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I'd say there are three groups: 1) Those who provide information, have a detailed understanding of events in South America, including Venezuela, who generally provide links to information sources, and who generally approve of the Chavez government; 2) Those who seem to know little or nothing--just a few snippets here and there, that seem to come straight from Condoleeza Rice, via AP--these are always anti-Chavez, always very short and uninformative, and often snide and dismissive; and 3) Those who mostly lurk, curious about the issue, looking for information.
Group 2 are quick to jump into any Chavez thread with their "dictator" 'talking point,' and often try to get some kind of personal fight going--name-calling and so forth. When they are challenged on facts, they simply dissolve. They have no facts. And they seem much more numerous than I think they really are. Does somebody pay them to do this? Could be. It certainly feels that way at times.
There are a few in Group 2 who seem genuinely upset about Chavez. I pushed one of these commenters recently to try to figure out what the basis of it was. (Because there really is no arguing with the facts that Chavez is a genuinely elected, genuinely supported, law-abiding leader, who represents the great majority of Venezuelans.) What it came down to, in that particular case, was Chavez's support for Iran. I won't go into all that. I just want to make the point that some Chavez bashers have other agendas--another one being anti-Castro Cuban-Americans. In these two cases, the commenters don't seem to grant Venezuela the right to have its own, sovereign, foreign relations policy. And they don't seem to object to the U.S. allying itself with the worst, most tyrannical regimes in the Middle East--Saudi Arabia, the UAE--or the Far East, Pakistan. (Iran is mild by comparison to those three.) And they seem oblivious to events in South America--where the U.S. supports truly bad, corrupt governments like those in Colombia and Peru, and has always supported brutality and fascism (especially the Reaganites and Bushites). Chavez doesn't do any of this crap--throwing dissenters out of airplanes, chainsawing union organizers and throwing their body parts into mass graves, 'disappearing' thousands of people, slaughtering tens of thousands of indian villagers, assassinating legitimate leaders--crimes that U.S. supported Latin American regimes have frequently committed (to this day). Chavez is a law-abiding president strongly committed to human and civil rights. Why do they pick on HIM--and not the REAL tyrants of this world?
Anyway, my point is that some posters are actually concerned about something else, and know very little about Chavez (except for these few items that intersect with their main concerns). The bulk of Group 2 really do behave like operatives--and their articulation of their point of view is about as eloquent and literate as Bush's. And that pretty much gives them away. They are not interested in information or dialogue. They do "hit and run" posts--repeating Bushite memes in the classic mode of "Big Lie" propaganda. And I don't think they represent many people--here at DU, or in the population at large.
I think most people who post at DU--or read DU--and, indeed, most Americans in general--are pretty intelligent and far better informed that they are given credit for. I don't think this kind of stupidity appeals to them, or convinces them. They may be uninformed on some matter (--and many north Americans are badly informed about Latin America, unfortunately), but they are willing to listen, and willing to absorb facts and are seeking the truth. I think the human brain despises propaganda. It may be poisoned by it, for a while. But propaganda becomes tiresome. It is disrespectful. It is boring and repetitive. And the minds craves activity. It yearns to figure things out for itself. My experience is that most DUers are this way--anxious to learn, and wanting to escape the fascist propaganda they are subjected to. These DUers may say very little--merely thanking someone for links, or for a thoughtful comment. It's hard to judge their numbers, but I would guess that it's the vast majority.
DU is an open forum, which has its glories. I love the openness of this forum, even when it gets hit with trolls. Like my dear rightwing Bushite brother (now deceased), they make me think and investigate. I've asked myself a million times, "Are they right about Chavez? Is he really a 'Stalin' in the making?" And, from there, I search out the facts--and have concluded that these anti-Chavez posters are 100% wrong. Not just partly wrong. REALLY wrong. And that, too, makes me think and investigate. (Okay, where is the lie coming from? And who, among those who repeat it, are just innocently miming what they read/see/hear in the corporate monopoly news, or who is being malicious, and why?)
"Eye opening" it is, as you say. But it is also heartening that so many people are seeking an alternative to the corporate crap that gets shoved at them day and night, and want to know the truth and want to think for themselves. I think there are lots and lots of us. I think we are the great majority.
Way back when Bush invaded Iraq, I asked myself this question: Are the American people swallowing this crap? Have my fellow Americans become idiots and know-nothings, goosestepping to Bush? Or is something else going on?
It was an important question to me--because the answer to it contains the remedy. If Americans had gone fascist, then what was needed was long term educational efforts, to help de-program them, and to re-enforce their independent thinking skills. But if they had NOT gone fascist, then what the hell was wrong with them? How could they let this stupid little usurper go prancing around holding his jock strap, and sending the U.S. military to slaughter a half a million innocent people? How had they become so powerless, so demoralized--and, most important of all, as it turns out--so DISENFRANCHISED?
I did a lot of poll reading--and was absolutely amazed at what I found out. (The vast majority of Americans are still peace-minded, justice-minded and progressive.) Then I started looking into the voting system, as 2004 approached. And the answer to the above is, basically, that the American people have been disenfranchised, literally. Their votes are not being counted correctly, and now the fascists have installed highly sophisticated electronic voting machines, run on 'TRADE SECRET' code, owned and controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations--to fiddle the vote counts at will, however they need to be fiddled, to keep the war and the fascist policy going.
This electronic voting coup was done UNDER THE RADAR of the American people--the most black-holed story in the history of journalism. So I don't blame the people--except maybe a little bit, for not being vigilant enough. (Prosperity lulls you.) It was a conspiracy of BOTH party leaderships. This made it nearly impossible for the American people to know. After 2004, though, a lot of people started getting onto it, and a great election integrity movement is under way. That's my America. If you can SEE the problem, then the problem can be fixed. Progressive America. Creative America. Can-do America. Passionately democratic America.
And that will happen with Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution, too. In fact, not only will the Bolivarian Revolution be vindicated, in this country, as the peaceful, democratic, social justice revolution that it is--and as one of the greatest peoples' movements that has ever occurred in the western hemisphere--it's going to transform our country as well. It's only a matter of time before our people also become totally fed up with the Corporate Rulers, and peacefully rebel, and start creating something better. The Bolivarians are showing us the way. And THAT is why the corporate media focuses on this one guy, Chavez--and demonizes him, and ignores all the rest. The People. That's who they really fear. That's who has really created this peaceful revolution. In Venezuela, in Bolivia, in Ecuador, in Argentina, and throughout the south. The PEOPLE of South America. And if they can do it--who have suffered so much from fascism regimes--so can we.
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