The High Price of American Gullibility, Paul Craig Roberts

[pisshead]

[align=left]The High Price of American Gullibility[/align]
Paul Craig Roberts | June 29 2006

What explains the gullibility of Americans, a gullibility that has mired the US in disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and which promises war with Iran, North Korea and a variety of other targets if neoconservatives continue to have their way?

Part of the explanation is that millions of conservatives are thrilled at the opportunity to display their patriotism and to show their support for their country. Bushâ??s rhetoric is perfectly designed to appeal to this desire. "You are with us or against us" elicits a blind and unquestioning response from people determined to wear their patriotism on their sleeves. "You are with us or against us" vaccinates Americans against factual reality and guarantees public acceptance of administration propaganda.

Another part of the explanation is that emotional appeals have grown the stronger as the ability of educated people to differentiate fact from rhetoric declines. The Bush administration blamed 9/11 on foreign intelligence failures; yet, the administration has convinced about half of the public that mass surveillance of American citizens is the solution!

Many Americans have turned a blind eye to the administrationâ??s illegal and unconstitutional spying on the grounds that, as they themselves are doing nothing wrong, they have nothing to fear. If this is the case, why did our Founding Fathers bother to write the Constitution? If the executive branch can be trusted not to abuse power, why did Congress pass legislation establishing a panel of federal judges (ignored by the Bush administration) to oversee surveillance? If President Bush can decide that he can ignore statutory law, how does he differ from a dictator? If Bush can determine law, what is the role of Congress and the courts? If "national security" is a justification for elevating the power of the executive, where is his incentive to find peaceful solutions?

Emotional appeals to fear and to patriotism have led close to half of the population to accept unaccountable government in the name of "the war on terrorism." What a contradiction it is that so many Americans have been convinced that safety lies in their sacrifice of their civil liberties and accountable government.

If so many Americans cannot discern that they have acquiesced to conditions from which tyranny can arise, how can they understand that it is statistically impossible for the NSAâ??s mass surveillance of Americans to detect terrorists?

Floyd Rudmin, a professor at a Norwegian university, applies the mathematics of conditional probability, known as Bayesâ?? Theorem, to demonstrate that the NSAâ??s surveillance cannot successfully detect terrorists unless both the percentage of terrorists in the population and the accuracy rate of their identification are far higher than they are. He correctly concludes that "NSAâ??s surveillance system is useless for finding terrorists."

The surveillance is, however, useful for monitoring political opposition and stymieing the activities of those who do not believe the governmentâ??s propaganda.

Another reason for the gullibility of Americans is their lack of alternative information to government propaganda. The independence of print and TV media disappeared in the media consolidations of the 1990s. Today a handful of large corporations own the traditional media. The wealth of these corporations consists of broadcast licenses, which the companies hold at the governmentâ??s discretion. Newspapers are run by corporate executives, whose eyes are on advertising revenue and who shun contentious reporting. The result is that the traditional media are essentially echo chambers for government propaganda.

The Internet and the foreign news media accessible through the Internet are the sources of alternative information. Many Americans have not learned to use and to rely on the Internet for information.

Many Americans find the governmentâ??s message much more reassuring than the actual facts. The governmentâ??s message is: "America is virtuous. Virtuous America was attacked by evil terrorists. America is protecting itself by going to war and overthrowing regimes that sponsor or give shelter to terrorists, erecting in their place democracies loyal to America."

Sugar-coated propaganda doesnâ??t present Americans with the emotional and mental stress associated with the hard facts.

In National Socialist Germany, by the time propaganda lost its grip, Germans were in the hands of a police state. It was too late to take corrective measures. Not even the military could correct the disastrous policies of the executive. In the end, Germany was destroyed. Does a similar fate await Americans?

pisshead Reviewed by pisshead on 06-29-2006. The High Price of American Gullibility, Paul Craig Roberts The High Price of American Gullibility Paul Craig Roberts | June 29 2006 What explains the gullibility of Americans, a gullibility that has mired the US in disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and which promises war with Iran, North Korea and a variety of other targets if neoconservatives continue to have their way? Part of the explanation is that millions of conservatives are thrilled at the opportunity to display their patriotism and to show their support for their country. Rating: 5

[shamrok16]

Well the Afghanistan War is not at all disastrous and I think it's too early to call the Iraq war disastrous.

[Dutch Pimp]

Well the Afghanistan War is not at all disastrous and I think it's too early to call the Iraq war disastrous.

Yea, everthing is just fucking peachy...over there.

[Binzhoubum]

As much as many of you don't like to think about it, war IS necessary in the world we live in.

And why does everyone automatically blame the US for the wars? I'll give you the Iraq thing (but then again that's for business--What's good for GM is good for America... )

BUT...North Korea and Iran are asking for it...they ARE a little crazy. Haven't you ever met someone on the playground as a child or in the office as an adult who was confrontational and bullheaded no matter what?

Come on guys, I am all for peace too! But let's be realistic about the world.

:smokin:

[Binzhoubum]

War is as old as time itself...

Is it not true that the Bhagavad Gita is Krishna's battlefield discussion with Arjuna? And is it also not true that this is one of the oldest texts from the world's oldest religion?

War is inevitable...and just as the Bhagavad Gita demonstrates...it is not to be shunned...there are lessons to learn from it.

:smokin:

[Dutch Pimp]

As much as many of you don't like to think about it, war IS necessary in the world we live in.

And why does everyone automatically blame the US for the wars? I'll give you the Iraq thing (but then again that's for business--What's good for GM is good for America... )

BUT...North Korea and Iran are asking for it...they ARE a little crazy. Haven't you ever met someone on the playground as a child or in the office as an adult who was confrontational and bullheaded no matter what?

Come on guys, I am all for peace too! But let's be realistic about the world.

:smokin:

North Korea...that's where the monkeys came from...in the ..Wizard of Oz.

[Great Spirit]

Both wars were uncalled for. There was no threat at all. Bush has used the "war on terror" to further a globalist agenda and to keep people in control.

The United States was meant to use its military for defensive purposes only and for peacekeeping.

The United States of Amerika is the number 1 threat to world peace!!

Americans are living in the 4th Reich...aka Fascist Amerika!

[antikoala]

As much as many of you don't like to think about it, war IS necessary in the world we live in.

Well, I'm sorry but I fail to see just how millions of mutilated corpses, acres of scorched land, tons of debree from bombed cities as well as famine, diseases, pollution and an economical devastation (for those of you who don't understand I'm refering to the meaning of the word "war") are *necessary*,especially in a supposedly modern and civilized global society, and certainly more historically experienced than the one that existed during the writing of the literatural works you mentioned (some 5000-6000 years ago).

If you belong to the category of e.x. people feeling extremely awful about the victims of brief natural disasters that happen near you and catch yourself praying for the rescue of each one of them, please think twice before claiming that the consequences of WAR on entire nations are well-deserved because "they're a bit mad".

You might want to ask the people of the following regions of the planet on the subject, as well as on the role of the US in it: El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Granada, Chile, Vietnam, Somalia, East Timor, Kossovo

[jamstigator]

I actually think if you asked the Grenadians about the U.S., they'd be quite likely to respond favorably. I was part of the invasion back in '83, and my job was psyops, operating the radio station we built there for propoganda purposes. And we did a fine job; by the time I left, it seemed like every Grenadian around was in love with Reagan and the U.S. Hell, I didn't like Reagan all that much, but they sure did. As for the other conflicts, I dunno, but that particular one ended up being an overall positive thing for everyone involved (except Cuba, of course).