Cognitive Dissonance
zepp
Folks will see it when they believe it
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
05/02/04
http://www.zeppscommentaries.com/Politics/dissonance.htm
People are getting hit with so much crap from the outlaw right
ruling America that they literally are incapable of responding to
input in any sort of sensible manner any more. They cling
ineffectually to positions that they know contradict information they
have, and squeeze their eyes shut and hope it will all go away.
The Republican Rapture Right has created a nation that is
suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome, and they couldn't be
happier.
Case in point: how people feel about 9/11. A recent poll
asked people the question, "When it comes to what they knew prior to
September 11th, 2001, about possible terrorist attacks against the
United States, do you think members of the Bush Administration are
telling the truth, are mostly telling the truth but hiding something,
or are they mostly lying?"
Keeping in mind that over 60% of the general population
approve of how Putsch is handling followups on 9/11, it would be
reasonable to assume that at least that many believe the
administration is telling the truth about those events.
In fact, only 24% of the public thinks the admin is being
straightforward. Most (56%) think they are hiding something, and one
in six flat out say they are lying.
The cognitive dissonance comes mostly from the
administration's favorite victims, rank-and-file Republicans. There,
less than half believe the admin is telling the truth about 9/11, even
though over 90% of them support how the admin is handling 9/11.
Try to imagine that. At least 40% of Republicans admit they
don't trust the story the admin has fed them about the greatest crime
committed against Americans in the 20th century, but what the hey?
It's only a few thousands of lives and billions of dollars.
Supporting the president so he can lie to us is much more important.
Fantastic as that seems, we have a situation where nearly 50%
of voters – including 80% of Republicans – approve of how Putsch is
handling Iraq. Even allowing for the fact that a depressingly large
number of profoundly ignorant people still think the two (Iraq and
9/11) have something to do with each other, there have been a few
little problems in Iraq lately. I'm sure you heard about it; it's
been in all the papers.
Just this past week (admittedly, too recent to show up in the
polls so we don't know if these items managed to shake the
insufferable smug certainty of the willfully ignorant) we've had the
highest casualties since Putsch declared an end to battle operations a
year ago. In Falluja the Marines pulled out, while vehemently denying
that was what they were doing (they "advanced to the rear," no doubt),
and leaving four of Saddam's generals in charge of a tiny force (1,100
men) to control the restive city of 300,000. They also tried denying
that they were using Saddam's people to try to restore order, even
though they a) left Saddam's people b) to restore order. It wasn't a
proud moment.
Then the torture scandal broke. There had been reports right
along of American troops, and the mercenaries the government hired to
buttress the troops, mistreating the local population. There was film
of Americans potshotting a man, wounded and down, to death. There
were widespread allegations of abusive behavior, including torture and
rape.
Now, of course, there are pictures. The ones that CBS
broadcast were bad enough – the guy with the wires attached standing
on the box, assured that if he stepped off the box, he would be
electrocuted (I'm told he lasted almost 28 hours. Have fun imagining
yourself or your spouse in that situation). There were the shots of
the naked prisoners made to lie in a kind of pyramid.
The ones out on the web are far worse, and explicitly
demonstrate exactly what the Army meant when they talked about sodomy,
rape, oral copulation and simulated rape.
The Turks used similar tactics on the Iraqis in the past, and
hundreds of years later, Iraqis place fingers alongside mouths and
spit whenever Turkey's name is mentioned. The hatred and anger never
died.
How will Republicans react to this? Well, here's an early
example, from a fellow calling himself "Billary" on Usenet: "A brief
note to all of the members of our armed forces: God Bless you. But
when you're beating the shit out of those scum sucking, murderering
[sic], terrorist, camel jockeys towel head fuckers. PLEASE make sure
no one with a digital camera (or other camera) is around!! Because
the leftist liberal whiners in America would prefer that we coddle and
nurture the fucking animals who try to kill us. And all those
pictures do is give them more fuel for their warped anti-American
minds. Shame on you guys! Lose the dirtbag with the camera. ‘Billary
Out'" He was quite proud of this effort, and posted it several times.
In the name of God and America, of course.
Of course, the Usenet loonies are an extreme example. Or so I
keep telling myself, because if they aren't, America is finished. But
I'm remembering the outrage over My Lai – not that American soldiers
slaughtered nearly an entire village, but that they were tried for it.
There are a lot of Republicans to whom the term "Good Germans" – the
Germans who accepted everything Hitler did in the name of patriotism –
applies.
Let's see what many of them have accepted over the past 30
months: administration foot-dragging on a full investigation into
9/11, with increasing questions and doubts about what really happened
that day, and how it happened. Restrictions on civil liberties in the
name of a threat that is not quite as likely to kill you or yours as a
drunk driver. Not one, but two military quagmires, and in case
nobody's noticed, we don't have personnel to deal with Pakistan
selling nuclear secrets to terrorists and rogue nations, and Saudi
Arabia has just taken up the charming new middle east hobby of
dragging the naked bodies of Americans through the streets.
So how is it Republicans stand for this? Think of the
Stockholm Syndrome. Or, failing that, consider the behavioral patterns
you see in abused spouses and children. People tend to form dependent
relationships with those who are tormenting and abusing them.
This is why the Republicans use fear and hate so much in their
campaign. They deliberately frighten and threaten, knowing that no
matter what, they have about 30% of the population who will support
them. Nor do they even have to do anything for these people: indeed,
the more they lie to them, cheat them, and conjure up things to
frighten them, the more desperately they will cling to their
Republican masters.
Want proof?
Ask a Republican who blindly supports Putsch no matter what
why he's voting against John Kerry. He'll tell you that Kerry will
bust the budget, expose America to terrorism, mishandle Iraq, screw
the working class people, and our allies won't respect us. As an
afterthought, he'll add that he has serious doubts about Kerry's
military record, and suggest that someone with a record that weak
maybe isn't fit to run the country during times of war.
See anything on that list that doesn't apply to Putsch? The
thing is, these people at some level KNOW this. And they support
Putsch anyway.
Stockholm Syndrome.
Democrats don't need political analysts to reach these people;
they need psychotherapists.
Yes, it can happen here. Yes, it has happened here.
-
"The State Department officially released its annual terrorism report
just a little more than an hour ago, but unlike last year, there's no
extensive mention of alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. A
senior State Department official tells CNN the U.S. government made a
mistake in focusing so much energy on bin Laden and 'personalizing
terrorism.'"
-- CNN, 4/30/2001.
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