Right-Wing Rhetoric

The bandwagon has already started rolling. All aboard.

Near as I can tell, Jared Lee Loughner was just plain nuts. Personally, I’d use this tragedy to discuss the public policy of Deinstitutionalisation. But like so much of public policy, it would put most people to sleep. However, if you’re like me and you remember a time when it didn’t seem like the streets were full of crazy people -- not to mention our jails -- you might be interested to find out what happened.

Existing patients were often discharged without sufficient preparation or support. A greater proportion of people with mental disorders became homeless or went to prison.

But no, people want to talk rhetoric. I am happy to oblige. The first stop on this Crazy Train involves my old buddy Newt. “Propaganda” is a word I use increasingly here at Get the Flick so you can imagine how my cursor flew to this link .

”This example occurred more than ten years ago, but it is one of the most striking applications of propaganda techniques in recent memory. A popular Republican politician on his way to the top, Newt Gingrich clearly understood the power of propaganda. His political action committee (GOPAC) mailed a pamphlet entitled Language, A Key Mechanism of Control to Republicans across the country. The booklet offered rhetorical advice to Republican candidates who wanted to "speak like Newt." It was subsequently awarded a Doublespeak Award by the National Conference of Teachers of English in 1990.”

(Note: I believe this to be an error. According to Wikipedia, Newt “won” the award in 1995. And 1997. If you like that link, you might like this one too.)

Be sure to click on the link entitled Newt's name-calling words. The following (my use of Newt’s guidelines) will make a lot more sense.

The Republican’s quest for compassion on their use of outrageous rhetoric betrays their deepest fears. They fear that their attempt at corrosive coercion will collapse upon itself and they will suffer the consequences of their actions -- actions rooted in corruption. This will leave their Party in crisis, revealing the moral decay that runs deeper -- and is more destructive -- than most Americans realize. It will devour them.

Unfortunately for America, this endangers us all. The Republican Party’s failure to rein in their corporate sponsor’s greed brought us the greatest calamity since the Great Depression. Their hypocrisy has been laid bare for all the world to see. Their ideological bankruptcy has imposed a greater burden on the American Public than any tax possibly could. They are simply too incompetent to govern and their incompetence has left Americans feeling more insecure than in any time during the last three generations. Newt’s crusade to make the word “Liberal” a pejorative has exposed his lie.

The Right’s failure to place any limits on their talk radio troglodytes shows just how pathetic these people really are. They defend this permissive attitude by raising the banner of free speech but never accept the responsibility that right demands of all decent people. All in order to ram their radical and self-serving agenda down the throats of trusting Americans. These self-serving sensationalists crawled out of the shallow end of the radio gene pool during the mid-1980’s and proceeded to inflict their sickness on all of America. At first we thought they were harmless. Some people even found them amusing -- if not funny. Few, if any, felt threatened by them. Hardly anyone would call them traitors. At least back then.

But soon enough, with the consolidation of radio stations, they became a powerful force -- choking out the diversity of opinion so precious to all real Americans. With increasing corporate control, they became the very Big Brother they told you they were fighting. They turned the world upside down with the power of their propaganda -- instilling in a America a fear of unionized bureaucracy while they created their corporate monopolies behind the scenes. They never met a merger they didn’t like on their urgent quest to create a media empire loud enough to drown out all free thought while they created their too-big-to-fail banks.

They have laid waste to America. And if you ever doubt the power of their perverted persuasion, just remember it all started with an actor -- Ronald Reagan.

It that how it’s done, Newt?

You know, it’s amazingly easy to write this stuff when you don’t have to add any links, do any research, quote any considered opinions or provide any facts. It doesn’t even matter if any of it sticks -- if you can amplify it loud enough to where it can’t be ignored.

”For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.” — Adolf Hitler

I hope y’all will keep in mind that this guy insecure, ideological incompetent wants to be the next President of the United States.

Don Brown
January 11, 2011