I can only marvel at the astute understanding of the very nature of human existence demonstrated by the wisdom of the ancients. Whether deemed prophet or philosopher they had a remarkable grasp of the thought process of the vast majority of the bipedal beast and its mental paradigm relative to other animals.
Their observations of animal life in general cannot be different than what we may observe today. Over time these insights have been incorporated into the lexicon of animal congregation terminology. The choice of terms in each case clearly shows an understanding of the nature of each group. A collection of apes, for instance, are referred to as a shrewdness; a group of monkeys, a troop. Each term suggests an ability to analyze a situation independently and yet act as a unit. There are packs and bands of dogs and coyotes and foxes gather as a skulk. Each canine classification intimates at their ability to act in concert as they track, surround, and subdue their prey. And, of course, my very favorite, the pride of lions as they fiercely guard their territory. Pigs and cattle are moved in droves as they are pushed, prodded, and herded unwillingly to their ultimate demise as somebody’s dinner. None of these terms were chosen to characterize man by any of the early leaders, prophets, nor Jesus Christ in particular. Instead they chose to describe mankind in general and more specifically their followers as a flock. A flock might refer to a large group of birds, one of which appears to be the leader, flying thither and yon wherever that leaders chooses to go. More frequently a flock refers to sheep as in the case of Jesus who thence positioned himself as the Shepherd. Sheep, as an animal group, are most notably known for their habit of following das Arschloch in front of them wherever it may lead. They then stand around idly while they wait their turn to be fleeced all the while babbling vociferously amongst themselves. they have not the wit to choose a leader from among their own kind. Rather, they require a shepherd lest they wander off aimlessly to become a meal for a pack, band, or pride.
As a metaphor based on a deep understanding of the human condition it is remarkably accurate. It makes the biblical point beautifully for the followers of Christ or another wise leader whether one believes such leaders are Heaven sent or otherwise intellectually endowed. There is an obvious inherent danger in relying on this principle of the “good shepherd” to bring humanity to Glory. What happens when the shepherd has ulterior motives beyond the simple guidance of his flock through life? Ancient wisdom saw this dilemma of the good or bad shepherd as the struggle of good vs. evil, Christ vs. Satan. Call it what one will; the wrong shepherd is bound to lead the flock down the road to perdition.
Would that humankind—when defending righteous convictions—functioned more often with the shrewdness of apes; the unified pack action of the canines; or, better yet, the pride of lions.

Will the madness never end?
Islamic Jihadists are swarming like cockroaches out of the ninth century in a last ditch effort to rectify the wrongs of the Crusades.
Narcissist dictators around the world strut like peacocks attempting to test our mettle.
Porous borders are leaking illegal immigrants into the country draining our welfare coffers.
California is paying its bills with IOUs—whatever that means.
The lunatic love children and latent Leninites of the 1960s and 70s have aged into positions of power at all levels of our government.
Former leaders of ADA, Weather Underground, SDS, et al. have been elected to Congress or have infiltrated our educational system at every level.
Our government is issuing Monopoly money in a vain attempt to solve economic problems decades in the making.
Propaganda is being designed to put our minds at ease and convince us that the proposed collectivist measures being undertaken are not really Socialism. It is being pumped into our homes 24/7 on full-color HDTV. A feat that would make Paul Joseph Goebbels green with envy if he could compare it to his beggarly street corner loud speakers of the 1930s.
More and more jobs are lost daily. The government is taking over industry after industry along with our banking system as we continue to increase our debt to China and India.
We pretend to to cut our dependence on foreign oil with propeller windmills and “bio-mass” fuels which are little more than burning our trash, wood, and animal dung. A practice well known to the pioneers and Native Americans as they sought dried “buffalo chips’ and sticks for fire making. Then we call that modern “green” technology. To add insult to injury we confiscate the world’s food supply to make Ethanol. This is all done, proclaims the wild-eyed Mad Woman of Shiloh in the House of Representatives, in order to “save the planet”.
But, what do the mainstream media’s mental mastodons focus on incessantly for days into weeks on end? The death of a pathetic black kid, warped and distorted throughout his childhood; the “King of Poop… Poop, Poop, Ee Doop”. His mentally disturbed antics placed him in the public eye and made him millions. He was applauded by and surrounded with xenophiles who encouraged him without negative counsel for fear of killing the “Golden Goose”. They stood by and watched as a handsome black man converted himself through the miracle of modern plastic surgery into an ugly white woman. They did nothing as he slipped ever deeper into killer addictions. Now they’re fawning all over him with hand wringing and crocodile tears and the whole world joins in.
Where are our priorities? Where is common sense? Where is the fear of the real dangers rampant around the globe? Talk about bread and circuses! I’m thinking the first fiddle in the “King’s” requiem will be named Nero.

