> WS: It is scary to agree with George F. Will but he might be up to
> something. Populism is the fundamental article of faith of the post New
> Deal left - but that article of faith is contradicted by empirical
> evidence. "The masses" tend to be reactionary, not progressive or even
> liberal - and the leftist are at loss trying to explain that
> inconsistency with the dogma. Variants of bourgeois conspiracy theory
> is the best they can do.
W, you are talking old school leftist dogma. The "masses" of Americans are not reactionary. Many of them hold liberal and progressive ideas. One of the important things that Chomsky has pointed out is that most Americans DO hold pretty progressive views. I've found that even Dittohead Republicans hold some very progressive views on social issues when you talk to them the right way (instead of yelling at them). The American Left doesn't reach these people, because we are either afraid to talk to them, or we stick with stupid assumptions like the ones you are promoting. You can hear this arrogant elitist rhetoric if you listen to liberals like Janeane Garafolo on Air America Radio. Unlike the other liberals, she isn't very good at sugarcoating her hostility towards working class Americans, who she assumes are stupid and reactionary. This comes out in her fervent beliefs that liberals are good because they are smart. This fallacious liberal reasoning was on reason why I became an anarchist 20 years ago. I just couldn't buy into the smart liberal kid arrogance that reduced people's beliefs into such a black and white world.
> Yet that explanation does not seem plausible because there is plenty of
> cross-national evidence that brainwashing and propaganda alone cannot
> sway the masses. The necessary ingredient of propaganda to work is a
> synergy between popular beliefs and sentiments, no matter how silly, and
> the ideological content of propaganda. In other words, propaganda can
> still the pre-existing sentiments into a desirable direction, but cannot
> create them ex nihilo. The Bolsheviks did that in Russia, Hitler did in
> Germany, Reagan did it in the US - but the US left is unlikely to do it.
> Why? Because of its naive touchy-feely populist faith.
The power of propaganda is way overrated in the American context. Neither of the parties can sway or control the "Americna masses" because the media has become so fragmented. This is reflected in the polls which show lots of people don't care about politics. Back in 1960 the parties could reach millions via the three TV networks. These days you can only reach 10-20 million people via a show like 60 minutes. If your media diet is non-political cable TV shows, the best propaganda in the world will never reach you. The exception, of course, is a national spectacle like 9-11.
> Most people are by nature stupid, selfish, vain, and lazy - they demand
> rights for themselves and want them handed on a silver platter with no
> effort on their part, but are unwilling to extend those rights to
> others, especially those seen as their "inferior."
That's an attitude that will ensure your political ideas never reach these "stupid" people. But hey, you can have the luxury of sitting around the house in your underwear knowing that you "get it" while the ignorant masses do not.
They will even
> resist any effort to extend the rights they have to other because they
> see it as undermining their own status and prestige, and their vanity
> will not let that happen.
Do you get out often? Perhaps you missed the news that hundreds of communities have passed resolutions against the Patriot Act?
They are too stupid and lazy to take on a
> long term struggle to improve their own lot, but they will undertake
> heroic efforts to thwart improving the lot of others. That is why the
> Ku Klux Klan thrived in this country and still is alive and kicking,
> while virtually all leftists parties were either still born or died
> shortly after their birth.
The KKK? Where? Not out here in Kansas.
> Conservatives understand that fundamental principle of human nature and
> exploit it to their full advantage. Leftists are ideologically blind to
> it and cannot understand why their calls for "justice and prosperity for
> all" fall on deaf ears. Touchy-feely populism is the death trap of the
> left. If the left wants to come close to the halls of power it must
> abandon it for influence with strategically positioned elites.
Last time the Left tired this strategy and was successful we ended up with Stalin and Chairman Mao.
Thank god some of us have a more sophistcated understanding of populism.
Chuck0