|
|
Instigating paranoia and power
Vance Geiger (geiger@PEGASUS.CC.UCF.EDU)
Sun, 10 Mar 1996 17:26:07 -0500
Instigating Paranoia
Suppose I wanted to scare the bejezus out of the common American.
What could I do? I could for instance, if I had the power,
present them with the possibility of experiencing The Dark Ages
II in the form of Pat Buchanan as president (or is that III,
after all there were the eighties and what's his name), or the
possibility of experiencing the Age of The Robber Barrons II in
the form of Steve Forbes (multimillionaire friend of the common
person? or lets bring back the monarchy). Suppose I could do
this and at the same time present a somewhat vacuous form of
career politician who is constantly chided for being too
conservative and too liberal such that one can only consider this
individual to hold views in the middle or to be so waffling that
they might be amenable to negotiation and moderation. Now
suppose I could do this. Now suppose that at the same time I
could make it all look like I was not doing it, but that it was a
kind of "natural" event that was not contrived. This is
especially important as according to American mythology nothing
is worth having unless it is contested over and won in a "fair"
fight, as in: No pain, No gain, as in "it cannot look too easy,
or who would want it" right?
If I could do this, what might be the result? Very likely that
by instigating a bit of paranoia I would achieve the result of
presenting the vacuous waffling type as the most rational of the
three possibilities, thereby establishing that individual as the
one to choose for the job.
If I could do this would I be exercising power over the people
who select the candidate I want them too?
How would I be employing ideology to accomplish this?
Answer the above questions without the use of the term "social
structure" as this is a bogus concept invented by the French to
bamboozle gullible Americans along with false claims that the
consumption of "squirrel tail quiche" will lead to immortality.
|