Why so many are not outraged about the lies

[Az]

People have come to know Saddam as a very evil man. No one denies this fact. People feel a natural desire to rid the world of evil. The restrictions of civil society often interfere with people's desire to act out on their impulses. The impulse for some time now has been to reach out and smack Saddam.

Thus they see those that attempt to maintain the social restrictions by requiring a reason to attack Saddam as part of the problem. They only know there is an itch that needs to be scratched. By insisting that it is wrong to scratch it without justification we only serve to increase their frustration.

Thus when Bush fails to come up with WMDs and is caught in a lie people are left with a couple of issues that they may not want to face. Thus they overlook the justifications as they feel the attack was justified no matter what. The WMDs in their mind were only there to mollify those that were resisting the effort in the first place.

[Virginian]

1. Bush Lied, People Died ... (n/t)

n/t

[Az]

3. Not justifying their stance

Just trying to help others to understand the thinking they are using. It is a break down of social responisibility on their part. Played by marketing that made Saddam out to be the next Hitler when there were worse tyrants to be dealt with. But it is where they are. Now they have to deal with guilt and other issues as they slowly start to wake up to the notion that they were played. That is if they wake up. Denial is an amazingly resiliant defense.

[jiacinto]

2. Give it time

A snowball seems to be quitetly rolling down the hill and getting larger. In time, if it continues to get larger, then the public will be more outraged.

[DrGonzoLives]

5. True, but only if

the Democrats pound, pound, pound away on it and not let Fleischer spin it away.

[not systems]

4. get people to listen to this

Wargate:

http://mikemalloy.pmachinehosting.com/gallery.html

I'm burning a CD to pass around I
think this might shake people out
of their sleep walking.

Maybe I am being a desperate optimist.

Many people have a contradiction that they
can't face between the world they pretend
exists and the one we are now in. This
montage may work on some people.

[Jackson4Gore]

6. I need one of those CDs

NT

[Fozzledick]

7. Republicans don't care

Republicans don't care about lies - they consider lying a virtue.
They don't care that he's a crook as long as he's THEIR crook - just like Nixon and Reagan. What I'm wondering about is how many more
"Caligula moments" like "God told me to do it" and "Bring 'em on"
they can ignore.

[newyawker99]

16. Hik Fozzledick!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[fshrink]

8. Because they live off it.

And have since the very inception of this nation.

[KFC]

9. Good point, but I think the psyche is more of a 9-11 payback

I really do. Blind revenge, not too far under the surface. This is also why so many were eager to believe an Iraq-Al Queida connection.

They saw the bombs fall on Bagdhad and screamed "payback, fuckers!".

No need to question the president. Fuck the facts. He kicked ass and is looking for more.

[fshrink]

10. That too.

nt

[opihimoimoi]

11. Also, note that lying is so prevelent its IN

no one seems to care

Truth and Sanity has been out of touch so much, its out of the picture, not even mentioned.

WE have been fooled to the point where bad is good and vice versa/

[Mechatanketra]

12. Because they never believed them in the first place.

In the end, I suspect, damn few war supporters ever really believed that Iraq posed a military threat to Americans -- they have simply also ceased to believe (if they ever did) that America's military should be limited to self-defense.

The circle is complete, and the winners of the 'war to end all wars' is now wondering just what the heck is so wrong about beating up people just because you can.

[revcarol]

13. They're tired (Hey, NPR, I can use this too!)

Really tired. Sometimes a person can only take so much,,,,and when you wake up every morning and there's ANOTHER BUSH OUTRAGE for you to fight,,,and you're only one person who cares about clean water,,,and your kids' education going down the tube,,,and your taxes are going up locally because of the Bush tax cut,,,and your son-in-law lost his job and the whole family has to move in with you,,,and the administration wants new nukes,,,

Let this have time to sink in. The Bushies come up with so many outrages, it's hard to decide what is most important sometimes.

Of course, I'm a fine one to talk. I thought ENRON was a smoking gun.

[Gopens]

15. ENRON was a smoking HOWITZER!

I'm convinced the GOP has planned this all along. The Bush Cabal has been awash in scandal since it was illegally sworn in after stealing the election. Serious, serious stuff way more dangerous to national security than a frickin' blowjob.

But the GOP pushed the scandal card so hard against Clinton that the American people became fed up and didn't want to hear about wrongdoing now. They're on scandal overload, and somewhere, somehow, I KNOW that some of the bastards who went after Clinton were thinking, "Look, this won't work and might cost us in the short run, but once we get back in office, the public will be so sick of non-stop investigations that we'll be able to get away with ANYTHING!!!"

And so far, they've been right about that, but I don't think it will last forever. As the bodies pile up, the lies will start to hit home with a lot of folks who previously weren't concerned.

Eventually, I think Americans will be outraged over Bush's conduct in regard to Iraq. I only hope it comes to roost in time for the 2004 elections.

[loyalsister]

14. Good point

Another thing I heard today comes to mind as something that could be fairly common. I was talking to my mom and asked her if she heard the "bring em on" comment. She said no. She doesn't pay attention to news it's all bad news and depressing she doesn't want to hear it.
NOW people have gotten a bit of a sense that a guy that they, like\d, trust\ed, and voted for betrayed them and they are going to do the same thing out of devastation. It's a widespread "Tommy" syndrome.
However, I am trying to have faith that there are plenty of people who will not be able to filter it out entirely. Their innocence will end, and they will learn that their leader is a crook.

[Beetwasher]

17. Yes, you've hit upon a key issue

And it's a bit deeper than what you've put so succinctly. There's also group psychology and motivational factors at work. That "itch" that you refer to is not necessarily an "itch" to fight evil. If you look at the situation in a psychohistorical context, that "itch" is actually a desire for a national human sacrifice (most people don't realize this as the desire is on an unconscious level), literally, to rid and purify ourselves of our perceived excesses. The exesses being the "binge" of the "feel good" '90's. A certain segment of the country (not all of it) feels like we sinned and must purify ourselves and are buying into the fantasy of ridding the world of evil. We are currently in a classic fantasy/trance state as a nation, the lies and the believing of them are merely a symptom of deeper group psychology at work. Another part of that is the full blown "purity crusade" we're beseiged with headed by John Ashcroft. The scapegoating of the "dirty" segment of our society (gays, dirty hippies, liberals, drug users and all their wanton filthy sex, sodomy etc..) and the need to "purge" our society of their perceived poisons...

For more on this see www.psychohistory.com