Homophobe?! HOMOPHOBE!? You have the temerity to call a judge of the Supreme Court a homophobe? You ignorant, arrogant pervert! Your kind is not “feared”. They are despised and detested.
Your kind has perverted their own sexuality and attempted to pass it off as an alternative lifestyle.
They have perverted our language by calling themselves “gay” which seems rarely the case.
They have perverted our sense of decency by promoting their cause cavorting in lewd street demonstrations.
They have perverted the development of our youth by promoting their foolishness in our classrooms under the guise of tolerance and diversity.
They have perverted our right to freedom of speech by creating something called “hate speech”. Yet we must accept all manner of profanity and filth as constitutional.
They now attempt to pervert the sanctity of marriage, the very backbone of our culture. The family system of a man, a woman, and children upon which our culture was built, has grown, and has thrived since the Dark Age.
And you…, you were instrumental in the perversion of our rational system of lending money only to those with a reasonable expectation they have the ability to pay it back. This on the pretext everyone is “entitled” to a home. Now you grandiosely cast aspersions everywhere but upon yourself. Like the farter in the elevator who immediately shifts their eyes accusingly on those standing nearby.
It is not a phobia that motivates attempts to preserve the culture which built the world in which we have been privileged to live. It is anger. Anger over the destructive forces of perversity rampant in the land. Perversity perpetuated through tolerance of the irrational. Perversity through political correctness, moral equivalency, and so-called diversity.
If, indeed, homosexuality is denigrated and loathed it is because of what it has slowly and steadily foist upon our culture. I would counsel you, sir, to pray, and pray hard, that the Muslim world is unable to achieve their avowed objective of world domination. As so curiously observed by Achmedinijad; there are no homosexuals in Iran.

A friend of mine recently lamented on the “Last of the Righteous” (“Letzte der Gerechte”); I have been giving it considerable thought since his email. Putting aside for the moment the more obvious reasons for the seeming demise of conservative thinking such as so-called “political correctness” and a clumsy if not inept Republican administration; I am concerned as to what actions or non-actions have contributed to this phenomenon. And, what actions, if any, could be taken to reverse the situation.

A study of the objectives, strategies, and tactics of the liberal movement indicates their objectives are as clear today as they were at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. At that time the proletariat—no doubt still smarting from their serfdom in the feudal system—had their cause taken up by lazy intellectuals like Karl Marx, et al. ( I am reminded of the comment attributed to Reich Marshall Göering: “When I hear the word ‘intellectual’, I reach for my revolver”.) Marx, neither a member of the elite nor willing to put his shoulder to the wheel as a worker, lived off the largesse of friends and mentors while he stirred up trouble among the working classes. He spent his life beating the tattoo of how “unfair” was the system which permitted the success of those with ideas for products and methods to provide goods and needed services to growing markets. The laboring class was with rare exception bereft of the wit to pour piss out of a boot even though the instructions were printed on the heel.

The Marxist objective was and is the redistribution of wealth according to the precepts of those intellectuals who thereby gain their power from a grateful proletariat. Little if anything has changed today. The ne’er-do-wells, nitwits, and knot-heads still covet that which others have achieved through hard work and thoughtful actions. Leftists of today busy themselves seeking out that which appears to be inequitable—ergo, “unfair”. They deny or refuse to recognize the difference between opportunity and entitlement. Thus the collectivist objective remains consistent and the working class numbskulls remain the pawns in the ongoing economic chess game.

