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 Pride, anger and fear can cloud our moral compass and empower tyrants. (8)

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Pride, anger and fear can cloud our moral compass and empower tyrants.

Hitler appealed to German pride and this empowered him to commit crimes against humanity.

Anger and fear were used against the American people to justify Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.  Americans wrongly believe that there's a difference between Republicans and Democrats but if this was truly the case Democrats would have rightly declared that, even during times of war, the constitution should be adhered to even more vehemently.  Otherwise those in power will assume powers not entrusted to them and we all lose our liberties.

There has been many attempts by both parties to feign emergencies in order to try and obtain more power than is entrusted to them by the constitution.  Why is everything a crisis?  The language is meant to instill in us a sense of crisis.  Why?  The war on drugs.  The war on terror.  Everything is a disaster waiting to happen and the media eats it up because it raises ratings.  And the more we believe the BS, the more likely we are to relinquish our liberties and give more power to some official to take care of the problem. 

Drastic times requires us to guard our liberties even more than normal because that is the time they will try to take it away from us, when we are the most vulnerable.

 

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Keep your ears and eyes open as the economic crisis heats up. I'd rather be poor and free than lose my liberties for a comfortable life.

iamdavidh(4856) Disputed
1 point

And what liberties do you believe will be taken from you under the guise of the economic crisis Joe?

Try and be more specific with your epic proclamations of the coming doom that is... whatever it is you think you're talking about,

because funny, this little speech sounds just like what you are decrying. You are using a fear of fear to scare yourself into god knows what now.

Anyway, I have news for you. Some of us have never been fooled by these methods.

Are you having an epiphany?

No, I'm sure there's some misguided reason that you are soon to twist on it's head so up is down and good is bad.

You are for individualism for yourself, and others so long as it is what you would choose. link last two arguements I had with Joe, scroll down for abortion

Oh, you are all for government telling a woman when she can and can't have an abortion though right? Because you know with all your scientific knowledge, exactly when a human is a human and not a cluster of cells right? Or maybe god whispered it in your ear? Oh no, government shouldn't tell us what to do! ... I mean so long as it's not two gay people wanting to get married, then it's okay for the state to tell them what to do, right? State rights, it's what the people want, you don't like it move. Yeah, real independant thinking. Hey what do you care? You're not gay, you've never been a pregnant woman who just doesn't know what to do.

Now though, now you're just all riled up about government in your business, a real rebel without a cause.

Yeah dude, you're a regular Johny Rebel.

You're not independant Joe, as your profile states. I can hear your opinions coming from a mile away, echoing talking points spun out of control from whatever simple slogan you heard that day. You think your independant when the media wants you to think your independant.

You are right about one thing at least finally, that the last administration used fear to get us into a war that is definitely unnecessary, and probably unwinable, and either way not worth the cost in money or lives.

But you forgot too, that they lied to us, and to congress in order to get approval for that war. They fabricated evidence, they ignored and hid counter evidence, they refused to follow through on inspections, when inspections showed nothing, they lied some more, and it looks now as if they may have even tortured for the specific reason of getting someone to make a connection between Iraq and Al-Quada.

But where was this pretty speech then Joe?

Hind sight is almost 20/20 for you it looks like, but I have a feeling while your head is turned you're going to fall right into another hole.

Yeah, you're really good at telling us what we should have done, what a woman should do, at looking up stuff that someone else wrote first and then claiming it...

But of your 6115 points, I have yet to see an original thought from you. I've seen clever, funny, and lots of links. But nothing that's yours.

So go ahead Joe, scare me into not being scared. And once you specify whatever misguided point you're eluding to, I'll tell you why you're wrong... and three, four, maybe six years down the road, you can look back and say why we should have seen it coming, just as another road sign is about to hit you in the back of the head.

Side: i question your timing and motive

You're right. None of it is original. I just picked up one of the books I won here on CD this weekend and read it. It's called "The Revolution" by Ron Paul. That explains the timing.

As far as motive.... well..., you seem angry at me for trying to do something underhanded. Except what would I gain? Your attitude appears to be that you know me better than I know myself so....

Side: True

To answer your question:

And what liberties do you believe will be taken from you under the guise of the economic crisis Joe?

I fear that the economic crisis will lead to the collapse of the dollar and that the government will bring enough troops home to "secure the peace" and make sure we don't revolt and try to overthrow the government (Martial law). Now, wasn't Bush thinking about bringing the troops home near the end of his candidacy?

http://members.tripod.com/~Sidlinger/ml.html

I don't know. Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm paranoid. But just because I'm paranoid does not mean that they are not after me. Wait.... I think I heard something. I'll BRB.... ;)

Side: True
3 points

Looking throughout history, both recent and farther back, we can see that the leaders that gained the most power did so through the use of pride, anger, and fear.

Exhibit A: Adolf Hitler's tactics that brought him to power prior to World War II. Not only did he scare the German people into believing that other races and their impurities would lead to the worsening of the world and that these peoples must be exterminated, falling into the "fear" category, but he also pushed the idea that the people he was pandering to were the ideal race, which falls into the "pride" category.

Anger and fear can drive a single person to do things that they would never normally do, but when this is mixed with the anonymity and intensity of the mob mentality, a group of people can act and think in extreme ways. When a seemingly worthy leader emerges from the crowd, people grab on to their ideals, no matter how ridiculous these ideas seem from a historical perspective. Again, one can look to the example of Adolf Hitler's Germany.

This is why we need people to always be looking at the bigger picture. Hopefully, the people doing this would be the people in charge, but this is not always the case. Ideally, everyone would be able to look at the bigger picture and make decisions accordingly, but since this is probably not going to happen, we can only hope that we, as a group, will react with caution to the next event that causes anger or fear or when we get too proud of ourselves.

Side: True
1 point

well duh.

Side: True