Saturday, August 19, 2006

The Enemy Within

by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy

Carl Jung predicted our present sense of malaise as early as 1957 in his "The Undiscovered Self", decrying "...apocalyptic images of universal destruction" brought on by WWII and an atomic age ushered in when the United States dropped weapons of mass destruction on two cities in Japan. In its wake, Jung was fearful that 40 percent of the population —called a "mentally stable stratum" —might not be able to keep the lid on mass psychosis; it might be unable to restrain the spread of "dangerous tendencies", presumably: fascism, fanaticism, militarism, and intolerance. Jung seems to have been less concerned with external threats. The dangerous tendencies he feared were home grown.

The list above is mine —not Jung's, though I believe Jung would have approved. To that list I would add that most dangerous symbiotic cocktail: fear and hate.

Clearly —terrorism is a real threat but no more so than the dangerous and deliberate exploitation of it. Clearly —the subversion of Democratic ideals is a clear and present danger but no more so than home grown subversion by demagogues. What difference does it make to me if my "inalienable rights" are denied me by Alberto Gonzales or by the Taliban? Clearly —terrorist attacks upon the soil of any Democratic nation is worrisome but no more so than a home grown policy that nurtures, feeds, and inspires opposition at home and terrorism abroad. Clearly —Jung's list of "dangerous tendencies" must include our own tilt toward fascism, an unintended result that will have accomplished Bin Laden's goal without his ever having to leave his mythic cave in Afghanistan.

Clearly —the spectre of terrorism has been of greater benefit to Bush than it has been to those who espouse terrorism —those who, we are told, sow the seeds of fear and hate. Hitler, for example, could only seize dictatorial powers after a "terrorist" attack on the Reichstag building in 1933. Hermann Göring would later boast of having ordered the torching himself. Marinus van der Lubbe was executed but when a score of usual suspects were acquitted, an enraged Hitler dismissed the court itself. In both Himmler's Secret War by Martin Allen and The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer, the Reichstag fire was the work of SS agents who accessed the Reichstag through a tunnel that connected Göring's official residence with the Reichstag.

Meanwhile, Hitler would raise the spector of communist terrorism and assume new powers. Later, Hitler would start World War II with a lie: that Polish troops had invaded German territory to blow up a radio tower. The culprits —not surprisingly —were Nazi SS in Polish Army uniforms.

We are now familiar with this tactic. Bush attacked and invaded Iraq though his administration knew there were no WMD to be found. Colin Powell's presentation to the United Nations was known at the time to have been a fraud —consisting of plagiarized student papers and out-of-date satellite photos. Since that time, Bush has told some five or six rationales for the attack —all of them ex post facto. None of them were cited as reasons for the attack before the attack or at the time of the attack. They were seemingly pulled out of grab bag one by one as the official cover stories were exposed.

When all the various rationales proved hollow, Bush resorted to the Saddam was a bad man tact. But, of course, he was a bad man; but this nation could not possibly wage aggressive war on all bad men. And what difference does that make to the Iraqi in the street for whom Bush is a worse man? Bush's body count must surely exceed Saddam's by now and there is no law, no order —only chaos. With every milestone cited by Bush as progress, the situation has only gotten worse.

Very recently, there were two versions of the capture of Israeli soldiers. In my opinion, the more credible report is that the soldiers were captured inside Lebanon —not kidnapped inside Israel as had been claimed. Even conservatives concede that Bush most certainly encouraged Israel to invade Lebanon. In retrospect the over-reach is obvious: crush Hezbollah while weakening Syria and Iran. Like Bush's own invasion of Iraq, the power of the air attack was over-estimated. When no one else proclaimed an Israeli victory, Bush did. But that was public. Behind the scenes, Bush had changed the rules. He encouraged Israel to accept a cease fire that destroyed forever the myth of Israeli invincibility. As this blog predicted —even as the war raged —Hezbollah emerged stronger and, by proxy, Syria and Iran. On the other side, Israel is weakened, and, by proxy, Bush and his increasingly inept regime.

Is it only a matter of governments deceiving their peoples? Governments lie all the time —especially governments who now more than ever believe that lying to the public is not only permissible but desirable. They have it the wrong way 'round. Assured of their invincibility, they have convinced themselves that they must deceive the public in order to achieve some all important agenda. The arguments they have made to themselves are delusions of psychotic proportions.

This is the very segment of any population that so concerned Jung. This is a sub-stratum that Jung estimated as high as 60 percent of the population. It is these people that Jung feared might not be checked. As Jung feared, we have failed to restrain that sub-stratum of incipient psychotics inside our own country.

