Spare us the balloon slogans about freedom, identity, democracy and security…
Posted by admin978 on December 30, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Excellent 2006 article by Frank Kimbal Johnson reposted recently on the Guarding the Old Flag blog.
BLOGOSPHERE, 28 Dec 2009: There are ‘mostly other directed’ and ‘mostly inner directed’ people, and any amount of research has shown that the latter are quite a small minority of the population at any given time. There is a kind of social magnetism which draws people into ‘going with the flow’, as in crowd behaviour at outdoor and indoor events. On such occasions personal perceptions and judgement are usually submerged in the collective response. Hence the old Spanish saying that shepherds may change, but sheep remain sheep. But however rugged one’s individuality, the fact is we are all social animals and therefore obliged to take some interest in the way our society is governed. Neglect of this responsibility leaves the field open to career politicians with the ingrained conceit that they know best what everybody else should be doing and what matters most in the world. They like to call this megalomania ‘leadership’, when all it usually amounts to is self-serving bossiness and exploitation of the gullible via largely complicit mass media.
So when you hear someone disclaiming any interest in politics, you are probably in the company of sheep. Such complacency is of course fostered by bland assurances that British democracy is designed to protect the public good and ensure our most cherished traditions and aspirations inform government policy. Added to which we have the opportunity to choose between main contenders for political office at approximately five-year intervals, thus giving us the kind of government most people want.
So much for the theory. What really happens is that, over the years, certain factions contrive to subordinate the public to an ‘Establishment’ deeply entrenched behind complex legalistic barricades, and with its own self-serving agenda and priorities.
