Political language -- and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists -- is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever.
But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.
Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious.
Whatever is funny is subversive, every joke is ultimately a custard pie... a dirty joke is a sort of mental rebellion.
In our age there is no such thing as 'keeping out of politics.' All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.
All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome.
At fifty everyone has the face he deserves.
Most people get a fair amount of fun out of their lives, but on balance life is suffering, and only the very young or the very foolish imagine otherwise.
John Stuart Mill
Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.
The amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric marks the chief danger of the time.
The general tendency of things throughout the world is to render mediocrity the ascendant power among mankind.
Whatever crushes individuality is despotism, by whatever name it may be called and whether it professes to be enforcing the will of God or the injunctions of men.
A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
Mark Twain
Don't let schooling interfere with your education.
All generalizations are false, including this one.
A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.
Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
The Public is merely a multiplied "me."
Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial "we."
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet.
Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
Winston Churchill
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash.
Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.
However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.
In war as in life, it is often necessary when some cherished scheme has failed, to take up the best alternative open, and if so, it is folly not to work for it with all your might.
Otto Von Bismarck
When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.
I have seen three emperors in their nakedness, and the sight was not inspiring.
Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.
Be polite; write diplomatically ;even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness.
Voltaire
A witty saying proves nothing.
If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated.
When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is metaphysics.
I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: "O Lord make my enemies ridiculous." And God granted it.
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.
Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.
It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out.
Karl Marx
Philosophy stands in the same relation to the study of the actual world as masturbation to sexual love.
All I know is I'm not a Marxist.
The writer may very well serve a movement of history as its mouthpiece, but he cannot of course create it.
Thursday, September 16, 2004
The Motive Behind The Fake Memos
By Nick
It's a simple and brilliant strategy, it was deftly executed, and utterly unpredictable. Here it goes:
Phase 1: They forged documents that were entirely believable, and sold them to CBS under the pretense that they'd soon be released to rival news organizations.
The accusations against Bush are entirely plausible, and perhaps even true. Any intelligent observer will conclude that he is hiding something, and that he hasn't been forthcoming. But, even had the documents been true, they would have had little effect. The electorate is not paying any attention to Bush's guard service. So, in other words, its the perfect bait -- its news worthy, but not too news worthy.
So why did CBS take it and air it so quickly? I'm guessing that the person who gave them the memo's threatened to give them to a rival news organization. And all News organizations want to be the first to break stories -- and that desire, coincidently is probably the number one reason for inaccuracy in news broadcasting. CBS was duped; frankly, the scammers played them like a slut.
Phase II: Have obvious errors on the documents that any -- and I mean ANY -- scam artist would have avoided. This allowed the right-wing "new media" to quickly uncover the false hoods without actually having any knowledge of the plot.
Super script? Times New Roman? A true scammer would have probably used a type writer. Even I, at 22 (the only time I used a typewriter was when I played with one as a tottler) , know to use this font if I'm trying to make it look like a type writer. Not this font, for crying out loud.
But who cares, no one wants to talk about fonts, thus it will be ignored by those who are clueless enough to have not already made their decision in this election.
So, the right wing bloggers and talk radio hosts now appear to be "truth squads"; and Rove knew that they would figure it out. It was an absolutely safe bet. Hopefully, by now you are beginning to see the strategy.
Phase III: The Message that has already been successfully delivered:
Below is the message that the forgers intended: News Sources like CBS are sloppy, partisan, and not to be trusted. Fox News, and other organizations of "truth squads" uncover their lies and deceptions. It was good average Americans who uncovered these left-wing lies. As we all know, they'll go to any lengths to discredit Bush (Remember that the claims agains him are anything but wild -- but now they'll have no effect, as they say: the boy has already cried wolf). Don't read NYTimes! Read NY Post! Don't Watch CBS! Watch FOX! The Liberal media are liars, FOX and NRO represent the Truth.
Conclusion Rove is that brilliant -- he decided not to directly attack Kerry, instead he attacked News Sources that weren't 100 percent pro Bush. At the same time, he managed to frame loyal news sources as being "truth hunters". Its suttle, and if anything is to be learned, its that Rove is a lot sneakier than you think. The strategy was not directly related to making Bush or Kerry look better or worse -- its a long term strategy to gain better control of the public forum.. And remember, you heard it here first
"Netpolitik is a new style of diplomacy that seeks to exploit the powerful capabilities of the Internet to shape politics, culture, values, and personal identity. But unlike Realpolitik — which seeks to advance a nation’s political interests through amoral coercion — Netpolitik traffics in “softer” issues such as moral legitimacy, culturalidentity, societal values, and public perception." - The Rise of Netpolitik
PUN-DIT (n) : A learned man; a teacher; a source of opinion; a critic: a political pundit.