Paint Me a Country
Let me paint a picture of a country for you; a country with a fervor to show patriotic nationalism which includes the prominent display of flags from homes, poles and even as pins on lapels. The fervor to show patriotic nationalism is obvious in both the government and the citizenry. Patriotism is shown through catchy slogans, a pride in the military and a cry for unity while harboring a suspicion of things foreign; illegal immigrants and anyone not sharing the approved religion or language, perhaps.
This country also has a government which views human rights as a barrier to an end and treats these rights with distain and through the clever use of propaganda, the population is swayed to accept the abuses of their human rights, believing they are making a fair trade for freedom and safety. The government of this country has found targets by marginalizing and demonizing another culture but when they, the government, have been too overt in their horrible treatment of the target culture the government used secrecy, denial and disinformation to keep the people from protesting too loudly about the loss of their rights.
The government of this county uses 'the common enemy' ploy to unite its citizens against a relatively invisible, but false, target and neatly deflects the peoples attention from what they, the government, are doing. These scapegoats divert attention, shift blame for failures, channel frustration in controlled directions and is the red flag waved in the face of the people when emotions calm and the 'enemy' takes a back burner in their every day lives. The tactics used are usually relentless propaganda (we will stay on target against the evil enemy) and disinformation. Other 'hot' issues are often pulled up and waved as well such as communists, socialists, liberals, secularists, homosexuals, and terrorists. The hue and cry goes out that if anyone stands up for any of these groups then they, too, must be one of them and therefore an enemy and subject to being treated as such.
This country has a disproportionate share of national resources devoted to the military, even though the domestic need for resources is acute. The ruling elite of this country is identified closely with the military and industrial infrastructure, and the military is seen as an expression of nationalism and is used whenever possible to assert national goals, intimidate other nations, and increase the power and prestige of the government and their partners.
This country I am painting for you is a culture that is male-dominated and views women as second-class citizens; they are adamantly anti-abortion and homophobic and these attitudes are supported strongly by the orthodox religion which results in the religion covering for the governments abuses.
This country's government also controls the media. The mass media is under direct control and can be relied upon to never stray from the party line; to never report what its not been told is acceptable to report. The media is not difficult to control through the control of licensing, access to resources, economic pressure, appeals to patriotism and implied threats. The leaders of the mass media are politically compatible with the government and the result is the success of keeping the general public unaware of the governments excesses and abuses.
This country is also obsessed with national security; and the security of the country is under direct control of the government. Security in this country is an instrument of oppression, operating in secret and beyond any constraints and its actions are justified under the category of protecting 'national security' and questioning its activities is deemed unpatriotic and treasonous. No one is to question the acts of the homeland's security department or personnel.
My painted country here has religion and government blending, with the government attaching themselves to the predominant religion and portraying themselves as militant defenders of that religion. That the behavior of the government is opposite of that being held by the religion isn't talked about or shown and is in fact, swept under the rug. The governments propaganda machine keeps alive the illusion that the government is the defender of the faith and opposes the 'godless' ... to question or attack the government is tantamount to questioning and attacking the religion, and its god.
This country I'm painting protects its corporations and gives them uncompromised freedoms that are not allotted to the citizens; their personal lives are under strict control. Corporations in this country are structured in a way that ensures military production but also in a way that allows additional means of social control. Corporate powers are protected by the government in order to keep corporations and their money between the two, and actively at work in repressing the "have-not" citizens.
And in this lovely country, organized labor is seen as the one power center that could challenge the politicos' predominant influence over the citizenry and is crushed, or made powerless. This forces the poor in this country into the position of underclass and then viewed with suspicion and outright contempt; they, too, become targets for why the country is in the state it is in .. another deflection away from the true cause, which is the government and their unchecked greed for power and money.
Sadly, in the country I'm painting for you, intellectuals are posted up as part of the evil causing the citizens to suffer. Even the arts are attacked and any idea that doesn't line up with what has been deemed acceptable, usually with very religious overtones, is held with distain and suppressed; if anyone holds beliefs or ideas that haven't been given the governments stamp of approval are strongly attacked, silenced or crushed. Anything that conflicts with the status quo, such as science often is with religion, is viewed as working against the people and actively attacked and subverted with misinformation.
This country is obsessed with crime and punishment and it's harsh criminal justice system is replete with a huge prison population. The police are often glorified and function with their power virtually unchecked which leads to systemic abuse. Small crimes have become huge crimes (suddenly one can go to jail for not wearing a seatbelt) and if no crime at all can be found, one is often made up in order for it to be used against political opponents of the government. Fear and hatred of these criminals, often elevated to the level of traitor, is promoted among the people as an excuse to hire more police and extend their power.
Additionally, in the country of which I paint, we see government appointing its corporate cronies to power positions which ultimately garners more money for the already rich government and in turn, the government bestows corporations with gifts of money, property and government favoritism. The wealth these two partners obtain comes from the people and other national resources. With the national security apparatus under control and the media muzzled, the corruption is largely unconstrained and not well understood by the general population.
Finally, in this land of 'freedom', there are fraudulent elections. So deeply entrenched are these false elections that going out to vote is just going through the motions, the winner is selected long before the election. The government uses its powers to control the election machinery, intimidate and disenfranchise opposition voters, destroy or disallow legal votes, and, as a last resort, turning to a judiciary beholding to the government.
Now, you've not read this much and not have formed an idea of what country my fictional painting portrays and if you thought, the U.S., you'd be wrong. These actions and behaviors are taken from Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Franco’s Spain, Salazar’s Portugal, Papadopoulos’s Greece, Pinochet’s Chile, and Suharto’s Indonesia. To be sure, they constitute a mixed bag of national identities, cultures, developmental levels, and history. But they all followed the fascist or protofascist model in obtaining, expanding, and maintaining power. Further, all these regimes have been overthrown.
But it should alarm you if you did think I was talking about the U.S. After all, this is America, officially a democracy with the rule of law, a constitution, a free press, honest elections, and a well-informed public constantly being put on guard against evils. Historical comparisons like these are just exercises in verbal gymnastics. Maybe, but maybe not.
And all this I got from a site at: http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=britt_23_2 which I mixed up with my own style of writing and thinking but the article at this site is well worth reading.