES. LBJ sent tens of thousands of young Americans to their death just so he could look good for another year or so, long enough to pass the buck to the next President! Let’s take a brief look at telephone transcripts during 1964 between LBJ and Robert McNamara. Just keep in mind that the Vietnam War did not officially end until 1975, more than ten years after this conversation.
LBJ: Uh, tell me, I, I saw a little glimmer of hope on Vietnam in some, uh, paper today, uh, where we'd routed some and killed a few and run 'em out or somethin'. Do you have any--are you getting good cables on them at all?
RM: Well, I read that article, Mr. President, the, the uh-
LBJ: Give me another one of those.
RM: The official battle report wasn't as good as the newspaper report, for once. We got a little; we got a break in the press.
LBJ: Has Carl Rowan gettin' any of his propaganda people out there now?
RM: Yes, I think so and I'm going to check again before I go the end of the week and uh, tell him that I want to talk to Lodge about that while I am there. I'm just sitting here, as a matter of fact now, writing a cable to Lodge that I'll send Monday, telling him if he agrees, I'd like to stop by on my way home and I will cover that subject with him and be sure before I leave that Ralph's people are actually are on the way.
LBJ: Have we got anybody that's got a military mind that can give us some military plans for winning that war?
RM: Well, Buzz Wheeler is going out with me.
LBJ: I know but he went out last time and he just came back with, with planes, that are all he had in mind, wasn't it?
RM: Well we, uh, yes, well he had more than that but he emphasized the planes. And the planes, Max Taylor agrees, are not the answer to the problem. Whether we should have more planes or not is another question, but it's not going to make any difference in the short run, that's certain.
LBJ: Let's get some more of something, my friend; because I'm gonna have a heart attack if you don't get me something. I'm just sitting here every day and uh, this war that I'm winning and I'm not doing much about fightin' it, and uh I'm not doing much about winnin' it, and I just read about it and uh. Let's get somebody that wants to do something besides drop a bomb, but uh, that can go in and take in after these damn fellas and run them back where they belong. It looks like-
RM: Looks like we want to tell Kahn-
[recording interrupted- tone indicates that material was removed by National Archives for national security reasons]
LBJ: Well, we need to shoot that guy. We need somebody over there that can give us better plans than we've got, because what we've got is what we've had since '54. We're not getting it done, we're, we're losing so we need something new. It's uh, if you pitch this ol' southpaw every day and you wind up as the Washington Senators and you lose, well uh we'd better go us get us a new pitcher.
RM: I know it-
LBJ: Let's find one. And tell those damn old generals over there to find one for ya, or you gonna go out there yourself…
So, it seems the powers that be are concerned about the spread of some conspiracy theories, but not others. I wonder why that might be. Perhaps some strike closer to home than others.
It's surprising how malleable some minds can be. Certainly there are people at the reins who benefit, and whether they say and do what they do for profit, power, or real values, is anyone's guess. They spew this stuff, and as noted it changes as "needed" by them, across the Nation over the airwaves into homes. The trouble with that is mentioned in your next blog, "Having been robbed, the Germans became a nation of robbers." Sometimes they rob more than our money, but maybe the soul of our Nation.
You gotta respect people who are at least consistent and stand up for their values - "WATCH Stewart To Dobbs: At Least Your 'Abhorrent And Wrong' Views Are 'Consistent'"
Elisabeth Hasselbeck Set the Record Straight - "This morning on The View Elisabeth Hasselbeck set the record straight about a photo that conservatives have been circulating. The photo is said to be of Obama at a Veteran's Day celebration where he, supposedly, did not put his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance or the National Anthem. Conservatives all over the country have sent this photo in email forwards and it has even been shown here at Gather. According to Hasselbeck, the photo in question was not taken at the Veteran's Day event. She said it was taken at a Memorial Day event and that the reason Obama did not have his hand over his heart was that he had just arrived and the military shown saluting in the picture were saluting him, as the Commander-in-Chief. As Hasselbeck said, there are real issues about which we need to be upset, but this is not one of them.
...".
Rather than questioning this stuff, it makes people feel a kinship towards the messenger. And with a gazillion cable channels to fill 24 hours a day these "nuts" get press and/or a reality show.
The conspiracy theory and the paronoi are excellent topic to study and learn so I would like to find some more information about it.
Thank you very much. Mass of interesting and amazing. And yet not boring to read!
Little doubt, the author is totally right.
Post a Comment
<< Home