The Republican noise machine is an unmatched power.

[Cyrano]

You don’t need an army if you “own the 'truth'.” Aside from Fox “news,” virtually all other cable and radio “news” outlets are owned by businesses that profit from the Republican Party’s agenda.

I’ve lost all respect I’ve ever had for the Democratic Party and their unwillingness to do battle against some really bad guys who are in the business of destroying us. Yet, doing battle against those who own the outlets that distribute propaganda seems to be a losing proposition.

The poet, T.S. Eliot, said, “This is the way the world will end. Not with a bang, but a whimper.” I don’t know about “the world.” But it sure as hell seems to be the way in which the American Empire is ending. The propagandists, from Fox, to Limbaugh, to all the other peddlers of crap are winning. And they’re winning big.

I guess it really comes down to the incredible stupidity of people who buy the shit they’re selling. But buy it they do. And they have no idea that in doing so, they are bringing about their own destruction. As for those of us who know better, we are probably screwed beyond repair.

So I guess T.S. Eliot was almost right. Our world may not end with a whimper. But it might end with the hatred fed into our car radios, our home radios and TVs, and the imbeciles who believe it and repeat it to us over and over and over again at the water cooler at work, or at some bar.

Is there anything we can do about it? Perhaps. But the clock is running.

[spanone]

1. we can beat the republicans. we cannot beat the republicans and all the media.

that is what we are up against.

[LiberalLoner]

2. You are right. And no, I don't think there is anything we can do about it.

I am reading "Age of Greed" right now. Downloaded it on my Nook. It's pretty compelling. I had to put it aside for a moment though because I just read the founders of the modern conservative movement (Reagan revolution, etc.) were actually the fruit growers of southern California.

You might remember those fruit growers from books like "Grapes of Wrath" by Steinbeck.

You remember, the ones who paid their workers so little that the workers were literally starving to death, and beat them if they tried to unionize?

Yeah. Those growers.

And that pretty much sums modern conservatism up right there. And they have won. There is no coming back from that.

[Cyrano]

4. No one who has ever read "The Grapes of Wrath" can ever forget it.

And if you're right, -- and if those who victimized the workers of the 30s have won, then I hold little hope for the future of humanity.

Your reference to Steinbeck leaves me more hopeless and depressed than ever. And much sadder about what might have been.

[LiberalLoner]

6. You see, that's the essential difference between those of us here and

the conservative politicians of recent decades. We read "Grapes of Wrath" and recoil in horror at the suffering therein; they read it as a "how to" manual on turning America into their version of paradise.

[Cyrano]

7. A very keen observation. And if you are correct, LiberalLoner, that

puts today's conservatives among the most evil of people who have ever existed.

[LiberalLoner]

10. I think some of the leaders and some of the bankers, etc. who changed the

regulations to allow the banks and Wall Street to crash America, are truly evil. The followers - well, they are a mix of people like everyone else I guess. Sure there are some who are evil, because there are some evil people in every slice of the population.

But I think most of them have just been hoodwinked. They have been told and believe, only FOX news can be trusted. Then Fox news lies to them. They believe those lies and vote accordingly. They see the problems in the economy just like we do, and are worried and upset like we are. Some are suffering just like some of us liberals are suffering. Honestly, is there even one person in America who has not lost wealth due to this financial crisis that happened under GWB? Our houses are now worth less money. Some of us are upside down on our houses. My father, for instance, is upside down on his mortgage in Las Vegas. Our retirement accounts lost money because they were part of the stock market that crashed. Now they are saying they have to take Medicare away from us as well as Social Security, and unless a person is very wealthy, they counted on those programs to help out in old age.

I think they have been hoodwinked, and a few of them probably think if they suck up enough to the billionaires, they will get some wealth too. Like that "Joe the Plumber" guy who thought he was going to be wealthy soon and didn't want taxes raised. Wonder where he is now? He's been a loser all his life and probably still is a loser. But he is the type who reads "The Grapes of Wrath" and identifies with the owners of the orchards instead of the Joads. He is too stupid to realize, he will always be one of the Joads - a worker.

[Bozita]

3. Check out the cover of David Brock's book ...

[Cyrano]

5. Yep. Why do most people need a sub-title to wake up to reality?

This is not a knock on your post. It's just my disappointment in whatever intelligence still exists in America.

[AndyTiedye]

8. Kicked and Recommended

[Cyrano]

9. "They" own the news. And we are so fucked because of it.

And does any DUer have to ask who "They" are?

[TomCADem]

11. Sadly, It Has Grown Worse Since David Brock Wrote A Book With This Title

Now, it not only controls the mainstream media, but it has spawned vast corporate astroturf campaigns on the right such as Freedom Works, which funnels corporate dollars into right wing "grassroots" campaigns and on the left through front groups designed to erode liberal support for Democrats through attacks from the "left" such as the Latinos for Reform group that attacked Harry Reid and urged Hispanics not to vote, which was actually funded by Republican groups.

[The Wizard]

12. Goebbels would be green with envy (NT)