17 March 2009

"Hollywood, the most powerful de facto propaganda agency in human history."  (Jonah Goldberg, Liberal Fascism)  But "Hollywood" is more than a place in California where they make movies; it canotes an entertainment industry and the state of mind that goes along with it.   It has to do with fame - and ego, something we all seem to crave, but those who really have a shot at it let it take over - and we adoringly let them, in fact encourage them, for without us where would they be?

So?  So the rest of us allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by it.  Propaganda: selective information (true or false, but selective)  Rhetoric: use of high flying words to achieve the same effect (I made that up).   Sadly, we tend to gobble up both, hook, line and sinker.  Why?  I guess because we are dazzled by fame - and fortune that sometimes engenders it, but is almost always engendered by it.

Does it really matter?  It does when it influences how we select those by whom we will be governed, and both point in the same direction: pretty words to bring them wealth and power, and us,...what?  Unfortunately today what it seems to lead to for the rest of us is more wealth and power for them and more taxes and restrictions for us.  They are the elite, and we should listen to them and pay proper reverence.

It was not supposed to be that way in the United States.  We eschewed aristocracy; we hated oligarchy.  But we have our own brand of both, and adore them - and hate them - just as everyone has always hated aristocrats and oligarches; accept when we adore them and kowtow to them.

The last presidential campaign was perhaps the most blatant example of this phenominon ever perpetrated: propaganda and rhetoric.  Lies?  Well, better to say high flown words and selective information.  It is only what one should expect in a celebrity worshipping culture: we worship and they deign to allow themselves to be worshipped - by telling us what we want to hear.  It is actually difficult these days to distinguish among politicians, performers and celebrity investors.

So why do we listen?  Why do we believe?  Why do we worship?  Why are we continually left sitting with mouths agape, wondering what happened?  You tell me.