After Jung had written of his fears in "The Undiscovered Self", Ronald Reagan would come along and make it okay to be marginal or outright psychotic! Ronald Reagan showed Bush Jr how best to exploit the symbiotic relationship between fear and hate for GOP advantage. It's really a psychological "binary" bomb —a bit of fear plus a dash of hate, stir in a tape from Bin Laden and you've got yourself a fascist dictatorship. Reagan would make it okay to blame victims of Reagan's misrule. Reagan left Bush a legacy of absolving the selfish and self absorbed from all guilt. Reagan gave legitimacy to bigotry, making up —full cloth —a story about a Cadillac driving welfare grandmother. Reagan would make right wing nut cases "...feel good about themselves" and Bush would learn all those wrong lessons. Hitler taught them all.

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16 comments:

Unknown said...

Indeed, Fuzzflash, the exploitation of terror is a drug. Bush has lost about one half of his "incipient psychotic" base. Only another 911 will get him the "FIX" he needs. I will be glad to see the elections come and go.

Anonymous said...

The spectre (not spector) of terrorism is just that - for the most part a ghost, an immaterial and intangible, tattered entity. In fact, one has significantly more chances of being killed by lightning or winning the jackpot at some major lottery than being killed or injured in a terrorist attack. One has many million more chances of being killed or maimed in a road accident or by a stray bullet in some American city's street than in a terrorist attack. So to wave the threat of terrorism like a large grey flag of ooga-booga fear is basically evoking some great big non-existent boogie man under the bed to an impressionable child. It is not just the Bush maladministration which needs to grow up, it is also a hefty chunk of the population. Is there an adult in the house? Would she or he please stand up?

Unknown said...

: ) I always make that mistake. Thanks for the proofread.

You are right about terrorism. You have a much, much greater chance of getting murdered in Houston than being taken out by a terrorist. But what's Bush doing about that? NADA.

The GOP, unable to address real issues, raise phony ones to rally people around. It's smoke and mirrors.

Anonymous said...

A similar analogy was drawn in the slobbering panic which followed the outbreak of BSE in England. A few people died of Variant Creutzveld-Jakob Disease, but the fear that followed was out of all proportion to the deaths. People stopped eating beef altogether, despite being assured that muscle cuts were safe.

A reporter in the U.S. (it might even have been Maureen Dowd of The Times, but I'm not sure) pointed out at the height of the panic that deaths several orders of magnitude higher had resulted from Britons falling down stairs. The article went on to inquire if thought had been given to banning multi-story dwellings. Of course not!

People are easily frightened by that which they do not understand, and the more difficult a problem you make it seem, the more frightened they are and the more reassured by any sort of decisive action.

Osama could never have imagined this degree of success. Britain, having a smaller economy than that of the U.S., is beginning to gasp at the strain to fund multiple large-scale troop deployments. Ministry of Defence travel is being cut to the bone, and Defence Department middle managers are directed not to sign any contracts worth more than $100,000.00 without higher approval. John Reid announces that Britons must be prepared to give up some civil liberties they previously enjoyed "in the short term", just until those nasty terrorists (who could be hiding under every bed) are safely tucked away. Meanwhile, the country is going broke. It's taking longer for America to feel it, but it's coming.

Yes, more people are murdered in Houston than are killed by terrorists. Many, many more die each year of the flu. I daresay more threw themselves out of windows during stock-market crashes than have died of terrorism. You can argue this to no avail - people are scared stupid, they have lost the power to reason. No matter what new levels of misery are piled on, they say, give me more, if only it will make me safe.

In this distracted climate of panic, George Bush still hits every one out of the park. If there hasn't been a terrorist attack, in spite of the danger and the hordes of slavering America-haters out there, it's because his policies are working. If something bad does happen, it's because people wanted to hang on to that last shred of liberty and free will, and refused to let their government do what was best.

Yes, Saddam and Osama are bad men, but they no longer have to prove anything. Bush and Blair are happy to carry on the theme without them, they've served their purpose.

TFLS said...

In comparing the Bush administration to the rise of Hitler and the Third Reich – it is important to include the complicity of the German people. Hitler could not have accrued one tenth of the power he eventually wielded without the near complete acquiescence of rank and file German citizens. Oh – the media signed on at the get go – just as it has with Bush; but then as now – threads connecting other nations to supposed atrocities or Jews to economic hardships were thin at best (today insert the word ‘liberal’ for ‘Jew’). The intellectuals of that day knew them to be fraudulent – and some said so. Most, however kept silent – thinking they would be somehow immune to what they had to know was coming. I posit that the German people as a whole knew what to expect as well. They just didn’t begin to care until they themselves were personally affected by deprivations brought on by the war. Of course – by then it was way too late to do diddly squat. And all those who thought they had immunity were either in their grave or on the way to one.