The tactics, however, shift and change as strategic expedience dictates. It vacillates between obstructionism/violence and subterfuge/chicanery depending upon the strategy of the moment. When confrontational activism through strikes, civil disobedience, and violence ceases to be effective the strategy is changed to a more subversive/passive form. Following Chicago’s 1886 Haymarket Riot, realizing the dangers and downside of civil disobedience as a strategy, the decision was made by the radical elements involved to subvert the educational system instilling into the mush-filled heads of our youth the essential “unfairness” of the Capitalist system. A more recent example of this strategic shift is seen with the former Weatherman Underground “terrorist”, William Ayers. Why are we all surprised that after his failed attempts to overthrow our system through violence he disappears only to emerge on the scene 40 years later as an “educator”? And, where else  but the University of Chicago, a veritable hotbed of radical thinking? We have just elected to the Presidency one of his cohorts. Much has been made of Obama’s bad judgment in the choice of his associates—terrorists, radical preachers, and unsavory real estate con men, among others. This misses the point. If he had an equal number of associates who were not of this ilk it might present a different picture. He might be forgiven for his naivtè. But, this is not the case. It seems that all of his early associations are at best questionable. One must presume they all had, at the very least, shared objectives. By his own off-hand remark to “Joe the Plumber” caught on videotape, Obama is focused on redistribution of wealth with the objective of making things “fair”.

He achieved this position through empty rhetoric—utilizing oratory skills unheard in recent times. Whatever one may say in defense of George W. Bush’s skills; oratory would not be numbered among them. Thus if Obama’s objective is, as it would appear from his early associations, that of a collectivist society; then he will have achieved his activist goal through passive means. That is, by oratory, persuasion, and obfuscation of his true objective.

Conversely, an individualist/conservative society, one which functions on individual agency and a free market capitalist system, stands or falls on its merits. If you develop and well manage a product or service that people want—you win. If you create something nobody wants or don’t know how to manage the process—you lose. Everybody, including the government, minds their own business. Those less fortunate in intelligence, acumen, or physical capacity are dealt with through the charity of those who have managed to succeed and wish to share that success with others out of gratitude for their own good fortune. It is a free will culture where everyone must wisely administer their agency. It is essentially a passive process which does not readily lend itself to activist methodologies.

How does one impose on others the imperative necessity to exercise their free will? It would appear therefore it is possible to achieve activist objectives through passive means. Paradoxically, it is difficult if not impossible to achieve passive objectives through activist means. In short; how does one impose a conservative point of view upon the electorate in a manner like unto that which radical liberals are able to impose theirs? What manner of civil disobedience would be required to force the adversary to take responsibility for their own actions and sustenance? I have a hard time visualizing an activist conservative mob carrying placards reading: “Think for Yourself!”  “Hard Times Mean Hard Work!”  “There’s No Free Lunch!”  “Take Charge of Your Life!”           …“God Bless America!”

Back in the 1930s we never checked to see what time the movie started at the local “picture show”. It didn’t really matter. The double feature, newsreel, Pete Smith Special, and “Looney Tune” ran continuously. It made little difference at what point one entered the process. You simply sat through the presentation until you came to the point at which you entered, said to your date; “this is where we came in”; got up, and left. We weren’t forced to leave. Sometimes, we would even sit through the whole process again. No one questioned the logic of such a system… it was just the way things worked. I even recall a girlfriend back then who followed the same system when I joined her once at a Catholic Mass. I was surprised as she got up in the middle of a ritual and said, “let’s go; this is where we came in”.

I was born a couple of years prior to the Great Depression. My family was fortunate in that my father was able to maintain his job through it all. He was in advertising and if any company of any size had hope of surviving in those times it was essential that they advertise their products. This good fortune was not the case for everyone in our extended family. I remember one of my mother’s favorite expressions; “charity begins at home”. There was always concern that my cousins would get outgrown clothes and the like. It was a universal attitude among everyone we knew. There were the persistent stories of men jumping to their death from high buildings as one by one various businesses failed. The whole debacle was precipitated by people who, in the 1920s, sought to “buy low and sell high”. Like most Ponzi schemes, it worked for a while. Folks would take their small savings, or borrow against their anticipated profits in order invest in stocks or real estate with the idea they would sell it in a short time, take the profit, and thereby build a great deal of wealth. If you got in early it worked quite well. But, like most things built out of thin air, it eventually had to collapse. I remember well such expressions as “castles in the air” and “house of cards”. The ripple effect was world wide. Germany was reeling under the oppression of reparations demanded of them following World War I. Many there were angry at the loss of large areas of their empire believing they were taken from them unfairly. A leader appeared on the scene promising to restore their nation to its former glory. The socialists and communists were attacking capitalism at every opportunity. The collapse of 1929 gave them extra fuel for the fires of collectivist concepts by promising the redistribution of the world’s wealth to the proletariat. Here in America this line of thinking was given a foothold as government programs kept workers busy building infrastructure; roads, bridges, parks, reforestation, etc. Negotiation with the new German leader proved fruitless. Problems in Asia escalated as the Land of the Rising Sun, in the throes of industrialization, sought more space and natural resources to feed their rapid growth. All the diplomatic theorist’s efforts failed to resolve the issues created by so many foreign groups hell-bent on having their own way in the world. One day in December of 1941 the whole process was transformed. The massive effort to defend against the complete loss of our democratic way of life and freedom became a top priority. It brought the struggles of the Great Depression to an end as our industrial engines fired up to produce the materials needed to win the Second World War.

