Topic: Jaded

Is anyone actually excited about this year's American presidential election?  Does anyone believe it could make a meaningful, positive difference? 

Please respond if you do.  Myself, I'm treading in my own cynicism (and by "cynicism" I partly mean "realism").

You can't change a tiger's stripes,
but you can avoid its teeth.

Re: Jaded

New and not so new cast of actors....but alas the same old script with 'new' words.
how can the system demolish itself ?! (since in my mind that is what's needed)
Its like  Ceasar(Seizer?) punishing Ceasar......highly improbable
its like our friend satan correcting sin.....hah ha ha

There is a saying:..Totus mundus en maligno positus est...the whole world
resides in the 'devil'(insert any other pet neg here).
Having found the fringe path, any hope in the well trod and neon lit hi-way is
an exercise in futility. one becomes a FRINGE dweller!
cheers

expect nothing but be pleasantly surprised
tomorrow the sun may never shine....enjoy today---my father

Re: Jaded

F*ck Yeah!

Wait, I mean no. Should I be replying to this thread?

Hehe sorry D, I think the only good that can come out of this year's elections is another large chunk of the population seeing firsthand the level of trickery on the part of media. I've mentioned before that I'm not really for or against Ron Paul. BUT, many of his supporters, who may have had inklings about number manipulation, are now irreversibly convinced that the country they live in is not the one they thought they lived in. Which is good.

One of my good buddies asked me the other day "what do you think of Obama?"

I gave him a look.

First, what the hell is a 'Barack'? Is that what an angry mother names an unwanted child? Can you even get into politics with a "normal" name?

Second, I said, "you can't leave the illusion can you?" This is someone who I've discussed so many fringe topics with over the years. He's seen the evidence of votefraud, he knows these public figures, these household names are ofttimes just as crooked as they get.

What do I think of Obama? What the hell dude!

Did I waste all that breath?

He's not the only one. Parents, other good friends, all seem to eventually come back to the illusion. And I know why.

Family.

I try and put myself in other's shoes a lot.
Keeps things in perspective. But here's what I think. If I had kids, a wife, a motherinlaw, etc., I know I would not be able to maintain my pov very long before I would be excommunicated. Which incidentally is one big reason I've had to excommunicate myself to some extent.

Fringe stuff is one thing among a handful of people, but whan a family is involved, there are too many minds that have been bought and paid for with pure propaganda and programming. It seems to be a no-win situation, or else it would take way too much energy to ever think about anything else. And I've not tried to force ideas or info on anyone, not always successfully.

But I'm still seeing friends "torn between two poles". That same friend above sent me a video of some  "badass" military hardware in action, not a week after we'd talked about my stance on war. Yes I did give him some shit about that one.

Did he think I' be impressed?
Did he think I'd immediately put my hand on my heart and thank god and country for giving us such awesome killing power?
Did he just hit 'me' by mistake when he was forwarding emails?

I didn't really get an answer out of him, he was definetely put on the spot, so I backed off. He understands though, he does.

So in effect, one (like many here) who is already treading two paths, kind of forces that on other people too. Because they may now differ with immediate family members when they in turn try to disseminate that information. So, plant a seed, as they say, but try not to walk all over their own freewill, is what I strive for.

But to answer your opening  ? as directly as possible....... no. This in no way excites me.
The same old diversions and distractions.

Stick your confetti and balloons up your collective ass.... flagwaving, nonthinking, herd following, overpatriotic robotic servants of Empire.

The gig is up.

The Age of Reason is close at hand.

J

Happy to have been a part

Re: Jaded

Rigged for Hillary probably

A suspicious mind is a healthy mind

5 (edited by Daisy 2008-02-13 00:37:15)

Re: Jaded

I'm not American, but from what I've read on here, Ron Paul sounds like the most promising candidate. But the media have set it up to be a two-horse race between Obama and Clinton, haven't they? They're the only names you hear mentioned in the British media anyway. roll

"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." - Mark Twain

Re: Jaded

Daisy wrote:

... a two-horse race between Obama and Clinton...  They're the only names you hear mentioned in the British media anyway.

Hmmm: the British media is telling the same story as the American media.  Figures. 

One aspect of the elections I am enjoying this year for the first time is the opportunity to spot propaganda.  I've of course seen it before, but I think this is the first year I'm not simply disgusted with it and can watch dispassionately and for what it is. 

I saw an Obama commercial the other day.  There were shots of large cheering crowds while Obama spewed platitudes from a loudspeaker about how we can become great again.  It was an appeal to popularity, it was emotionalizing, it bore a slogan ("Yes we can!") and it oversimplified the prospect of correcting the economy and foreign policy by inferring that mass assembly and vocalization (in support of Obama) could do it.  Of course that's not what the commercial literally said, but it is what it implied with the images and sounds.  And in point of fact people have been assembling and emotionally decrying the Iraq war for almost five years now and it hasn't persuaded the decision-makers. 

Now that I understand the mechanisms of propaganda, and can spot them easily, I find it all almost amusing.  It's like child's logic.

You can't change a tiger's stripes,
but you can avoid its teeth.

Re: Jaded

dreamosis wrote:

I saw an Obama commercial the other day.  There were shots of large cheering crowds while Obama spewed platitudes from a loudspeaker about how we can become great again.  It was an appeal to popularity, it was emotionalizing, it bore a slogan ("Yes we can!") and it oversimplified the prospect of correcting the economy and foreign policy by inferring that mass assembly and vocalization (in support of Obama) could do it.

I heard a clip of one of his speeches on the radio this morning, and it totally fitted in with what you just said and what people were saying about Obama on the Ron Paul thread, that he has good oratory skills but his words are empty. In that short clip, he just threw out a few grand-sounding words, like "change" and "hope", and that alone raised great cheers from the crowd, even though he hadn't actually said anything of substance at all. It's just total herd behaviour - people cheer because everyone else is cheering. Were they even listening to what he was saying?

Now that I understand the mechanisms of propaganda, and can spot them easily, I find it all almost amusing.  It's like child's logic.

Me too, and it's the same with advertising as well. Because I don't pay much attention to TV or the media, I'm kind of detached from it, so when I do see it I can see right through their lame techniques to manipulate people and get them to buy stuff. It's not even subtle usually - just blatant manipulation. You're right, it is kind of funny.

"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." - Mark Twain

Re: Jaded

Daisy wrote:

...he hadn't actually said anything of substance at all...

...It's not even subtle usually - just blatant manipulation.

This is what I find funny about it.  The manipulation is obvious and the appeal is totally generic.

You can't change a tiger's stripes,
but you can avoid its teeth.

Re: Jaded

I like whoever most of the voters don't like.

Good judgement comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgement.
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You have to believe in the impossible in order to become.