How come to so many people, myth trumps reality?

[raccoon]

For instance, so many people think Reagan was a good president, a rootin-tootin cowboy that didn't take crap from anybody, who "brought down" the USSR, and, they probably think, the Berlin Wall as well.

As opposed to seeing him as a bad president, under whose watch the poor were demonized, and greed raised to a virtue, who took away most of the little guys' tax breaks, and had dementia in the last years he was in office?

:shrug:

Edited to change "image" to "myth." Because it is myth, IMO.

[baldguy]

1. People will do nothing if the rich & powerful rape them.

Because they get a few pennies for their trouble, and the law & society & the media are all geared toward making people believe it's normal & right.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

2. Changing Your Beliefs Is Painful

Just like Chris Rock said in "Dogma," ideas can be changed; changing a belief is trickier. That's why people of my parents' generation get very upset when you suggest that MAYBE Lee Harvey Oswald didn't murder JFK all by himself. It's why children have a tough time accepting that there's no Santa Claus. And it's why so many people, to this day, believe Columbus discovered America, Marie Antoinette said, "Let them eat cake," and Iraq had WMDs and was allied with al Qaeda.

[lunatica]

3. Denial

It's a powerful thing

[Sinti]

4. Television and propaganda. It's really that simple.

You cannot begin to fathom how powerful the science was even then. "had dementia in the last years he was in office" - he probably had dementia when he walked into office, but could still recite his lines. People loved him, because he was like an old grandpa. He terrified me - but I'm not a fan of secret wars, and murder in general.

If the American public knew their own history (the past 60 years or so), and understood it outside of the brainwashing they've received they would be mortified.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

7. I've Come To The Exact Same Conclusion

I think most people liked Reagan because he reminded them of their Grandpa.

[conscious evolution]

11. You are absolutely correct

It is amazing how much social control tv allows for the PTB.I think that even they are amazed at how well the programming machine has worked.

[dysfunctional press]

5. here's a book you might want to consider purchasing...

Tear Down This Myth: How the Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Politics and Haunts Our Future

it's available at amazon.com NEW in hardcover for less than $6, including shipping-

[Berry Cool]

10. "The Man Who Sold the World" is also excellent.

Costs a little more on Amazon, but I believe it's well worth it.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. Myth will always have better entertainment value.

Sort of like how desserts appear more appetizing than broccoli and spinach when you're a kid.

[la_chupa]

8. and had the Iranian hostages freed - all by hisself

I've often wondered the same thing myself. I guess the brain shields us from pain to keep us from going insane so we only remember the good things.

Wasn't he the one who did away with the tax deduction for student loan payments? charming

Also, people have very very short memories. There was a discussion about the whole Whitehouse vs. Faux on my newspaper's website. I made the comment that people seem to have forgotten how W used to restrict access to any news organization that published anything he didn't like. I got flooded with "cite your source".

My source? Are you effin kidding me? Where were these people for the past 9 years, I swear that was common knowledge. It's like saying that it's hot in the summer and having people demand that I prove it.

I told them that every day there is a thing that lands on my driveway with all kinds of stories in it. Hell I have the dog trained to go pick it up for me. Maybe if they would stop yammering about how our Muslim Kenyan Prez is a socialist and read the thing once in a while they would know...things too.

[ipfilter]

13. Those people wouldn't believe you if you told them water was wet.

[jpljr77]

9. The Republicans/"Conservatives" had -- or still have -- the greatest PR machine of all time

Propaganda isn't strong enough a word to describe what these guys have pulled off for the past 35 years. They have taken a good, honest political theme -- a limited role for government in the lives of citizens -- and wrapped such BS around it that middle to low income Americans are damn near ready to take up arms to protect the wealthiest 1% from a theoretical 5-10% income tax increase.

If you step back from it (like, really far back) it's almost poetic in its beauty. It will be studied years from now along side the Nazi, Soviet and WWII era U.S. propaganda machines.

[conscious evolution]

12. I gotta feeling you are right.