Friday, October 15, 2010

The Silence Of The Lambs

A passive, submissive mindset grips America: "the silence of the lambs"
By Michael Payne article link
May 27, 2010 | OpEdNews

Yes, this is yet another article about the deafening silence, a most critical problem, that plagues our nation. America's wars rage on endlessly; nine years in Afghanistan, seven in Iraq, with Iran being the next potential target. War is now a part of our national psyche, deeply embedded within our culture. And as we go from one war to another I am struck by the eerie silence that emanates from the American people; it is the silence of the lambs.

No matter how many years these wars have been going on, no matter how much they have cost, how many troops have needlessly died, or how much destruction they have inflicted on the nations that we have invaded and occupied, the people of America remain in a state of passive silence; seemingly unwilling, unable, or afraid to express any form of protest or dissent.

How did we in America ever get to this point? It's not really difficult to explain. Over time the American people have been subjected to a process of patriotic mind conditioning primarily carried out by the government and the various elements of our national media. We have been taught that we must support our troops and every war, and accept and condone all military actions without exception or condition; and we have done that, time and again, except in the case of the Vietnam War which will be discussed below.

So what are the specific elements or institutions in America that have, over time, contributed to this insidious process of patriotic mind control. To begin with, let's take our mainstream national media; radio, TV, and newspapers that are largely controlled by corporate America. Do you ever hear or read anything of real substance being reported or discussed relative to America's military actions around the world? Of course not, for the corporate monopolies that control our airwaves and newsprint have effectively muzzled their anchors and reporters.

You can watch TV and listen to radio 24/7; but you will not get the truth, the real facts or any in-depth analysis of what is really going on with these wars that have brought shock and awe to selected nations or the massive military costs that our sucking the lifeblood out of our nation. No one ever talks about war; it is taboo, something that we simply have no time to discuss. And, God forbid, that we should speak out against war by patriotic dissent. Why, someone might accuse us of treason!

Does CNN ever discuss the pros and cons of our current wars, the exact reasons why our military is in Afghanistan, why we are illegally sending our drones of war across the borders of Pakistan, why our peace president continues to reject diplomacy in dealing with Iran? Does MSNBC, the supposed liberal-leaning network? Does Fox News, the ultra-conservative right wing mouthpiece of corporate America and the GOP? The answer is no, no and no! Never, not ever; that is entirely off limits and it must be tightly controlled.

What about the U.S. Congress? What a laugh, what a joke to think that this body of corporate owned and controlled pseudo legislators would take the time to discuss these wars and the extreme costs. How could they even think about challenging America's war agenda for it would be labeled as non-patriotic and almost treasonous to do so; and because it would result in the immediate stoppage of corporate contributions to their campaign war chests? Except for a handful of true patriots in Congress, the vast majority of our elected representatives have decided to pledge allegiance to corporate power, to the military-industrial complex, no longer to this nation or the people.

Let's compare our on-going wars today with the Vietnam War and determine why there was so much protest then and the barest of protests now. During the Vietnam debacle that eventually took the lives of 58,000 U.S. troops, we had a national draft. When the deaths and casualties among our troops began to escalate, loud protests came from two sources: young Americans, including many college students who did not want to become the next victims of that insanity; secondly, the parents of all those young Americans.

Today, there is no draft, we have an entirely volunteer military so there is no protest or dissent from young Americans or their parents. So, if there is no danger of being drafted, it follows that there is no great opposition to the wars and the destruction that they are causing in foreign nations and to our economic stability. Let sleeping dogs lie.

Even though there is no draft I have seen pictures of U.S. military recruiters going into high schools in America and testing the physical prowess of teenage students. While I believe that colleges should make up their own mind about letting recruiters talk to students, I also believe that these recruiters have no business whatsoever in our high schools and should be barred.

What's happening in America cannot continue. We as a nation and a society are in deep trouble. Our economy is collapsing as our jobs continue to be outsourced to China and other overseas nations. Our national debt is out of control. While this nation is hemorrhaging and in a downward spiral, we simply cannot continue to give the Pentagon over one trillion dollars each and every year for conducting unnecessary, unjustifiable wars to expand our military empire. We are destroying the remaining wealth of America.

This passive, submissive silence of the American people must be broken; if we do not wake up, if we cannot rise up in peaceful protest and dissension, then we will be accepting and actually condoning what is going on and it is we who will be directly responsible for the demise of our once great nation.

Michael Payne concentrates his writings on domestic social and political matters,American foreign policy and climate change. His articles have appeared on Online Journal, Information Clearing House, Peak Oil, Google News and many others.

OpEdNews Articles by Michael Payne
OpEdNews home page

The Survival Podcast
Episode-443 Change Your Nation By Changing Yourself
May 26th, 2010

Today’s show notes are brief as I will let most of this show speak for itself. While I will talk about “politics” today I won’t tell you what to think or how to vote. Instead I will talk about the dark reality of America’s past and present, I will tell you some shocking facts about this nation, I will even admit that the views many have about things like the “New World Order” are grounded in a lot of fact in addition to a lot of fiction.

Today my hope is to tell you how we can fix America with the current system we have, why we can count on our fellow Americans and the common values I think we all share regardless of any political affiliation. In short I will tell you how we can fix America but I will ask you only to liberate yourself and trust that America will know what to do with a new found liberty that will be the result of individual action.

The Survival Podcast home page

The Lew Rockwell Show
Podcast-148 Nullification!
May 3, 2010

Lew Rockwell interviews Tom Woods, on his new book, Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century. Thanks to the Internet, Americans can learn about such forbidden ideas as the Principles of 1798, when Jefferson and Madison laid out the idea that to give the central government the sole ability to interpret the constitution was the path to tyranny, and that the states have the right and the duty to oppose tyrannical actions by the feds.

Regimists try to demonize the idea of nullification, as they attempt to demonize all ideas that undermine centralized power, but that is not scaring libertarians, Tea Party people, and other dissidents. Nullification, decentralization, self-government, self-determination, even secession: the time of these un-PC ideas is here, and the Woods book may be the handbook of the revolution.

The Lew Rockwell Show home page

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