What’s on the “big screen” today? The remnants of ancient Persia and Arabia smarting because they feel that important areas of their empire have been unfairly stripped from them through the exploitations of colonization or to provide the homeland for the world’s Jews. A dynamic leader is in place promising them a return to their former glory.  Another industrializing Asian giant is seeking, not land and natural resources this time, but rather capital and markets for their products. The collectivists—the Communists and Socialists—are still promising the proletariat the utopian dream of their fair share of the redistribution of the world’s wealth. We have been on a ten to fifteen year binge of escalating real estate and stock values bought with leveraged money which in order to succeed required the process to continue ad infinitum. The Ponzi scheme seems to be nearing the end if not already there. A so-called progressive Congress forced  financial institutions to change the rational rules for lending by banning “red lining” and insisting money be lent to people unlikely able to repay it. Adding insult to injury such transactions were dubbed NINJA loans; No Income, No Job, No Assets. There should have been enough folks old enough to remember the movie plot from 1929. Instead they now debate how to avoid the inevitable. Instead of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s we have large areas of the nation deluged with water. These are but a scant few of the highlights. But sufficient to anticipate the familiar closing scene.

I hear the “Looney Tune” theme music beginning; I think this is where I “came in”.

As those of my generation will surely recall; the Germans following WWI felt angst and anger at the reparations imposed by the Victors which was wreaking havoc on their economy and creating inflation of the worst sort. They were demanding “CHANGE”. Adolf Hitler offered “CHANGE” in the form of a socialist society extolling the virtues of the working classes and the down trodden while placing the blame for their predicament on the bankers, merchant and business classes who were in large part Jewish.  Hitler won the populist support through his skillful oratory thereby working the masses into a frenzy of belief. We are all too aware where that led.

Does the current situation not have a familiar ring? I tremble for the direction this country is taking. I reel under the thought of the effort it would take to turn this behemoth from the path it is on. I hear nothing but whining about the high price of gas and and about how “big oil” and “big pharmacy” are ripping us off. Who created the demand? Who has demanded big SUVs to haul kids to Little  League? We used to play ball in a nearby vacant lot… oh, yes; and without a cheesy uniform. Who demanded a pill for every little ache and pain? We used to find a Bayer aspirin sufficient for most non-life threatening ailments… oh, yes and there was always cod liver oil. Who demanded a pharmacological solution for keeping their kids under control? I seem to recall a swat on the butt was sufficient to bring most unruly kid’s attention deficit back into order.

For Hitler the scapegoat was the Jewish business leaders in his country and the Jews promulgating Bolshevism in Russia and thereabout. This time the “boogeyman” is big business. You know, the successful men and women who create the jobs for all the educational dropouts who want what the wealthy have, but don’t have the wit nor perseverance to obtain it. One need only review the financial status of all the many million dollar lottery winners a year or two after their “big win”. So, they buy into the first oratorical blowhard that comes along and promises he’s going to make certain we all get to share equally. One more utopian dream the real world will be forced to clean up after.

I hear all the complaints about the war which “Mr. BIG CHANGE” promises to bring to an end. It could have been brought to an end long ago had we actually fought a war. But the whiners, the nay-sayers, and our modern day Neville Chamberlain or Anthony Eden who believe diplomatic promises mean anything at all to people hell bent on killing off the infidels and taking over the world. We place our young men and women in danger for the right of these “hand-wringers” and Marxist thinkers to speak their mind. Then we bring them home and put them on trial for murder for daring to rid the world of some Islamic scum who otherwise would be back the next day to blow up more of their buddies with a homemade IED. When we speak up to bolster the American Spirit to win; we are derided as “jingoists.”

