14-06-2013, 12:14 PM
Albert Rossi Wrote:Tracy Riddle Wrote:Going through public school and college in the 70s and 80s, all I ever learned about JFK was that he was a Cold War hawk who stood up to the Russians during the Missile Crisis, plus the Berlin speech, the Bay of Pigs, and the moon race. That was it. Oh, and LBJ was just following Kennedy's Vietnam policy.
Tracy, I can concur with all that you say. What saddens me most about this is that academic intellectuals on the left, not just the right, have put their rubber stamp on this view.
Quote: Only through my own research did I learn how distorted and inaccurate that picture was. In fact, I'd say Americans don't learn any real history about any of their Presidents. They learn a lot of myths, legends and stereotypes. And many are totally happy listening to the Right-wing myth machine (our Founding Fathers wanted this to be a Christian nation, etc).
I think these myths are so ingrained -- from school, the media, family, and in many cases religious organizations -- that it is almost impossible to shake them. I also wonder why most Americans are so passive, even when they (we) learn something about the power structure that should outrage them (us). It has been my own experience -- and this is more an impression than anything else -- that Europeans will take to the streets for much less than what we swallow here daily.
Relevant here is Prof. Antony Sutton's book "America's Secret Establishment" and particularly the chapter entitled "How the Order Controls Education".
The process of active thoughtlessness begins in schools and is reinforced thereafter by the media.
Al, I agree that some Europeans take to the streets. The French are particularly to be admired in this regard (but the State's CRS is also particularly formidable too, because of the regularly revolting masses).
The Greeks and Turks are currently at the barricades too.
But I ashamed to say that we Brits - with a few exceptions - are as passive as can be.
Ps, the link I placed above is to a free pdf of Tony's book.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Carl Jung - Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14