bleak wrote:First of all, the founding fathers clearly designed the Constitution as a "law of the land;" NOT as a law and religion of the land.
Lovely. But not all of us are Americans.
You seem to be saying (and correct me if I'm wrong) that what you are told by the government and it's tool, mainstream media, is truthful and factual. Let me clue you in to something. It is not. In fact, the depth of deceit and treachery is so deep that millions have died because of it. And millions more will die if something isn't done about it.
Where did I say that? You need to reread what I wrote.
I'm quite aware that what the state and media say are often well developed lies, but nevertheless to keep a country running you probably need to have some amount of propaganda, because if you don't your enemies will use that opportunity to undermine your legitimacy.
What I'm saying is that a government in order to be successful and fend off the soft power of opponents inevitably needs to lie. This isn't a good thing, but the survival of the state probably requires it. There is the ideal where everyone would be honest and transparent, but in real life it doesn't work like that.
Look at it this way. There were a lot of pro-communist movements in North America in the 20s and 30s. The state had to basically fight their propaganda with their own. In reality both sides had their own vested interests to attend to, but nevertheless the survival of the elites and their state were at stake, so they couldn't sit on their hands. Was that right or wrong? That's a bit too subjective. It was clearly in the interests of enough people to smash down communist movements in North America. If they hadn't, especially in the dirty thirties, there might have been revolution or some kind of violent revolt that would have cost a lot of lives.
You don't hear ANY truth on the news. It's all lie after lie after lie.
Well not 100% lies. But the lies serve a function. That isn't to justify it or say it is right, but nevertheless there is a utility to lying which consolidates resources and leads to cohesion amongst the population. You see it in China. If it wasn't for the propaganda machine, the people might easily revolt in some regions, which would lead to a lot of needless casualties and economic damage. The propaganda is calculated as a necessary evil I imagine. You might argue it is the elites trying to secure their place and position at the top, which is true to some degree, but the common people get a piece of the pie, too.
The truth might actually do more harm than good, especially in a liberal democracy which purportedly values human rights. If you had to tell America that foreign oil reserves needed to be secured through violence to ensure they can continue living the decadent lifestyles they enjoy, they might not feel so comfortable. On the other hand, if you tell them it is about peace and democracy, it makes most people compliant. In any case, they enjoy a portion of unearned wealth from abroad, so they won't complain too much.
It hurts ALL of us who are aware and awake to the perpetuation of their hidden agenda.
Elites have their limitations. In fact, they compete with each other which actually leads to problems at the ground level (i.e., common people suffer). It is better to have a strong and unified section of elites capably running a country than a fractured free for all. In return they get a posh lifestyle, but then being an elite comes with a lot of dangers. I don't have any problems with suitably rewarding capable leadership.
It isn't the 1% that require the lies and propaganda. It is the rest of the population which gets a chunk of unearned wealth and has to be placated when it doesn't come on time.
If you are a citizen of a western country, you actually get part of the unearned wealth gained through NATO operations in the ME. The fact that most of our countries are debt ridden yet still continue enjoying very high standards of living says something.