People don’t know what’s up—and they don’t want to know.
Willfull Ignorance
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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Actually Ted – it could be YOU that doesn’t want to know.
Case in point: torture. I remember back in the 80’s telling people about US policy to torture, which at that time was prevelant in our South American activities. Probably still is. Anyway, I’d be bashed as anti-American because “We don’t torture!! We’re Americans!! We stand for goodness in the world!!!”.
Then came the Iraq war and torture claims came out yet again. Same response: “We don’t torture!! We’re Americans!! We stand for goodness in the world!!!”
Until the pictures came out. All of a sudden it became clear that WE DO torture as a matter of policy. So what’s the response of all the people that claimed “we stand for goodness in the world”? Now they say, “well, we HAVE to do those things. The safety of the country DEPENDS on it.” End result: polls say most Americans are pro-torture as it turns out.
So, in the end – it could be YOU Ted that doesn’t want to know. I honestly think that most people approve of all the bad shit America engages in. They may not know about it, but if they did – they wouldn’t care less. THAT may be a shock to your system. You expected goodness? Most Americans don’t give a shit about ANYTHING, other than their own situation. Their money. How big their house is. How big their TV is. That’s it. The rest of the world? It can fuck off as far as they’re concerned.
“You expected goodness? Most Americans don’t give a shit about ANYTHING, other than their own situation”
And that situation is increasingly determined by a sophisticated, growing, cross-discipline association of professionals who create in these people a deep need for that big TV, that SUV or whatever. The science of regimenting peoples minds has been the one area where academia, government and the private sector have contributed more or less equally. Even robotics engineers are getting in on the discussion about how to hack the human brain. So much for freedom.
Actually, Angelo, government has done a lot more “research” into controlling people’s minds than any other sector, especially its “intelligence” branches in their Cold War heydays.
Oh, btw when something comes along that explains what’s really going on, it is maligned by both the so-called right and the so-called left, including the sanctimonious far left.
Why does bucephalus hate America?