Divide & Conquer

Here's the theme song for this entry:

There's been so much talk recently about birth control and Rush Limbaugh's remarks and so forth.  There are also a whole new slate of state laws aimed at persecuting women, such as in Texas where they're requiring women to get a vaginal ultrasound before you can get an abortion.  Another proposed law in Georgia would require a woman to carry a baby to full term even if that baby is already stillborn, ie dead.  The doofus proposing the law's rationale is that's what we do with cows and pigs, so it's good enough for humans.  Which makes me think women in that guy's district should be really upset that he thinks they're equal to livestock.

If you'll excuse an "I told you so" from this liberal, this is what happens when you let the inmates run the asylum.  I mean this is the same party that started a needless war with its fear-mongering and won a presidential election the next year with more fear-mongering.  It's also the same party where it's perfectly acceptable to challenge the citizenship of the president and even if proof comes forward to continue saying he's not American and a "secret Muslim."  It's the same people who screamed about "death panels".  So really people, what the hell did you expect?

And now that they're mostly done with persecuting illegal aliens and gays, they need to find a new issue to use as an excuse to take away more of people's freedom.  Sorry ladies, but it's your turn now.  Which makes me glad I'm a white male.  And nearly a middle-aged white male.  If I had an IQ of less than 100 I'd be right in their target demographic!

Anyway, the point here is that they've always got to find some way to keep people divided.  They need something to whip people up about.  Especially someone like Santorum since Romney is the economy candidate and it lets him show that he's the more conservative (ie crazy) candidate.

If all this weren't real life, it'd be kind of funny how the Catholics start complaining about this birth control thing and then Santorum and Rush and Rick Perry and all the sleazy GOP group have to jump on board and see who can prove he hates women the most.  "I'll take away their birth control!"  "Yeah well I'll call them sluts and prostitutes!"  "Oh yeah, I'll make them have to get a probe shoved up their vag if they want an abortion!" "I got you all beat, I'll make them carry dead babies to term!"  It's really been a game of hate-mongering oneupsmanship.

And in large part I think a lot of it is because there's not enough out there to excite the Evangelical types and the other wackos making up the GOP "base."  I mean other than there's a black guy in the White House who isn't serving drinks or opening doors for people.  Really this field of candidates is pretty pitiful.  Do you want the guy who hasn't been a governor in six years?  The guy who hasn't been a senator for six years?  Or the guy who hasn't been in Congress in thirteen years?  And they have the charisma and charm to go with those resumes.  So really, how else can you get people excited?  Find a scapegoat!  Then the birth control thing just happened to fall in their laps and it was on.

But it's really not surprising because politics is always a game of divide and conquer, especially these days.  We have to attach labels to everything:  liberal or conservative, right or left, black or white, and so forth.  We have to exploit people's natural prejudices about race, gender, sexual orientation, and religion.  This was described brilliantly in the classic Twilight Zone episode "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" where aliens mess with the power grid to turn a neighborhood's people against each other.  At the end one alien marvels at how easily it is to get the whole neighborhood into a riot.  All you have to do is turn a few lights on and off, make a few cars turn on at the right time, and people fill in the rest with their prejudices.

Maybe it's not an alien conspiracy but politicians, religions, and even advertisers have done a great job of keeping us from achieving any real cohesion.  When I mention advertisers, I mean how they make us think in terms of "cool" and "uncool" and so forth.  It's just another way to help us discriminate against each other.

I would really like people to stand up and tell their leaders that we don't want to go back to the Dark Ages.  Because we're never going to move forward by moving backwards.  Stripping one group after another of basic freedoms is only going to keep us from accomplishing anything.  Ignoring our prejudices and working together we can achieve much more; we could make this a real paradise for everyone, not just old white guys with money.

BTW, if you want to read a great rant about the women's issue and why many "liberals" aren't standing up for women, check this out.