Those of my generation recall a far different American Spirit. We recall gas rationing; sugar, shoes, and coffee rationing; collecting paper, fat, and scrap metal; wrapping bandages for the Red Cross; selling/buying War Bonds. We recall Hollywood and its actors and movie makers creating movies which inspired and supported our armed forces. Of course they were propaganda. But it was propaganda which supported our cause, promulgated our beliefs, and inspired young and old alike to accept their share of the burden of winning. Today we have fatheads like Michael Moore to muddle the minds of the less than bright with propaganda based on distorted facts and best serving our enemies. We had “Rosie the Riveter” and every old geezer beyond the age of serving was a block air raid warden. With that attitude and the willingness to use the weapons we had, we managed to defeat two of the greatest menaces to world peace since Genghis Kahn in a matter of four years from less than a standing start. And today they are our allies in belief and in commerce. And finally; we all recall with a lump in the throat the Gold Stars hanging in the window of at least one house on every block. I do not see the testicular fortitude required to avoid a disaster.

“Change I can believe in”? I think not.

Every semantic artifice is utilized to focus our attention on our driving habits and their ill effects on the environment. Habits that have been consciously built into our lifestyle for a hundred years. Billions were spent on highways and infrastructure to facilitate our moving from place to place. Creating of suburbs and exurbs engendered a better, healthier life for our children. Now suddenly we are told that was all wrong. We were selfish and thoughtless of the environmental impact. And now the believers who bought into that dream after having been told it was the American way are expected to accept the blame for the destruction of the planet. Does no one perceive the foolishness in such malarky? Does anyone really believe this paradigm is in any way reversible?

More important than propaganda about how the public can be more energy efficient in their driving habits is what we are not being told. Fuel is not the only byproduct which places a demand on the supply of crude oil extracted from the earth’s surface. When I was growing up, literally everyone burned coal in their furnace for home heating. They claimed it was polluting our air, and indeed it was. What was the solution? Clean burning oil did the job. With modern technology it would be far easier to revert to clean coal than to reprogram the transportation habits of a third of the world population. There are myriad available oil resources within our own borders. We are told it will take ten years before we can extract any oil from them. What we are not told is many of these sources could achieve production in as little as a year. In lieu of having acted in a timely manner, the specious argument is put forth that drilling now will do nothing to solve our immediate problem at the gas pump. Based on this false assumption it is further rationalized drilling should not begin. Continuing to not act predicated on such a conclusion defies any known system of logic. Instead we are given slogans; “we can’t drill our way out of our crisis”. We were earlier told Ethanol was going to solve our problem. What we were not told is it would create a crisis in the food supply chain. Now we face world food shortages and increased cost in the raising of livestock. Another bad idea promulgated by government subsidized agribusiness to boost grain sales but sold to the public as something else. It will also take time to create alternative automotive power systems. But it should begin. We are years behind in the development of nuclear, solar, and wind power. Had we not been bamboozled by the bullshit from the overbearing environmental zealots we would have begun all these processes decades ago. I find it difficult to think we have not made some progress in these areas, but we have most certainly not been advised of it by the media or the government. Instead we have “chicken little”, Al Gore, running around telling us the sky is falling and all based on questionable data. And somehow it’s all the public’s fault.

Fuel of all kinds only accounts for roughly half of our oil consumption. What you don’t hear anyone speaking about is petrochemicals. Before we work ourselves into a frenzy over “big oil”; perhaps we should give some of the same kind of scrutiny to “big plastics”. How hard would it be for everyone to give up a free plastic bag for their groceries, or any other small purchase for that matter. Do we really need to put nearly every liquid we purchase in a plastic bottle, jar, or jug? Do we really need plastic disposable razors, plastic flatware, plastic cleaning bags, cling wrap, pilfer proof packaging that is nearly impossible to open, or any of the other thousands of throwaway items we use daily and to which we give not a second thought? One need only look around them to find innumerable instances of plastic. Vinyl flooring, upholstery—the list is enormous. I suggest if you need further itemization you check out the following website:
http://thomko.squarespace.com/petrochemical-petroleum-produc/
Much of this usage is convenient but not essential by any standard. There was a lifestyle and methods to accomplish all of these needs before cellophane and bakelite. I remember well when cookies were sold from large boxes stacked in front of the grocer’s counter. The grocer picked them out of the big box, dropped them in a paper bag and you were on your way. The butcher wrapped your steaks in paper. Pickles were frequently sold out of a big barrel as were lingonberries around Christmas. We all survived. We have—to mix a metaphor—”high-teched” ourselves into a corner. When the suggestion will be made to divert some of our oil resources away from these relatively nonessential uses, lobbyists for the petrochemical and plastics industries will be jumping around like a maelstrom of macaques. When they finally quit chattering they can begin to repurpose their plastic manufacturing plants quicker than an entire nation can change lifestyle patterns a hundred years in the making. We’ll also get a chance to see just how sincere both presidential candidates were when they told us how they would “get the lobbyists out of Washington”.

