> It is petit bourgeoisie - people with moderate income, some education,
> and some social position - that are the staunchest reactionaries,
> racists, and bigots. I can see a number of good sociological
> explanations of that phenomenon - reference group, downward class
> mobility, or simple indoctrination. But I am also trying not to loose
> th ehuman agency dimension from the sight, which brings me to th
> equestion "How can otherwise not-so-bad -off and not-that-dumb people be
> so full of learned ignorance, hatred, and bigotry?"
Wojtek I think you are totally wrong with your analysis about why so many USers are for this war. I don't think that they are all racists who delight in the thoughts of the death and suffering of people of a different color. What I've found while talking to people who support the war:
* People believe the Al Qeada -> Ba'ath Party connection. When I
bring up to people that ObL considers Saddam an enemy I usually get
disbelief. Their leaders are outright lieing to them about this and
they've been saturated with information implying that Arabs and
Muslims, and especially Arab Muslims, are this unified anti-US
force. Sure we can blame people for not finding the real
information but that is easy for those of us with 300 cable channels
and free or cheap Internet access. The majority of people still get
their news from tv, radio, and US papers so short of a Dateline
special explaining why the Ba'ath party and Al Qeada are not in
collusion this will be difficult to change.
* People think Saddam is Hitler. People really think that Saddam is a
madman hell bent on destruction who is only waiting for the
opportunity to attack the rest of the world. Again, this is what
they hear from the media: Saddam has bad weapons, and is crazy
enough to use them. He also does terrible things to his own
people! etc. etc. A lot of people think the Iraqi people will be
carrying US soldiers on their shoulders into Baghdad.
Plus what explains the hundreds of thousands of people actively mobilizing in the US to protest this war? There are white trash in there, too Wojtek - left and right, black and white, poor and rich. "Support our Troops" rallies [BTW, we should never let chickenhawks turn an anti-war movement into an anti-soldier movement] get a couple hundred or thousand.
You may find it easier to convince someone to be against this war if you don't start out by being personally disgusted with them.
Matt
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