Gutter Politics, Indeed!

Here is an email I received from one of my most beloved friends. I know that she won’t mind my passing on her rant and the video (by the great Mr. Greenwald) that accompanied it.

I'm sending you all this email because the attached youtube video speaks of
"gutter politics."

I think that the Republicans and their media experts are exactly that:
experts. They have had years of experience and access to the mediums that
control groups and individuals. The tactics they use to manipulate whole
populations are being used upon the American people to keep them thinking
about things other than the issues. If you don't believe me, take a look at
how media shape Americans into overweight, unhealthy people. We would like
to believe that we, as individuals, resist the constant barrage of
commercial advertising (brainwashing). We would like to believe that it is
everyone else that gets pulled into the consumerism--from diet soda, to
SUVs, but even if you, as an individual, don't, the statistics prove that
our nation is one of slow-moving, non-motivated, obese, people (and
children) with cardiac and other health problems who are in debt. And, they,
my friends, are the American voters. Some of them are our friends and
family.

Main stream media focuses upon sound bites that "pull our chains," "push our
buttons". They are incendiary, and they are INTENDED to be. They pull our
focus away from important issues and suddenly we are annoyed with our
friends and family because they agree with or are distracted by a well-put
phrase that in some way may speak of a truth or a feeling.

Once someone told me that the way the British controlled so many places in
the world was that they found out which groups hated each other and found
ways to set them against each other--meanwhile they exploited both sides.

No one is perfect. None of our leaders fit the bill to be leaders. Many are
tainted by greed and corruption.

Our best efforts, at this time, however, I believe, are to continue to
expose these clever manipulations. These are our real enemies. The ones who
control the media and who control the candidates and their ad campaigns.
Why, you could sit in front of your TV and watch the ads and get angrier and
angrier about how much lying is going on. And that is right where they want
you---sitting in front of that TV, contained, not meeting with groups,
picketing, marching, talking in your community or being effective.

One day Palin nearly calls herself a bitch with lipstick, the next day, in
another context, Obama is accused of attacking her because he uses a similar
phrase. I don't think this is coincidence. I think Palin has been presented
in a specific way to piss off a lot of people, make people afraid, and at
the same time act like a leader superficially in a way that any exposure to
the truth becomes an attack which is then turned around and viciously
attacked. We're not dealing with responsible statesmen and women. We're
dealing with vicious, power-hungry mind sets that see only black and white,
right and wrong. No different from the first expression of this mind set in
2001: "You're either with us or you're with the terrorists." This leaves no
room for thinking, questioning, evaluating. It is an underhanded demand for
complete obedience.

We have seen in our lifetimes, nations who have come to independence without
a war. This comes about by being human and respecting other humans,
connecting as humans, speaking, communicating and standing firm for what we
believe in while exercising diplomacy and negotiation. It can be done. Why
feed into the vicious, anger-making. We know what they are trying to do.
That arms us and gives us a chance to not react, but to find another way to
be to expose them for what they are.

Watch carefully at what is going on here. Don't get pulled into the media's
manipulating. It will exhaust you and make you unable to see the real
villians. When we're exhausted from their "gutter" tactics and
mud-wrestling, they will rob us of our money and our freedom. They are
experts. They know what they are doing. We have to find ways to out-smart them.

The problem is that so many of the electorate fall for this shit. And they are truly clueless much like the Republican “Hockey Mom” is about the “Bush Doctrine.” The question for me is: why is this acceptable? And why does the MSM repeat these lies and distortions repeatedly and without calling them lies?

Say you were a journalist and/or someone who could or might be picked to be the Vice President of the U.S.A. by a responsible nominee for President, don’t you think it would behoove you to be at least slightly interested in current events and the politics of the U.S. Government for the last eight years? Now I realize that the average American might not know what the “Bush Doctrine” is, but the putative VP, and possibly President, should care enough about our standing and position in the world to understand it! Does she not understand the Iraq War where her son has been deployed to? This is irresponsible as a mother and a citizen.

I am not saying, I am just saying!