The Audacity of Hoping Hopeless Hope
Monday, 1. August 2011
…And when you associate one thing with another over time, just the mention of the one brings the association of the other. What this will sometimes mean is that even when something is later exposed as a lie, if it was accepted as a truth for a long time, the exposure of it as a lie is not believed. It’s in one ear and out the other. – 1999 Testimony of Mr. William Shaap
There are certain people; more than a few. In fact, based on certain measurement criteria they may even be considered the majority. Well, at least they were in 2008, or they were mixed and included in a certain majority back then. Not all, but certain definitions of ‘blind faith’ apply to these people; to list a few: ease of belief, rash conviction, uncriticalness, unquestioning belief, wishful belief. To a certain extent the adjective ‘fanatic’ applies to these people- fanatic as in excessive enthusiasm for and intense devotion to a person, cause or an idea. In some ways these people can be described as biased and ignorant. Unquestionably and most definitely all of these certain people have been very audacious. They have been audacious in maintaining their ignorant, fanatic and blind faith placed not in a particular religion, cult or a cause, but in a conning man. And they’ve been ignorant and blinded enough to maintain this fanatical and blind faith despite all revelatory signs and facts marching before them day in and day out; for over three years.
When these certain people are presented with the truth, that is the real truth about the man they have been conned into blindly believing in, they automatically go into this deaf mode, a trance-like state, and cease to hear or see anything before them-around them; everywhere. In this frequently occurring state these certain people closely resemble the Whirling Dervishes; who engage in long and continuous ecstatic dancing and whirling trance-like rituals. Like these Whirling Dervishes, these certain blinded and deafened fanatics go into a self-induced trance of ignorance, and they remain there.
I am sure you know many of these certain people. At least you come into contact with them frequently. Let me give you a few hints and you’ll recognize them immediately:
Before the 2008 elections, when they were told about Obama’s track record as a Senator. prior to his presidential candidacy, such as how he played a key role in passing the outrageous wiretapping bill to grant lawsuit immunity to telecommunication companies involved in illegal domestic wiretapping, these certain people:
Shrugged it off. Completely disregarded it. They were in the middle of heated ecstasy and could not be bothered with nuances like that. They were high on hallucinogens marketed and administered to them under a recently popularized brand- Audacity of Hope.
During the early stages of his campaign, Obama promised that he would only take public funds to finance his election campaign. When he very quickly changed, opted out and abandoned public financing, this is how these certain people reacted:
They shrugged it off. They ignored it. A few of them actually defended it; in a fanatical way. Those few claimed, in a blinded way, ‘He has to do what he has to do to get into the position to implement his change, promises. So what? A man must do whatever a man must do! Good for him!’
As a presidential candidate, when Obama started receiving his top donations from those same financial institutions that brought down our country’s economy; from Goldman Sachs to JP Morgan, City Group, Morgan Stanley and beyond, these certain people:
They waved it off. They looked the other way. Some started spinning like whirling dervishes and went into self-induced trances to block the nasty smell and feeling. Others actually cheered and supported it, and said: ‘This is the reality on the ground. The ultimate goal is winning and getting the position to bring about needed audacious changes! Once Obama gets into the White house he will say to all those donors ‘screw you all’…I have that much faith in him!’
When, after securing his presidency, Obama immediately went about securing the nomination of top Wall Street culprits, those who have sided with banks against the public interest -we are talking about people such as Larry Summers, Mary Schapiro, Gary Gensler Timothy Geithner, Ben Bernanke, Rahm Emanuel and others, these certain people…
Some of them began to engage in more whirling and spent more time in their trances. Others defended their cult-man as a president new to the job and in the process of finding his way…that is, a way to bring about audacious changes.
Then, Obama elated Neoconservatives with his other top-tier appointees; from Dennis Ross to Robert Gates, Susan Rice, Tony Lake, Richard Holbrooke, General James Jones … and the list goes on and on. And, these certain people…
More of them engaged in frequent whirling and spending significant amounts of time in a blissful trance. Still, others were furiously defending their man although a bit more desperately. They even tried desperate and ignorant lines such as ‘What do you expect?! He has to first clean up the mess left to him by his predecessor, and it takes a few ally Neocons to know and deal with old Neocons…’
Then, Obama began expanding and more than doubled the Bush Administration’s wars under false pretenses based on false premises- from continuing the overt war in Afghanistan and starting an illegal war in Libya, to covert wars in Yemen and Somalia, and undefined drone offenses in Pakistan. Our certain people…
Even more of them got into the trance-inducing whirling, and boy they kept whirling. Others spent some of their time on whirling and in a trance, and at other times in a semi-lucid state irrationally yet fanatically qualifying Obama’s illegal acts of wars and violence as ‘so very different than Bush.’ They qualified some of his wars as ‘not wars but interventions,’ and others as ‘necessary and temporary, inherited from his predecessor, which must be dealt with…’
When Obama institutionalized and further expanded the Bush Administration’s illegal domestic wiretapping practices, taking them even further, by astoundingly granting the Executive Branch unlimited immunity for any kind of ‘illegal’ government surveillance, …
When Obama invoked baseless and unconstitutional executive secrecy to quash legal inquiries into secret illegalities more often than any predecessor,…
When Obama amassed the worst record in US history for persecuting, prosecuting and jailing government whistleblowers and truth-tellers, and set a chilling example for potential whistleblowers through the abuse and torture of Bradley Manning,
When Obama started initiating secret assassination programs and publicly announced that he has given himself the power to include Americans on the list of people to be assassinated, and actually attempted to assassinate at least one…
At this point almost all these certain people are spending almost all their time whirling, spinning. They have gotten themselves willfully blinded and in a trance state, and are still holding on to their blind fanatical faith.
