This is the question that I am forced to pose, after the extremely unfair attacks against Jerome A Paris this weekend. I am, of course, referring to the posts
Does Jerome A Paris Hate America? and the post
Jerome a Paris is Just, Plain, Wrong. The first one is somewhat fallacious, while the other admits that he is right, but acknowledges, as well, that it will lose elections. I feel that this is correct, but I think that there is a deeper problem in the mere existence of these attacks.
It is obvious that any measure that would increase the taxes on gasoline, or eliminate subsidies for gasoline and oil, will cause a major electorate failure. This is not the fault of Jerome a Paris, though. This is the fault of the American People. The idea that he 'hates America' is not only ridiculous, but the statement rings of propaganda, and is extremely unfair.
The plain and simple of the matter is that Jerome a Paris is right, but that his ideas will not win the Democrats any elections, but that the average of the American electorate does not understand the true cost of oil use, gasoline subsidies, nor the plight of the 'developing world'. This causes them to be mistaken in these issues.
This can be seen, very clearly, in tax issues. People want to be left alone to live their life, but they need roads, police, a fire department, cheap food, cheap oil, an electrical grid, an education system, and a very long list of other things in order to make this possible. This, like the gasoline issue that Jerome a Paris talks about, is American ignorance, plain and simple.
Now, in order to win elections, we need to cater to these people, but what does that get us? Seriously, what does that get us? Nothing. Same failures. People do not know their own best interest. They think that they do, but because they do not, due to a heavily skewed view of the world created by years of corporate and Republican propaganda, they do not see the world for what it is. This does not make Jerome a Paris wrong.
Also, we need to avoid propaganda at the same time. The statement "Does <insert item here> hate America?" is a propaganda statement. For a recap, there are five rules to propaganda that historians list:
- The rule of simplification: reducing all data to a simple confrontation between 'Good and Bad', 'Friend and Foe'.
- The rule of disfiguration: discrediting the opposition by crude smears and parodies.
- The rule of transfusion: manipulating the consensus values of the target audience for one's own ends.
- The rule of unanimity: presenting one's viewpoint as if it were the unanimous opinion of all right-thinking people: draining the doubting individual into agreement by the appeal of star-performers, by social pressure, and by 'psychological contagion'.
- The rule of orchestration: endlessly repeating the same messages in different variations and combinations.
The
Hate America statement is a regular on the Republican controlled media outlets, and thus is a propaganda term, due to rules one, two, four and five. Also, these should become deeply rooted in your memory. Remember them and watch for them. This is the problem with creating a common message. It is propaganda, something that is not fair to the listener (or reader).
Now, I would like to say,unless we can win with honesty and integrity, without propaganda, then what can we win? Basically, the electorate is not given the truth, and that's part of the problem. If we try to win with Republican tactics, or do things that we promise not to do, then we will not be able to do what is in the best interest of our nation and the world. basically, Jerome A Paris is correct. We need to face that and move on with the fact that the information disseminated to the poor, uneducated masses voting Red throughout middle America says otherwise, and find a resolution to the issue, but we can't go telling people that they're wrong, when they are infact correct.
Now, just for good measure, I had called one of the earlier diaries fallacious, and I need to defend that statement. the fallacious nature of Does Jerome A Paris Hate America? is in the following points:
- Oil is taxed in the US. Actually, it is heavily subsidized, and what that means is that we are encouraged to use as much gasoline as possible to keep an economy dependent on it running. The amount that it is subsidized in unclear, but it could be as much as $283 billion annually. This might sound insane, but if true it implies that every man, woman and child pays $1000 a year for gasoline before considering the pump. With this 'forced spending', we are encouraged to use as much gas as possible, which goes to bolster Jerome A Paris arguments.
- The average house size is 1100 sq. ft. It's now well beyond 2000, actually. This might only be for new builds, but we are talking about homes here.
- Just to be fair, the poverty numbers he lists are correct. But most impoverished people live in some form of collective housing, such as apartments, etc, like me, although I'm above the poverty line.