--- Dennis Claxton <ddclaxton at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Governator turned the tide. Schwarzenegger created
> fear where there
> was none a few days before. The measure was
> supported by the coastal
> areas, where the supposedly crime-ridden cities are,
> and defeated by
> small town inlanders. This fear-mongering has been
> standard
> operating procedure for decades now and it's changed
> the face of the
> country. You're saying we should concede to it.
[WS:] That does not surprise me at all. Small towners are more likely to succumb to fear for a large part because of the images of big cities as crime ridden hellholes being beamed to their living rooms by Tee-Vee (there have been published studies showing that, which I can dig out if needed.) Big towners have more direct experience and tend to know better than that.
I did not say "we" should succumb to fearmongering, but that counteracting it is very diffcult (going against the Sun with a hoe, as they say it in the old country). Quite frankly, I honestly do not know what to suggest in this situation. I see the counter-productivity of the current prison-centered policies, but I also see the futility of any effort to countercat fearmongering, of which that policy is a product. I am pretty sure, howver, that the left is the least equipped to make any impact inthis area, due to its own lack of legitimacy in this society.
Wojtek
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