I believe a new reality has been created for me with this election.

[KlatooBNikto]

I used to believe in the power of reason, appeal to the better part of our nature, the ability of people to sift right from wrong.But, these forces have been overcome by the power of myth, the power of hatred for an external enemy and certainly, the eneormous power of religious, cultural and racial hatreds. In effect, the propaganda preceding this election has turned Americans into the Good Germans of this new century.Where it takes us from here on is anybody's guess.


I think the powers I mentioned are so great, even if Bush and his people were exposed as the perpetrators of the 9/11 disaster as some say,it would not matter anymore.There is now a large group of Americans who would be willing to argue that he had to do it to warn us of an impending disaster in the making.The price we had to pay was well worth it. The same reasoning we have seen applied to the question of whether Iraq was tied to Al Qaeda, whether it had any WMD's.

In addition to these shifts that have taken place in our consciousness,we have the spectacle of seeing a man who evaded the draft and went AWOl becoming our savior from these Arab terrorists. By evoking the Islamic part of these terrorists in addition to their Arab ancestry, he has now created a powerful image that cannot be easily erased by appealing to our good nature.

All the talk about the economy, environment, peaceful coexistence, deficits, oil shortgaes etc. have been rendered impotent in one fell swoop.

That is the new reality. We have to face it.We have to resist it in our personal lives and let time, which has brought down many tyrants before, work its magic.

[Bongo Prophet]

1. Very perceptive. They have said as much.

Like a holographic projection on a spinning mirror, they have created an illusion for "the masses"....

Dark magicians, indeed.

Hmm. and AUURGH = acrimony content.

[KlatooBNikto]

2. In the 30's Hitler, a nonentity, by appealing to the Germans'

sense of victimization at the Treaty of Versailles,their hatred for Jews and other Untermenschen and, of course, their sense of Manifest Destiny, became the bloodthirsty avenging angel that the Germans sought and marched lockstep behind to their doom.In their wake,they left behind the bloodiest century in human history.I was hoping that, if the American people,knowing that they had been partners in the noble enterprise of turning back the tide of nazism,would see that they are falling into the trap of hubris and pull back in time.That is not to be.

I hope this century still is young enough for it to be a turning point for humanity.If wars become the way for all people to settle their differences, the increasing lethality of weapons would ensure that no wars, however local,would be limited in its scope.The awesome potential of some genetic warfare as yet not developed, but fearsome in its implications, creates a new Damocles' sword hanging over humanity.Bush may very well have unleashed that possibility.