The point is this. It is time we start hearing what politicians, bureaucrats, and the propagandists in the media are telling us and begin parsing the sentences. That we begin to question the shaded meanings to determine if there are alternate solutions to those proposed by parties with a vested interest in the status quo. And, most importantly, that we not jump to emotional conclusions about what we only think we hear. For practice try listening to the pharmaceutical commercials. When they want you to believe their product is a cure for a particular malady you will hear something like; “…emerging research suggests there may be beneficial relief from the symptoms of…”. Unless you are a complete fool, this information will generally be ignored. However, when similar gibberish emanates from the mouth of a politician; it’s time to get nervous and scared.

In summation regarding my feeling toward propagandists and semantic manipulators of all stripes; I am tempted to embrace a statement attributed to Reich Marshall Hermann Goering; “When I hear the word ‘intellectual’; I reach for my revolver”.

The original ruckus over “global warming” engendered enough negative connotations as a result of ombudsmen such as Al Gore it became necessary for its proponents to revise that term to “climate change”. It has now become necessary to find other key words with which to perpetuate fear and angst in a populace weary of an unending war and a weakening economy. Feeling the need to put a more positive spin on world conditions semantic manipulators have now begun to create new emotional meanings for words. Global warming and climate change have suddenly morphed into “green”. But, face it, green is just a color. It has no meaning beyond that. Whatever emotional connotation one may ascribe to it is purely subjective. Therefore it cannot be rationally challenged and thus needs no defense. It also happens to be the color of money, but the climate alarmists don’t want you to think about that so they keep up the tattoo of guilt that the issue is somehow the fault of humans. The whole global warming nonsense is all about getting money from new taxes; money to fund specious research on “climate change” in the social engineering institutions our colleges and universities have become over the last 100 years. The intension of promoters of human responsibility for permutations which have been occurring in nature since the beginning of time is to scare the common sense out of the public. All this in order to bring us to a mental state in which the people will clamor for government control. Can we say… socialism? The media have been willing propagandists in the charade. It fits their liberal socialist motives as well plus nothing sells like bad news—more money to promote their agenda. So now everyone begins jumping on the “green” bandwagon. It’s like a gigantic sales promotion program. “Go green, buy our product…”; “Buy our ‘green’ car today and get $2.99 gas for the next 3 years…” It’s a disgrace! It’s buncombe and balderdash! Meanwhile that bloated toad, Al Gore, uses enormous amounts of energy in his mansion and jet planes. On top of which much of his family wealth came from mining coal. My guess would be some of which was strip mining—really environmentally friendly. I just heard Nancy Pelosi declare that the idea of doing more drilling to advance the cause of energy independence was “a scam”. It is a big question as to who is scamming whom. It would be laughable if the temerity of her tactic were not so frightening.

Be all that as it may; for every scientist that supports the concept of man’s responsibility for the so-called warming trend there are ten others coming forth to offer countering views as to its existence and/or its cause. I recall in the late 1960s or early 70s when we were expected to panic over an impending ice age. By the time everyone had heard about the threat, the temperature trends began to reverse themselves. It is one of human nature’s failings to jump to conclusions on the basis of incomplete facts. Particularly in view of our experience any benefits of the conclusion all too frequently accrue to the financial advantage of the informant.

As to the responsibility factor and the ensuing guilt; one has to wonder just what those dinosaurs did to bring about their demise.

