It pains me a little bit to write this as I used to be a "useful idiot."
Sarah Palin recently tweeted this article and the Huffington Post and many other Liberal outlets are going crazy about it. Here's an excerpt:
"When Adolf Hitler was building up the Nazi movement in the 1920s, leading up to his taking power in the 1930s, he deliberately sought to activate people who did not normally pay much attention to politics. Such people were a valuable addition to his political base, since they were particularly susceptible to Hitler's rhetoric and had far less basis for questioning his assumptions or his conclusions.
"Useful idiots" was the term supposedly coined by V.I. Lenin to describe similarly unthinking supporters of his dictatorship in the Soviet Union. "
Read the full column here:
http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2010/06/22/degeneration_of_democracy?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter/page/2
Never mind the compelling parallels that Mr. Sowell brings up. Never mind that the thesis of this column is really about "useful idiots" He mentioned Hitler and Obama in the same column so everything else MUST be irrelevant. If we are honest about it, there are way too many on the right and left of the political spectrum in our country that are indeed "useful idiots."
It's time for us to wake up. Don't be distracted as news outlets mine for sound bytes to make the other side look bad. I believe that most of us believe in the concept of this great land. Most of us believe in, and agree with the Constitution. We must once again hold all of our elected officials accountable for what they do. I have often said to people, "don't vote Democrat simply because you are black or poor and don't vote Republican simply because you are a Christian." These are labels that I fear we hide behind too often. This gives us an excuse to not become enlightened and engaged in the political process.
Politicians of our day have used soaring rhetoric and hot-button issues to keep everyone distracted from the "little" things they are doing under the surface. Once again, this is on BOTH sides of the isle. Some are satisfied as long as a politician says they are pro-life, or advocates for the traditional definition of marriage. Others are immediately satisfied when a politician promises to be an advocate for "Main Street" and the "little guy."
These are VERY important but I challenge all Americans to take the time look very deeply into what is happening in our country. Then look very deeply into yourself and develop an educated defense for where you stand politically. Please don't be ANYONE'S "useful idiot."
BRAVO, MR. BECK!!! Although we disagree on many things (and I love you for that because you keep me on my toes), we agree with the fact that we cannot listen to Glenn, Keith, Rachel and Chris and assume that they are speaking truth. They are speaking OPINION and they will find ways to destroy anyone that disagrees with their sense of reality. I ... See Morealways urge people that are die hard watchers of these shows to research what the commentators are saying before you take it as gospel truth. Both sides are known to exaggerate and use people's emotions to put harmful things in play. I am really disturbed by what has happened to the news media and the political process. It seems the politicians think we are all idiots (maybe we are). We've got to stop being lazy and listen with intelligent ears to what is being said on both sides before we vote.
ReplyDelete@ Angela,
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading! I will say this however, with virtually the whole media world spinning to the left, even stuff that is actually in the center begins to look like right wing propaganda.
You're really smart and I'm kinda smart. I'll bet if we sat down for a couple hours over some kool-aid, fried chicken and watermelon, you and I could come to consensus on some of this stuff!
The whole media is spinning to the left? Last I checked the media is sounding more like Glenn Beck than Keith Olbermann, but I turned it off because I got tired of going to bed angry at commentators
ReplyDeleteHollywood, all of the network news and most major cable and print news outlets consistently lean to the left.
ReplyDeleteNBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, The New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post and almost every other major municipality's newspaper...
Essence, Ebony, Jet, Newsweek, Rolling Stone Law and Order, The Huffington Post, Media Matters, The View, The Tom Joyner Morning Show, Michael Baisden, Doug and Dee Dee, I could go on and on.
You can count the conservative leaning voices on one or two hands. We are surrounded and bombarded by liberal progressive thought. YET conservative news outlets and authors consistently outperform the liberal full court press in the ratings and the best seller lists. How and why does this happen?