Two Americas
11-21-2007, 06:44 PM
I find RigInt the most disturbing board I have ever participated in, and that is saying a lot.
I have never been attacked from the left (liberal New Age Dem) and from the right (libertarian, Paulistas) simultaneously. Never seen such vicious and clever McCarthyism - and that coming from a supposed radical left Kucinich person who at the same time has a more entrenched "Dems are the better choice" position than anyone at DU or PI.
There is something very odd going on there. Extreme libertarian Paul supporters, and Kucinich supporters, yet they come together on two things - politics are obsolete and the future belongs to them - explorers of the inner realm, New Age spiritualists - and there is a deep dark conspiracy that explains everything.
I have never seen worse debating skills and more illogical arguments, but unlike at some rabid right wing sites these people are far more arrogant and stubborn, and are much more skilled at putting together arguments that sound intellectual or knowledgeable.
That group has the worst features of every other group - more reactionary than the right wingers; more whacked out than the 911 truthers and BFN; more ABB than DU; more idiotic and illogical debate style than anywhere else; more vicious McCarthyism than anywhere else.
I think there is something new emerging. What sort of mind rejects Lincoln categorically (and therefore rejects any reference to him whatsoever regardless of the context) but sees Clinton as the "only" choice? That sees any criticism of New Age ideas, any call for political action, any political idea even slightly left as being "Marxist?" What sort of mind sees all of history through the lens of a few nonsensical "libertarian" ideas? But more importantly, what is going on when those two minds find more in common than not?
They come together on "opposition" to the "PTB" and "the elites." They come together on the notion that each person working to free their own mind is the only worthwhile or important task - this is never to be followed by any political action, and in fact action is seen as part of the problem, part of the conspiracy against us to imprison our minds. History? We are done with all of that and it is a pack of lies. Politics? We have evolved beyond all of that.
Yet, what remains once we have tossed convention, government, religion, tradition, history, and politics? Hero worship, as in following gurus and "enlightened" beings among us. An "us" as opposed to "them" and a yearning to get a mob all vibrating at the same "good" frequency. They think they are a new species - they love that idea someone threw out there recently in an article that made the rounds on the 'net that humans are evolving into two separate species. They love to speculate about the "elite" - the great and mysterious overseers and puppeteers who are running everything through mind-control. Are they the illuminati? The Masons? The Jewish bankers? Whatever, who knows. They know that they are there, and fancy themselves to be digging deeper and deeper to find the truth about them, and then mankind (the select, people such as themselves) will be free.
This growing horde of young starry-eyed and eager believers in the new and better human being, anxious to smash up all that is old and in the way, contemptuous of history and tradition, whose ideas about politics can be summed up as “Kucinich ,Paul whatever” and then they settle for Clinton or Romney whatever, “it is all in our minds anyway” and whatever happens in politics they get back to work “waking people up to the truth” and keep themselves ready for the great movement to emerge which will be BOTH a mob AND individualistic—details to be worked out later” - WTF is going on?
Posters there refer to that which the members have in common as “para-politics” or “deep politics.” That suggests that they do in fact think they are talking about politics. Yet when I talk about politics, they reject that as the old archaic approach. So this “politics” they share is not like old politics.
In think it works like this—one assumes that one is in a “matrix” - which I think is based on the movie. One must free oneself from the matrix. (Why Ron Paul, the libertarians, or the Democrats, let alone Alex Jones are not part of this matrix I don’t understand.) One “digs deep” on whatever comes along—the more whacky the better. The goal is to become some sort of god-like super being. with superior awareness and perceptions. Drugs can help, I guess. The cause of all political and social problems is seen as human beings who are insufficiently evolved—their minds are back in that ugly stuff that are transcending. Since we can only cause ourselves to evolve—and help others by sharing with them the shocking news of how we are in the matrix—we can focus obsessively on our own interior selves.
I have never been attacked from the left (liberal New Age Dem) and from the right (libertarian, Paulistas) simultaneously. Never seen such vicious and clever McCarthyism - and that coming from a supposed radical left Kucinich person who at the same time has a more entrenched "Dems are the better choice" position than anyone at DU or PI.
There is something very odd going on there. Extreme libertarian Paul supporters, and Kucinich supporters, yet they come together on two things - politics are obsolete and the future belongs to them - explorers of the inner realm, New Age spiritualists - and there is a deep dark conspiracy that explains everything.
I have never seen worse debating skills and more illogical arguments, but unlike at some rabid right wing sites these people are far more arrogant and stubborn, and are much more skilled at putting together arguments that sound intellectual or knowledgeable.
That group has the worst features of every other group - more reactionary than the right wingers; more whacked out than the 911 truthers and BFN; more ABB than DU; more idiotic and illogical debate style than anywhere else; more vicious McCarthyism than anywhere else.
I think there is something new emerging. What sort of mind rejects Lincoln categorically (and therefore rejects any reference to him whatsoever regardless of the context) but sees Clinton as the "only" choice? That sees any criticism of New Age ideas, any call for political action, any political idea even slightly left as being "Marxist?" What sort of mind sees all of history through the lens of a few nonsensical "libertarian" ideas? But more importantly, what is going on when those two minds find more in common than not?
They come together on "opposition" to the "PTB" and "the elites." They come together on the notion that each person working to free their own mind is the only worthwhile or important task - this is never to be followed by any political action, and in fact action is seen as part of the problem, part of the conspiracy against us to imprison our minds. History? We are done with all of that and it is a pack of lies. Politics? We have evolved beyond all of that.
Yet, what remains once we have tossed convention, government, religion, tradition, history, and politics? Hero worship, as in following gurus and "enlightened" beings among us. An "us" as opposed to "them" and a yearning to get a mob all vibrating at the same "good" frequency. They think they are a new species - they love that idea someone threw out there recently in an article that made the rounds on the 'net that humans are evolving into two separate species. They love to speculate about the "elite" - the great and mysterious overseers and puppeteers who are running everything through mind-control. Are they the illuminati? The Masons? The Jewish bankers? Whatever, who knows. They know that they are there, and fancy themselves to be digging deeper and deeper to find the truth about them, and then mankind (the select, people such as themselves) will be free.
This growing horde of young starry-eyed and eager believers in the new and better human being, anxious to smash up all that is old and in the way, contemptuous of history and tradition, whose ideas about politics can be summed up as “Kucinich ,Paul whatever” and then they settle for Clinton or Romney whatever, “it is all in our minds anyway” and whatever happens in politics they get back to work “waking people up to the truth” and keep themselves ready for the great movement to emerge which will be BOTH a mob AND individualistic—details to be worked out later” - WTF is going on?
Posters there refer to that which the members have in common as “para-politics” or “deep politics.” That suggests that they do in fact think they are talking about politics. Yet when I talk about politics, they reject that as the old archaic approach. So this “politics” they share is not like old politics.
In think it works like this—one assumes that one is in a “matrix” - which I think is based on the movie. One must free oneself from the matrix. (Why Ron Paul, the libertarians, or the Democrats, let alone Alex Jones are not part of this matrix I don’t understand.) One “digs deep” on whatever comes along—the more whacky the better. The goal is to become some sort of god-like super being. with superior awareness and perceptions. Drugs can help, I guess. The cause of all political and social problems is seen as human beings who are insufficiently evolved—their minds are back in that ugly stuff that are transcending. Since we can only cause ourselves to evolve—and help others by sharing with them the shocking news of how we are in the matrix—we can focus obsessively on our own interior selves.