an acquaintance just moved back to town--uh oh

We made an appointment to go out antiquing and to have lunch.
Of course the conversation turned to politics . When she left this woman was at least half way reasonable , but when the conversation turned to President Obama she said"I believe he is a Muslim" to which I answered with a speech about his relationship with Rev Wright for twenty years and asked her how it could be so?

her answer?

"I don't know but I just feel like he is"


People! This is what we are up against!

That came from a retired US army officer with a 20yr+ military career

what I was talking about.

will use that one if the occasion ever arises.

Your friend is a dimwit. I don't know but I just feel like she is.

and if the earth is round why don't we fall off?:hide:

She was not like this before . It is like aliens have eaten her brain

Just a brilliant woman. She brought up Sarah Palin and I said I thought she was as dumb as a rock. My friend replied "Well Obama is dumber".

whch stands for PHucking Dumb

But I can understand why you would think so.

she proved is is not a brilliant woman. In fact she may be mentally handicapped.

into real fear.

My friend is a critical care nurse in a major cardiac unit. Her husband is one of the best cardiac/thoracic surgeons in the area. These are two seriously intelligent people... who think Sarah Palin is terrific. My blood ran cold at that moment. When I asked them why they felt that way, their response was "she's warm, funny, Christian and politically savvy".

I almost fell off my chair - no mention of issues, her intellect, her objectivity, her foreign affairs "expertise" (cough).

I've never laughed at Sarah Palin again. She appeals to people. She is politically savvy (she hasn't gotten where she is without having the instincts of a snake obviously). She's managed to create a powerful movement in less than 2 years that actually won substantial races with a ton of money.

the so-called main stream media talking about it as if it's credible...and pretty soon it's become entrenched. The repubs are masters at this. They've convinced the American people that social security won't be there for them when they retire - so many people don't care enough to fight for it. They've made people think that Al Gore said he invented the internet...they've made people believe that the "media" is liberal and on and on and on and on.

So many "truths" that exist in our country today were lies shouted long and loud from repubs.

Karl Rove & the Spectre of Freud’s Nephew

by Stephen Bender


"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country… We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized… "

So opens Propaganda (1928), one of several strikingly frank analyses of western social psychology written by Edward Bernays. This nephew of Sigmund Freud founded the public relations industry in the United States.

Mr. Bernays lived a fascinating life. He first got involved in high stakes politics when he "warmed up" the dour Calvin Coolidge by arranging the first presidential celebrity photo op in 1928. For the private sector, Bernays engineered a most notorious publicity stunt for the American Tobacco Company, by single-handedly neutralizing the taboo against women smoking in public. He organized a "Torches of Freedom" march down Broadway by ten smoking debutantes during the 1929 Easter Parade. With the help of feminists – some of whom understood the "right to smoke" as libratory – Bernays expertly publicized this spectacle, thus setting in motion the expected stir on op-ed pages across the land.

For Bernays, truth in public affairs did not exist per se. Rather, truth was the product of the "public relations counsel" forging prevailing "public opinion." It should be said that he readily recognized the ethical implications of his work, as witnessed in his later anti-smoking advocacy, after the dangers of cigarettes became known in the late-1950s. He could also be, in his own curious way, a humanitarian – as reflected in his work promoting the NAACP and anti-syphilis public education.

For Bernays, however, the necessity of controlling the public mind was a crucially important matter confronting the better element, a group in which he clearly included himself. In his first work, the hugely influential Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923), Bernays noted that the establishment of public education and the gradual extension of the right to vote caused consternation among western elites. The use of public relations techniques, then, was a way for the minority to "so mold the mind of the masses that they will throw their newly gained strength in the desired direction."

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/bender2.html

you just scared the sh## out of me:spank:

if you say it loud enough and often enough, it becomes the truth.

I have known this woman for over fifty years and I could not believe what came out of her mouth.

if they just tell you he scares them. I am starting to think thats makes this kind of crap come out of their mouths.

if it is repeated often enough , and they see no reason to explain . Lawrence O'Donnell had some tea partiers on last week and not one of them could tell him what big spending program they would eliminate, but they would eliminate big spending none the less.

Call it what it is. I had a similar encounter with an old friend recently and I told her that there is no rational basis for thinking he's Muslim or that he wasn't born in the U.S. other than bigotry. That started a second discussion about whether or not she was bigoted and I said you are if you're buying into that spew. We then moved onto the Tea Party and I told her in no uncertain terms that while both Dems and Reps need to pay attention to this "movement" funded by Koch, it's her Republicans who are having their party hijacked by this group.

We had this conversation as friends with no acrimony. At the end of it she hadn't been swayed, but she did walk away knowing that one of her oldest friends has a completely different perspective and I'm sure that made her think about it.

because "I don't know but I just feel like you are"

I am not a racist but.... and I know I am going to hear fear based BS

Anymore than someone can be a secret Christian. Both religions require a declaration of faith in front of witnesses.

And if that declaration of faith is fraudulent (for whatever reason), then by definition, you are not a "real" Muslim, or Christian, etc.

That is exactly what I will say to her the next time the opportunity presents itself. The clarity of thought I find in certain DUers is very valuable to me.

I have so few of them... :P

I don't think I could be a Muslim. My faith in the divinity of Christ is too strong. But I really admire many things about Islam. When you tithe, you don't give it to a mosque, or to any other organization; you give directly to the poor and needy. Unlike an interpretation of Christianity which dictates against scientific inquiry and the acquisition of knowledge, the Q'uran specifically deems science, knowledge and logic to be divine pursuits, and gifts that God gave to man.

We really are brothers, Muslims and Christians. We need to start acting like it. Most Muslims already do; they call Jews, Christians and Muslims "People of the Book" - Abrahamic scripture.