Well, the Propaganda of the Deed around assisted suicide begins to rear its ugly head in the US.
The latest is a loving son who’s written a book about how he loved his parents to death. He’s doing the talk show circuit.
Help kill my parents. Write a book. Gush (in a solemn kind of way) about how my dead parents are in heaven saying “What a good boy you were, to kill us off.”
More of John West early next week.
First, a primer on what’s really going on here in the assisted suicide assault on our culture: The Propaganda of the Deed.
The Propaganda of the Deed, you’ll recall, is a radical activist tool used to persuade people to accept something that is currently completely unacceptable to the larger society.
Here’s how it works:
- Believe zealously in something that most other people (and the law) think is unacceptable.
- Adopt in-your-face, shocking, and nasty tactics to confront people with the unacceptable idea, belief, or action.
- Command the language of the ensuing debate to define the unacceptable or illegal issue in soft, positive terms.
- Work hard at making the radical issue seem perfectly reasonable, and those who oppose it as completely unreasonable and intolerant.
- Continually attack your opponents by whatever means necessary to keep them permanently on the defensive so that the debate is always to your advantage.
- Make your opponents out to be oppressors, villains, and hysterically insane.
- Introduce even more extreme issues, thereby making your original outlandish idea seem more reasonable.
The end result is that as the debate rages, people get familiar and more comfortable with the unacceptable issue. Many become confused about whether the issue is really unacceptable or illegal. At the very least, many think the unacceptable or illegal issue should at least be "discussed." Many join the activist side.
While the radical activists might not immediately win, the Propaganda of the Deed shifts the center of public perception, inevitably, in their favor.
Thas is what the televising of Craig Ewert’s death at Dignitas was all about.
That is what Jack Kevorkian’s CBS-televised murder of Thomas Youk was all about.
That’s what calling for assisted suicide for children in Scotland is all about.
Make the unthinkable thinkable.
Make the thinkable possible.
Make bad good, and good bad.
Make what's illegal legal.
Make killing a beautiful gift.
Make death more attractive than life.
We had better get our act together, before they kill us all.
1 comment:
The steps you outline have been used by the Republicans and conservatives for years. The centrist wing of the Dems seems to go along as well. We can see this technique being used by Cheney now on his justification of torture and special rendition. Flood the Corporate media with outrageous claims like "It is all for our safety from those terrorists!" etc. The regular justice system was just not adequate; habeas corpus had to be virtually done away with, so we have to rely on the good graces of a few people NOT TO arrest, torture and "Gitmo" any of us. All of this is tax payer funded...I pay for my own torture. What has this to do with disability? Everything. Soon we will be economic terrorists for not agreeing to suicide. I have heard things like "you worked and paid taxes but that money is needed to fight wars and defend ourselves. Haliburton is helping future generations". ($700 Billion/yr for the Pentagon)
It is your "patriotic duty" (note how patriotism is dragged in here to deflect all debate) to die and even leave behind some of your usable organs for others. (to the privileged and the powerful maybe?) We are ruled by Corporate America and the GOP has dragged the Democrats into the center, because we are told this is a "center right" country. (whatever that means) Where is Progressive America? That voice has been drowned out and the unpalatable made acceptable, with a lot of added sugar.
All this is right out of Joseph Goebbell's work book. Make the lie very big and repeat it often enough; the few dissenters will be drowned out and the majority will accept it as truth.
Are "useless eaters" the next health care terrorists? We could be, because the current war on terrorism will die out soon but the long term costs of Medicare in a contracting economy, are much larger and will dominate the airwaves. Final score: Utilitarianism 1, humanity, compassion and ethics 0. Game set and match. Maybe I am being too pessimistic but I have already entered that uncertain zone....
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