Stumble It!Oct 13 2008
I dare not think of Dallas
The New York Times published an article today on the source of the anti-Obama rumors which allege that he is a Muslim, a terrorist, and any number of hideous falsehoods. It turns out that it is none other than Andy Martin, a name which has cropped up from time to time in American politics.
Essentially, tha article goes on to speak about Andy Martin’s past, including why he never became a lawyer (He’s a paranoid schizophrenic) and what he’s been doing all this time (he tried to smear George W. Bush in 2000 and ran for Illinois’ senate seat because he wanted to “Stop the Jew power” in Congress).
The article goes on to speak with Danielle Allen, a Princeton professor who said “What he’s generating gets picked up in other places…and it’s an example of how the internet has given power to sources we would have never taken seriously at another point in time.”
Really? What other point in time would that be? Fear and scurrilous rumor have always has a life of their own and spread like the disease they are; that is to say virulently, like the Black Plague.
In 1950, at a lackluster address to members of the Republican Women’s Club in Wheeling, West Virginia, Joseph McCarthy suddenly produced a paper upon which he asserted that he had the names of over 200 “card carrying members” of the Communist party who have infiltrated the government and are going to hand it over to the Soviet Union. Joseph McCarthy’s allegations were picked up by the media and rocketed the junior Senator from Wisconsin into the spot light. His charges continued to grow in outlandishness and eventually formed the basis for the House UnAmerican Activities Committee’s (HUAC) far-reaching investigations which ruined the lives of people in film, politics, the media, and elsewhere with completely unsubstantiated rumors. It did, however, bring some people fame and glory to testify against people at this committee; Ayn Rand and Ronald Reagan became the darlings of America for testifying against the “Communist” elements in Hollywood.
But such hysteria was not confined to Republicans and conservatives; Robert F. Kennedy worked on McCarthy’s staff during the entire investigation into Communists in the government.
Rumors, particularly the false almost unbelievable types, are more likely to be picked up and repeated endlessly. And it is these kinds of rumors which destroy lives with falsehood; John McCain’s first run for the Presidency was derailed after “rumors” emerged - and were quickly denounced as false - that McCain’s adopted Bangladeshi daughter was actually a love child from an affair he had with an African American.
“The great masses of the people will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one.”
“The broad masses of a population are more amenable to the appeal of rhetoric than to any other force.”
Adolf Hitler
Mein Kampf
LINK: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/us/politics/13martin.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin
Fear mongering and Rumours are made in order to control the masses. That is why there is so much poverty and only a few at the top who Rule. The Land of the Free belongs only to a slim minority.