First, a clarification. Dylus is not a political organization, and this is not a political blog. We have no political affiliation, nor support, any political party. What we are dedicated to is the study, advancement, and education of human potential. Our core mission is the recovery of true human fitness, through the practice of proven scientific, and spiritual principles. One of the most important of these principles is the psychological, and spiritual practice to Not Be Deceived. To protect mental, and emotional integrity. To reject the attempt of others to twist, and manipulate reality.
Since the terrible shooting in Tucson, I have been watching right wing political pundits, and politicians attempting to “spin” reality. Trying to distance themselves from the reality that people like Sarah Palin, and Glenn Beck have become famous, politically powerful, and rich, by having created, and preaching, a narrative that fuels fear, paranoia, and aggression. Also, trying to convince us that the creation and perpetuation of this narrative is completely disconnected from acts of aggression like the shooting at Tucson.
The fact is that people like Sarah Palin, and Glenn Beck have profited from participating in the creation of a narrative of paranoia. A story that essentially says that America is on the brink of destruction, and that there is are people who want to destroy American freedom. Additionally, these mass media narratives are fired up by inflammatory speeches, calling for the use of “bullets”, if “votes don’t work” in the fight against the people identified as their enemies. Sarah Palin, and Glenn Beck, identify individuals that they disagree with as targets, and in the case of congresswoman Giffords, dramatized the identification of her as a target, by creating a visual image of looking at a picture of her district, in a map, through the sights of a rifle.
This narrative of paranoia has paid off big. In a time of unemployment, foreclosures, and suffering, it has given desperate people a story that explains their plight. It has given them someone to blame, and has given them specific targets on whom to focus their anger. Human beings survive psychologically by directing self-aggression, and blame someone, or something outside of themselves. This story fits that purpose beautifully. And, it has paid off handsomely for those that spin it, and the politicians that benefited from the expression of this anger in the polls.
However, now we are being confronted with the downside of this benefit; there is a price to pay. This narrative that fueled anger that was expressed in the polls, also fuels, and focuses the confusion, pain, and paranoia of the mentally ill. It provides a narrative that gives it meaning, and a target to express it on. And, whether that was the intention of the creators of this story, or not, is not important; they are still responsible for the effects that it causes in the world.
Hitler’s charismatic, and hateful speeches, incited frustrated, and angry people to commit horrific crimes, and pointed them to Jews as targets; the preaching of religious leaders gave focus, to the desperation of peasants, and incited them to commit the horrors of the Crusades, as today the preaching of radical Muslim incite the most desperate, and unstable, to the atrocities committed by today’s terrorists. The creators of these narratives cannot reap its benefits, without being responsible for its consequences. And, this is exactly what has been going on.
This is exactly what I have been witnessing since the day of this tragedy.
Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and the many others that participate in the creation and perpetuation of this continuing paranoid narrative are responsible for its influence. All its influence. The politicians that don’t participate in its creation, and quietly profit from it, are responsible for its influence. All its influence. None of them are guilty of any one of the acts that this story can provoke, but they are responsible for contributing to their creation. Accept it or not. You can live with integrity, or not. However, do not expect to attack the health of our minds and the integrity of our reason by trying to “spin” it. Or, as said by an anonymous modern philosopher “don’t piss in my head, and tell me is raining.” That is unacceptable.
j.e. lesende