An Assault On Reason

The Rule of Reason: From Jefferson To Gore

"Shake off all the fears and servile prejudices under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear."Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, 1787. ME 6:258 Papers 12:15

The above words spoken by the greatest American statesman, Thomas Jefferson, are very important words regarding American Democracy today. And as Mr. Gore so aptly and eloquently illustrated in his speeches in January 2006 and October 2005, they are words that have slowly been eroded in the ever present atmosphere of government/corporate ownership and manipulation of our airwaves, our newspapers, and our thoughts.

This proliferation of corporate ownership (used to send out propaganda messages to the public ever so subtly while freezing out free thought and important information essential to sustaining true free and balanced Democratic thought not only in the marketplace but in our communities,) has also spawned a society more concerned with distractions for entertainment rather than the preservation of our Democracy. Even today we see that a vast number of Americans have been brainwashed by subliminal suggestion to think that anything they see on TV has to be true. They think the government would never do anything to hurt or lie to them and that no matter how many elections are stolen that the process is still fair and sound. And as a result of this blind trust and in many cases fear brought on by this propaganda they do not then take it upon themselves to research, to read, to analyze, and to then think with their own reason to form their own opinions.

These are the exact types of people George W. Bush and his Neocons look to target, and unfortunately to the detriment of this Democratic Republic they have to date been successful. And to be honest this has been going on for decades.There have also been many scientific studies done over the years on the affects of television viewing amongst the masses. Those who are involved in the political end of it know about these studies as well and that television is a medium that can be manipulated to give the desired effect regarding propaganda. They then use it well, and their mantra is if you control the media you control the masses. And to a great extent it is true.

However, this is not being governed by the Rule of Reason, this is being governed by people the likes of characters in a George Orwell novel. And it has not only eroded colorful and passionate political discourse in this country as well as truth, it has eroded the very Democratic Republic Jefferson and the Founding Fathers so passionately envisioned all those years ago.

The Rule of Reason was also the guidepost used by our Founding Fathers as they searched for the freedom they did not know under King George III. They had then come from an aristocracy, a government ruled not by reason but by divine right. And it was this rule by divine right, the presupposition that wealth and absolute power trumped reasonable free thinking men (and most certainly women) that prompted these seekers of truth and freedom to birth the United States of America.

And now in this age of technology those who hold absolute power have so many more mediums with which to exert that control besides the written word. In one of his speeches regarding media, Al Gore spoke of "digital brown shirts." This phrase seems to have ruffled the feathers of some at the time, but I believe it is accurate. For there is no better example in my opinion of a modern digital brown shirt than Clear Channel Communications which has been in the pocket of the Bush administration as it slowly gains more and more control over the airwaves.

more at the link "Shake off all the fears and servile prejudices under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and... more

JanforGore

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