A strategy for all political stripes...
An apt summary of Republican political strategy:
....voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them that they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.source: made in a statement to G. M. Gilbert, a pyschologist who intervied Goering in prison during the Nuremberg war-crimes tribunal (Nuremberg Diary, Gilbert, 1961, Signet NY).
~Hermann Goering, 1946.
1 comment:
Have you read George Lakoff's "Don't think of an elephant"? He's a cognitive scientist and linguist who has a strong interest in politics and how politics is framed. I just finished it recently and it's a bit of a mixed bag but worth a read if only for a couple of striking insights.
The most pertinent of these is his view that the difference between progressive and conservative political outlooks can be understood by first noticing that many people conceive nations as large "families". People subscribing to conservative politics want to run the nation "family" as a "strict father": the world is a dangerous and competitive place so the only way to look after it is through strong discipline and moral authority. The progressive outlook is one of the "nurturing parent": have empathy and teach responsibility.
The scaring people into submission is definitely comes from the "strict father" school of thought.
I know, it all sounds like new age wank when distilled down to the above synopsis but Lakoff's presentation is fairly compelling (though he is a bit of a polemicist) and a lot of recent Australian and American sits well with his analysis.
Post a Comment