Breaking Down the False Left Right Paradigm

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

------snip-------

At the root of the political circus of the western world, at the root of our dysfunctional and corrupt electoral system is a very clever little lie that prevents the people from regaining control over the government. Once you see that lie for what it is you will never be fooled again, and you may find yourself insulted by the audacity of the proponents and maintainers of this lie. I am of course referring to the paradigm of Left vs. Right, Liberal vs. Conservative, Republican vs. Democrat.

The most effective lies have an element of truth. A little truth gives the lie a foothold in the mind and prevents the less vigilant from looking deeper. The false Left / Right Paradigm is no exception. The power elite of this country and the world over have capitalized on common points of contention among world views of the citizenry and have managed to polarize them into two political categories : Liberal and Conservative. This is not to say that these disagreements aren't real. It should be obvious that some people are fiercely for abortion while others are fiercely against it. However, what may not be so obvious is that these points of contention, these wedge issues are little more than distractions that prevent us from uniting.

I know it's a bit inflammatory to refer to an issue like abortion as a distraction. Most people have strong feelings on the subject. I myself have strong feelings on the subject. However, the reality of the matter is that the politicians that use these kinds of issues to get us riled up in one direction or another are just manipulating us and turning us against each other. As long as they can successfully keep us fighting among ourselves over religious and moral controversies, and as long as they can maintain the illusion that the two parties are significantly different we won't pay attention to their collusion on economic and foreign policy and the rampant corruption endemic on both sides of the aisle. On the issues that will determine the course of history and the future survival of this nation the Republicans and the Democrats are perfectly synchronized in the march towards Armageddon.

What it comes down to is the principle of divide and conquer. The people of the United States will never be converted to one religion, and will never come to an agreement on the best way to handle reproductive issues or homosexuality, which is why these issues are used over and over again. Those who pull the strings know that these issues will never be resolved, and they know that most people will can be swayed to make a vote based purely on emotion. . . .

Source: http://www.waitingforthestorm.com/breaking-down-false-left-right-paradigm

[Kurovski]

1. I like this.

While some of the issues mentioned--LGBT--are defined generationally by attitudes strictly inforced for decades, some others, such as economics and the takeover of power by large wealthy groups (Oil, "Christians", Banks,Corporate farms, etc.) can be agreed upon by people within different groups. How many billions does the Pentagon "need"? Is it wise to bankrupt a country over a decade long war that's impossible and stupid? Isn't it unwise to give unfettered control when we see the devastation deregulation of banks has wrought? Didn't BP screw up royally?

I know full well that for any Tea'ers who actually believe in smaller Govt., we can agree on some things as American citizens.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

2. Getting most citizens to agree on some very important issues...

...is one thing -- getting these issues presented honestly and moved to the national front burner is quite another. Corporate media is the front burner issues gatekeeper, and that's not an easy gauntlet to run.

Take, for example, the issue of touchscreen voting machines. There is considerable distrust of these machines among the citizenry at large and I think it's safe to say that virtually all of us want the integrity of election results to be auditable and independently verifiable. I think it's also fair to say that virtually all of us view this as extremely important.

On the rare occasion that corporate media is willing to touch this issue they refuse to present it honestly. It's always presented as being about "voter fraud" where some lone geek citizen might try to hack into the system, and what's being done to prevent it. And never presented as potential organized theft via internal software manipulation by the companies entrusted to collect and count the votes. Also they never provide reports of the many suspicious results and statistical anomalies which have been widely documented. They're intentionally skirting the real issue: a national electoral system in the U.S. where we must accept the word of private corporations on the accuracy of election results. Almost nobody supports this, yet it's what we have and seemingly will continue to have for the foreseeable future.

We desperately need to find effective ways to force this and other non-divisive issues of immense importance onto the national front burner.

[deacon]

3. Well, when one speaks about division we can't leave out the top perps.

Our media. They are the ones that pine for controversy. They are the ones that take what should be front page stories and put them on the back pages if they put them in at all. They are the ones that take trivial issues - prop them up and kick their dead horse for weeks on end and constant misleading headlines concerning serious issues.

[Iterate]

4. Each side suspects concentrations of power,

and in that there is common ground. Both sides could probably agree the concentrations exist at the level of large/international corporations, media, and the federal government, even if they do not agree on the relative dangers those concentrations impose.

Yet each side seems to seek an increase in size and power of these organizations based on the narrow issues of the day, further eroding our control of these institutions at a later date. It's a small wonder the right is paranoid over seizure of their guns and property or of international mercenary takeovers when they've pushed the creation of a international mercenary force that seems hell-bent on jailing every clueless taxi driver and irreverent website creator.

So here's a one-time offer of compromise to the right: we'll take your smaller government in exchange for an even smaller corporate structure, small enough to be subject to the rule of law, and media small and independent enough to revert back to journalistic standards. If we could have small banks, they could be subject to simple regulations. Both sides would benefit by a government small enough to be subject to its own constitution. Win-win, except of course for those who really control the shots.

[Dr Morbius]

5. I suspect that one of the things they use to support this false dichotomy...

...is the common myth that there are "...two sides to every story." Nonsense, of course; the story has as many sides as it has. There are two prevalent perspectives in our media, not two "sides" to the stories themselves.

Independence in the media would help a LOT.

[Enthusiast]

6. K&R! Very good...nt