It is imperative that every thinking person be aware of what is and has long been transpiring in our country. We are being scammed from every direction; the so-called news media, advertising, Hollywood numb sculls, and any and all who distort facts and warp the information we receive to promote their objectives. They do it through the misuse of linguistics. Having spent over sixty years in advertising and marketing, I am reminded of a technique which often came into play when promoting a product of dubious purpose or value. If we didn’t have a real story to tell, we could always; “baffle ‘em with BS, and dazzle ‘em with opticals.” It is one thing to sell a cheesy dust mop or a Ginsu knife knockoff; it’s another thing altogether to sell a political agenda through spurious methods.

General Semantics, it would appear, is a discipline better suited to esoteric philosophy and mathematics than to a system for communicating with a populace speaking in sentences liberally interspersed with “like”. “Like Dude, it’s hard to, like, imagine they could, like, understand, like, the whole, like, concept of, uhhh like, time-binding uh, totally, like whatever.” General Semantics’ creator and early adherents; Alfred Korzybski, S.I. Hayakawa and others, in their attempts to give us the tools and the understanding of language and how it affects us emotionally have instead generated a nightmare of misuse of their information and theories. What has occurred is akin to giving six year old boys guns and live ammunition with which to play “cops and robbers”. Sooner or later it will come to a bad end. Our whole concept of reality is being turned upside down as politicians and social activists use the theory of Non-Aristotelian logic to twist language and the meanings of words. They do it to alter the way we understand and feel about the world around us. Politicians and activists of all stripes have taken the theories and perverted them to advance their various agendas. They have replaced common sense, which General Semantics holds to be irrelevant, with what amounts to total nonsense. We end up with triangulation, moral relevance, and a denial of soul and Spirit. The theory maintains “the map is not the territory”. That idea has been inverted and is used in the rhetoric directed at the uninitiated and poorly educated proletarian public precisely because they perceive things in just that manner—the word is the reality. Thus by renaming “welfare programs” and calling them “entitlement programs” what was originally conceived as a charitable effort ceases to be community largesse and becomes a “human right”—whatever territory for which that phrase is a map. It is all a sign of the beginning of the end of the life and culture we have known and loved. (cf. Isaiah 5:20–21)

Minds and emotions are continually manipulated for the purpose of obtaining tacit agreement to concepts barely understood. I have spoken often of what I call the “hamburger hoax”; showing a beautifully staged photo of a hamburger and then presenting something which in no way resembles the photo on the menu board. Somehow we find that acceptable. Too many are then distracted from the resulting fallacious images and ideas by gulping down the placating pap that comes through the TV in the form of sports events, reality shows, and the likes of “American Gladiator” and “Wipeout”. If the perpetrators cannot find a way to repurpose the words or their meanings, they simply undertake to remove them completely from our lexicon. We all stand by as religious symbols and ideals are removed from the public view by the secularists who prattle on about the separation of church and state while pretending their beliefs and ideals are not a religion. How long will it be before the emerging socialist government we are allowing to overtake our country decides on a “final solution” for Christians, as did an earlier socialist regime obsessed with negative feelings for the Jews? Will they then build a Colosseum and unleash the lions for the public amusement on NPR’s “This American Life” and title the program “Our Roman Heritage”?

I have often thought the lost art of oratory was in need of revival. Or, more accurately, an orator need come on the scene. Ronald Reagan came closest of anyone in recent times. I tend to see him more as a presenter. Clinton was considered by some to be a communicator. I’ve never quite figured out exactly what that means. My best guess would be something akin to “hot air merchant”. Both Bushes, Jimmy Carter, Nixon, Truman, Eisenhower could barely choke out a simple declarative sentence. I’m thinking more along the line of FDR (who my folks despised) or a Winston Churchill. For good or evil these men could rouse the sleeping spirit to action. Obama, it appears, is an orator. Empty rhetoric perhaps, but an orator nonetheless.

I recall conversations with a friend of mine; an advertising man from my era. He spoke of the art of message delivery-cum-oratory. He loved to compare Demosthenes and Aeschines. He claimed when Aeschines spoke, people remarked; “what a wonderful speech.” But, when Demosthenes spoke they cried out; “let us march against Phillip!” It would appear the populace is less moved by substance than by style. A fact of life regardless of the era.

Obama fills a need the public has to be inspired and motivated. I remember well the feeling we all had when we heard; “We will fight in the air, we will fight on the beaches, we will fight on the land! We will never give up, never give up, never!”

Would that McCain could turn some of his legendary inner rage into oratory which got thinking people off their butts and into the the streets. “To the ramparts! The enemy is upon us!”