“Don’t just teach your children to read…
teach them to question everything that they read…
teach them to question everything.”
– George Carlin
(Great American Philosopher, aka, Successful Comedian)
In Germany of the 1930’s, the intellectuals and otherwise bright folks could not believe anyone could possibly take Hitler seriously. They assumed everyone could see the man for the clown he was, just as they did. That’s how Hitler got into office(1), because it was assumed he didn’t require stopping, he was too ridiculous to worry about.
Hitler got into office by what I call Rule of the Sheeple, that is, by those who vote from their adrenalin and their desperation, and by what their buddies are doing, combined with the indifference of those who didn’t vote at all.(2)
Rule of the Sheeple can do a great deal of damage. It can do all the damage there really ever is for a society (at least in this modern world of the last few thousand years).
Rome had this problem, too, in its down-fall days (actually, in the days that led to the down fall days — downfall doesn’t just start one day; it has to be carefully nurtured), in the endless succession of petty dictators. The people could have (maybe) straightened it out at any time, if they’d been willing to. But threat of the army and threat of the Praetorian Guard made all that kind of difficult. Also, the middle class was kept… mmm… distracted, with high taxes and other impossible requirements, so had other things on its mind, such as basic survival.(3)
Distraction is a great tool for controlling the mob, for enforcing Sheeple behavior, herd behavior. One gadget that presents a unified “culture” all across the land. It was better/worse that way before 9-zillion channels became available, when it was only 3 major networks and hand-full of independents; then it really was just one culture all people watching were being exposed to. 9-zillion channels doesn’t really give us a variety of cultures, though. They are all of them aimed at about a 4th grade education. Not a lot of variety there, but good, solid, distraction.
Of course, Rule of the Sheeple isn’t rule by the People. The Sheeple do what they’re told to do, pretty much without realizing it. A small number of people (by comparison, at least) manipulate the Sheeple and the Prize goes to He who Manipulates the Herd most effectively. In Ancient Rome and in modern America… I suspect in many other political units as well.
Here’s the kicker: in the 2012 election, the winner, he who took office, actually lost by over 4 million votes! But got into office anyway, because the electoral college and the voting districts had been sufficiently rigged that way. It would have taken about 6 million votes for the other candidate to win.(4)
That’s disturbing, don’t you think? An American President who was not, in fact, elected by the people?(5)
Rule of the Herd. Rule by the Sheeple who just let it all sail on by them.
Just a thought.
(1) I’ve met a lot of folks these days who think Hitler seized office some how, took over the government. No, he was voted in. He had tried a “putsch” earlier and ended up doing time in prison as a result. So he realized that he needed to use the system and get into office “legally” first. Which he did, by popular vote. Then he bent the rules and laws to suit himself and remained in office until the Allies finally force him to, shall we say, resign?
(2) Of course, there was also a lot of intimidation going on, people being beaten up unless they voted “correctly” and such. Hitler’s “brown shirts,” who were really just street thugs and thwarted emotional 7 year olds who suddenly had permission to be the Big Jerks they’d always wanted to be. A personal army, quite a handy tool for a wanna’ be dictator. Further, one can also blame the machinations of party politics. A true vote of the people might have shown different results at any point, but the votes were tallied up by party, instead of by voter.
(3) The destruction of the middle class in Rome is thought by some to be the true cause of the Fall of the Roman Empire. Everything else was secondary to that initial fact. Sound familiar in any way?
(4) Congress should not have any jurisdiction over the voting districts (it’s called jerrymandering); it’s a clear conflict of interest and Congress has demonstrated most clearly over the last 20+ years why they can’t be trusted with such things.
(5) Actually, not the first one, either.