Seventy Percent

[loupaulsen at attbi.com]

This 70% is a complete artifact of the situation.  For the last five months, 
people have been repeatedly told by the news media:  "War is inevitable. War 
is inevitable.  It can be today or tomorrow.  It can be with or without the 
UN. But it's inevitable.  You can't stop it.  Nobody can stop it.  Bush isn't 
listening.  He's made his decision.  The war is inevitable.  The troops are 
moving in now.  Any day now.  Any day now.  The war is inevitable.  Now we 
have 200,000 troops there.  Now 250,000.  The war is inevitable."  Over and 
over and over and over and over and over again.

This does not create anything like a "free informed choice" situation.  It is 
pretty much like being held hostage in a closet for five months.  It distorts 
your mental processes.  People have been repeatedly told that there IS no 
choice about the war.  To paraphrase some new age crap, "We can't control 
whether there is a war or not.  We can only control our feelings about it."  
Well, if we say that we support the war, then we live in a democracy, the 
troops are risking their lives for a purpose, Bush isn't like Hitler, we don't 
have to feel like guilty Germans, we can be happy and live our lives.  But if 
we say that we oppose the war, then we are in a horrible situation, we are 
being made accomplices to mass murder and there's apparently nothing we can do 
about it.  Saying "I support the war" in these circumstances is not a 
statement of opinion.  It's a coping mechanism.

lp
> 
> From: Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol at jhu.edu>
> 
> That does not surprise me at all.  In my old country, the ruling elite
> always enjoyed over 95% support whatever they did.  As they used to say
> in my old country, paper is very patient, it accepts everything.
> CB: How's it going. Wojtek ?  I'll buy that analysis. I'd add that there can 
> be a lot of negative reinforcment for opposing the President or the war, like 
> losing your job, being spied on by the U.S. secret police, being chastised by 
> peers.