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The Uncultured War [1]

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Date: 2023-04-26  

There is no culture war; that is a misnomer. What we really have is an uncultured war. I am tempted to say a war on democracy, but it really goes beyond that. The GOP's uncultured war is a violent rejection of reality, the will of the majority, and civilization. It is a movement characterized by tribalism, unwarranted fears, guns, and delusions, and it seeks to replace the concept of community with an every man for himself anarchy blessed and protected by an autocrat. Needless to say that the base Republicans cannot grasp the fact that anarchy and autocracy are mutually exclusive -- or are they?

The community the uncultured warriors wish to replace is not without its flaws. Indeed, historians such as Howard Zinn are quick to point out that our country is controlled by an oligopoly that acts like an oligarchy, and if the plutocrats have to choose between an authoritarian leader and a democratic leader, they will choose the despot. The Plutocrats justify that preference by pointing out our founding fathers' concern about their property and the threat to it posed by the passions of the masses. “The masses are far too likely to decide that there should be a more equitable distribution of the wealth, and that is evil socialism,” the plutocrats say. But what about capitalism? The purist form of capitalism is economic anarchy which eventually results in monopolies and/or oligopolies that exploit and starve all but the powerful few. The Fox disinformation factory is almost a perfect example of the danger of capitalism. As Salon reported, Rupert Murdoch agreed with a Dominion attorney's suggestion that Fox's motive in lying to and inciting its viewers "... is not red or blue, it is green." One would think that Fox viewers would be insulted and angry over Fox's deliberate lies and the disdain Fox' “hosts” have for the channel's viewers. But it is very unlikely that the base MAGA's will punish Fox in any way for the deceit or the disdain. The problem is that what the MAGA's crave is a validation of their delusions, and they will rationalize, deny, and/or ignore Fox's contempt for them if Fox tells them what they want to hear! Fox is more than happy to sell fear and loathing and validate the delusions to keep their audience. Why wouldn't they be?

According to the FCC Consumer Guide:

“The FCC is prohibited by law from engaging in censorship or infringing on First Amendment rights of the press. It is, however, illegal for broadcasters to intentionally distort the news, and the FCC may act on complaints if there is documented evidence of such behavior from persons with direct personal knowledge."

But when was the last time you heard of the FCC penalizing any broadcaster for presenting false information or intentionally distorting the news? How many people kill and how many are killed because of Fox's exploitation of right wing paranoia does not matter to Rupert Murdoch because he has a strong profit motive for giving the right wing what it wants. I might add that the gun manufacturers also treasure the deadly paranoia that boosts the sale of their products. The bottom line is that capitalists are too greedy and ruthless to be considered benign.

My use of the word "anarchy" in the first paragraph is somewhat problematic. Anarchy is a difficult term because it is defined differently by sundry groups of proponents and detractors. If we define anarchy as, “a state of disorder due to the absence or nonrecognition of authority or other controlling systems,” than anarchy is antithetical to community and civilization, both of which depend on a coordination of many people and tasks, a certain conformity in regard to acceptable and unacceptable behavior, and the protection of individuals. Since an authoritarian is someone who enforces strict obedience to authority, especially that of the government, at the expense of personal freedom, it would appear that anarchy is also antithetical to authoritarianism. But chaos is a condition authoritarians frequently use to gain power. People who arm themselves in fear of their neighbors, strangers, and facts they do not want to believe can be turned against the government, and the chaos those people create can be used by would be Autocrats who promise to retore peace and order. Odd how that works – the despot promises “law and order” to the paranoid anarchists who think the law should protect only the right people, and “peace and order” to the people who think the government should protect everyone. The autocrats are aware of the difference, but they also know they can distort the meanings to suit their purposes. Peace is thus defined as no demonstrations or dissent of any kind, and order means keeping the marginalized in their place and available to be used as scapegoats as needed. In other words, both “law and order” and “peace and order” are used to justify oppression.

So it is that I offer this Caveat: Autocrats have to sell the population an alternate reality that is whatever the despot says it is. Disinformation factories, such as Fox, prepare the ground for the despot by destroying the ability to determine or trust what is real! The Republican Party is rejecting democracy because it has lost a majority of the people. The threat is real! Do I need to say more?

All right, the pundits got me. I decided to let this sit for a while before editing and I heard people on MSNBC saying the Republicans will put pressure on Biden to negotiate raising the debt ceiling if they pass a bill to raise the ceiling! They made it clear that they think Biden will have to negotiate. My reaction is, “bullshit!” You do not negotiate the full faith and credit of the United States. If you want to negotiate the budget, the time do it is when you are considering the budget. Educate the public, and tell the Republicans they have to raise the debt ceiling clean! Believe me, the Republican donors will not be happy with Kevin (Charlie) if he crashes the economy.

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