Previously I wrote about how big a problem fear is and how our leaders use it to manipulate us. Okay so now we know who to be afraid of but, still we have to justify that they are really very scary. This may sound difficult but it is actually quite simple. All we have to do is compare our current threatening individual to someone who terrorized us in the past. If your current boss seems kind of mean but you're not sure just how big a bastard he actually is, just think about how much he acts like that jack booted thug you used to work for after school when you were a kid. You shouldn't of had to put up with that shit back then, and besides you're a grown-up now! See, how easy it is? Compare your current boss to some tyrant you used to work for (I'm sure you can find similarities) and you're ready to quit. Compare your girlfriend to that tart that broke your heart and you're ready to hire a private detective!
You get the idea. But here's the thing! You do not even have to compare this person to a real person from your past. You can use a real person from someone else's past! Your boyfriend might be just like your best friend's boyfriend, the one who propositioned you even though he knew you were her best friend. Hey your boss might be just like Al Capone! See history is full of villains we can compare people to. You are probably pretty good at this but you are nothing compared to the politicians and their media minions. But then you just make yourself miserable with this stuff, they make a living at it!
Remember when we invaded Iraq? Remember the build up to that quagmire? Who was it we compared Saddam Husein to? Why Adolf Hitler of course! Man if someone is just like Hitler they're bad! So when we compared Saddam to Hitler I knew we were going to start a war. It's the second step to war. First you get everybody scared, and then you justify their fear by saying "hey this guy is just like Hitler."
We do this all the time, comparing people to some famous villain like Hitler or Stalin. We call people we disagree with Socialists or Nazis. The other day some TV talking head was saying the Occupy Wall Street folks were Nazis and that they wanted to kill him and other "patriotic Americans." Once you compare people to Nazis you have good reason to be scared of them. Liberal commentators are too quick to call others Fascists and Conservative commentators are too quick to call others Socialists and nobody but Nazis should be called Nazis! We need to quit drawing Hitler mustaches on leaders we disagree with too.
Sure it's fun to get all exorcised about how evil and stupid the people we disagree with are but, this Socialist, Nazi, Hitlerian crap is really dangerous! I am for free speech. So here is what I propose, let's quit listening to it. Whenever you hear someone start tossing around labels like Nazi, or Socialist, or comparing someone to Hitler, turn them off! I promise you they are trying to manipulate you into supporting something that is probably stupid, like war, or repressing someone, or ripping off the middle class. I don't care what political party they belong to or if they are Tea Partiers or Wall Street Occupiers if they're calling each other Nazis they are actually using Hitlerian tactics themselves and therefore must not be indulged.
(that's all for now but there is more to come)
Russell
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