Now, however – we can affect change; but it must happen before Bush and/or his surrogates have rendered the institutions best suited to oppose them useless. They have already begun the repudiation and dismantling of the judiciary. Congress (or what’s left of it) will come next. Just wait and see what happens after these mid-terms. What will happen if the American people actually vote for change – that is - if there are enough left who truly wish for change. Because that narcissistic 60% you reference? You are right. They have been making themselves heard for the last 25 years. Their voices are more strident now – and their actions more vicious. Incidents of hate crimes are up. So are incidents of severe abuse – children, women, elderly, animals – it has become epidemic. People who even 20 years ago would have kept a civil tongue in their head now feel perfectly comfortable airing all kinds of sewage. Why? Because they can get away with it. No one says anything (not really). There are no effectual repercussions. Example? See what happens to Mel Gibson in about three months. The incident will have all but disappeared. He will once again be the king of Malibu. But will Bush succeed in being King of the world?

Anonymous said...

The funny thing is, the neo-conservative cabal that keeps pushing this agenda forward even as the wheels fall off are absolutely convinced of their rightness. They don't consider themselves criminals, but men and women of courage who had what it took to make controversial changes that resulted in America's unquestioned domination of every global sector. They know very well what they are doing isn't popular, but comfort themselves that no moral fibre is required to do the popular thing.

The Washington Post's "Buzz Map" feature now regularly offers the musings of Michelle Malkin and Melanie Philips, two hard-right-wing defenders of the Dear Leader. Ms. Malkin dedicates many of her columns to the "blabbermouths" at the NYT for blowing the whistle on the president's NSA program, among other perceived turncoat acts - the hate, fury and craziness fairly leap off the page (figuratively speaking). Melanie Philips is much the same - both insist the president is many removes smarter than he appears, and fools such as the American public are preventing him, and America, from achieving the greatness that is their destiny.

There's certainly something to Fat Lady's comment about the way people feel free to speak these days, such loonies would have been locked up years ago. Hopefully some consideration will be given to shutting up these nutjobs if there is a change of government. I mean, there's free speech, and there's bile.

Anonymous said...

Hey, check out C&L, where there's a new clip of the Great Decider floundering visibly, after being asked directly what Iraq had to do with 9-11. I can't wait to get home and watch it, I can't play video at work. The short transcript alone is nothing less than explosive.

Anonymous said...

: ) I always make that mistake. Thanks for the proofread. Hitler seems to make you make it without your noticing it! :)

Anonymous said...

Mark - I can't find that clip on C&L - on what date was it posted? I'd love to see it, and haven't found even a transcript. Mind you, it's very late on my side of the pond and my concentration is flagging... :)

Anonymous said...

Mark - oops, I've just found it, it is on today's (August 21)page... how could I have missed it? Must be the Lyrica I'm taking. :)

Anonymous said...

I like it. The E Cowboy begins with CG Jung & does a fade with Raygun's "Cadillac Welfare GMother." Very, very smooth and
very, very close to the mark. I would only add "the User-
Accountability Law &
Meese the mouse Porn
Study", and there you have it...ah, but for south of the border shit. Which was only extention of "old rules of order." Good work E Cowboy. I feel like going on and on here...the CG Jung gig, pushed 'old buttons' of wonderous nights in the library...the complete works of...
ect., ect. ! But I really see no need to go there. So, an
FYI for those of you who are a bit shaky'
regards CG Jung, I believe you can get a pretty (heartbreak)
intro to the MAN by reading his auto-
bio, 'Memos, Dreams
& Reflections. I am of the opinion He was a cat who pushed 'his' mind about as far back into the'cave', as any of "our kind" as ever attempted. KVjr., is running second (not a slam...he still is trying! And i am done. Always be wondering...stay safe! Your friend in cause...whatever that may be in this our moment.
send uneditlg21aug06

Anonymous said...

Hey, Vierotchka; isn't that a thing of beauty? Look at his hunted little eyes darting around, as he tries to focus on whatever audio feed he's getting from his earpiece - at one point he's even mumbling to the podium! As one commentator to the item put it;

No WMD

No connection to 9-11

It's over, Bush

Shoot yourself

benmerc said...

Yea...msnbc is doing a "special" called: "Know your enemy" They are pushing it as a Osama bin sammy bio...unreal. I hope they show the part when we took him in and armed him as an insurgent 20 some years ago, but I won't hold my breath on that one.

Jung, right on. KVjr, also off the edge.

Unknown said...

Great comments Mark, Vierotchka...hope to have a follow up soon. It's getting hard to keep up with an administration that is crumbling before our eyes.

Thanks, anonymous. Indeed, Jung's relevance is surprising. I had read "The Undiscovered Self" years ago while still in high school. Needing a change, I pulled if off the shelf and was stricken immediately by the analogy, the relevance, a dimension of Bush's illegitimate regime that is often missed in the day to day coverage.

Anonymous said...

I've linked to you and hope you'll return the compliment. You'll find some good existentialist stuff about Terror Management Theory from my friend Prof. Sheldon Solomon of Skidmore at Chapters 5 and 9 of tsunamiofblood dot com . Best regards, Skip Conover

Unknown said...

Skip, thanks for stopping by and linking. I will be happy to link to you from my blog roll. Please check out several of the more recent articles here as well. Thanks.