There are a few of us who were not blinded to the history and track record of the man who sold our nation a bunch of audacious lies and conning promises. There are some of us who quickly woke up and registered the fact that we were indeed conned royally. There are others among us who took a bit longer to get persuaded and accept reality. However, there are certain people who insist on remaining in a trance, who are still blinded by their faith, and who fanatically refuse to see the real truth. They are still engaged in the audacity of hoping hopeless hope. Let us audaciously hope that they are not the majority when the time comes again in 2012.
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Jon Gold Says:
Something I wrote that is similar in Aug. ’10… the only thing that changed was Obama was shamed into supporting the James Zadroga 9/11 Health & Compensation Act… although they chose to fund it by taxing India instead of closing a tax loophole for the rich, are screening 9/11 First Responders for terrorism, and are now saying cancer isn’t covered by it, etc… and so on.
http://peaceoftheaction.net/2010/08/10/george-obama/
edit_mommies Says:
For some reason powerful people represent unresolved competition. Illusions suffer the people. Statistics are comforting. Quantitative measures absolutely separate us. Our inability to perform saves us from Dervishers.
Dennis Says:
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. The bamboozle has captured us. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
— Carl Sagan
Sibel, while everything you said is true, I think it unfortunate that you chose the Whirling Dervishes as an example of this trance-like state of the “bamboozle” that Carl Sagan described as well. The Sufi’s and Dervishes were about becoming more enlightened and aware – not blocking the truth. But you certainly captured the nature of those caught up in this denial. Thanks!
Dennis
Zica Says:
We can be vigilant about standing up and saying something when we hear the phrase “…can’t win” about the actual decent candidates out there.
That’s a big part of the audacious illusion. The real majority has been tricked into telling themselves (and each other) that they are the minority and, in effect, doing much of the leg-work of the establishment by parroting that phrase in a pavlovian manner.
I liked the Sagan quote too.
lightviperr Says:
The continuing wars, the “patriot act” extension and the whistle blower prosecutions display how superficial President Obama’s “hope and change” has turned out to be. He would make a great used car salesman.
Ry Says:
Obama is NOT anti-war written 2007 http://www.rys2sense.com/anti-neocons/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=5027
Barack Obama vs Brand Obama A list of O-Bombs “accomplishments http://www.rys2sense.com/anti-neocons/viewtopic.php?f=95&t=19764
If the majority of the nation is antiwar, (and it is). Then why for 8 years straight have the presidential picks been 4 prowar candidates? I know there were idiots who didn’t realize that Kerry and Obama were both prowar, but there is no excuse for that other than willful ignorance. It warrants a look at the political tribalism on both sides.
It truly baffles me. We’ve got all these people out now protesting Obama, (something I agree with) a chunk of them organized by the right wing who did not protest Bush even though Bush was doing the same things that they are mad about.
So why are all these people who didn’t care when Bush was doing it, so mad at Obama?
A better question I have is, WHY are all these people, who hated Bush and who protested Bush, not protesting Obama? It goes both ways. If you hated Bush then you should hate Obama, and if you liked Bush then you should love Obama. Obama followers are cult like. They excuse his every action with more rationalizations than a religious fanatic. They want to blame the past 8 years of Bush for everything. The fact remains Obama spent more money in 8 months then Bush did in 8 years. And the wars are now larger and the costs even higher. Obama hasn’t even tried to prevent any of it.
Sibel Edmonds Says:
@Ry: I read both your writings/posts. You are absolutely right: no excuse whatsoever. By the way: the media did its huge part in burying those facts/records; and that applies to both sides, the so-called Right Media & Left Media…as we all know, there’s no such a thing as Right or Left MSM: NWO Corporate-Government MSM is more like it.
Sibel Edmonds Says:
@Dennis: Excellent quote. I see your point re: whirling Dervishes. Originated in Konya-Turkey. In 1998 a group of them came to DC and had a show at my university (George Washington)…amazing!
@Zica: Exactly; well-made points.
@ lightviperr: Right; that, and snake-oil salesman, con artist, charlatan, hmmmmm, a good candidate to work for the CIA since you need to have all those qualifications (Pathological liers, crooks, charlatans …).
Necronomiconomics Says:
Sibel is absolutely right about Barack.
But I’m not holding my breath for her to take off the same blinders about snake-oil salesman Ron Paul.
@Sibel: “…hmmmmm, a good candidate to work for the CIA since you need to have all those qualifications” CIA … but there are two CIAs, right? Why so much beating around the Bush?
Why not get more direct and write about the Ford Foundation & Peter Geithner? And the oil industry-Suharto liason that Stanley Ann married?
0ivae Says:
@Necronomiconimus, whether or not you agree with his economic theories, I think you’ll be hard pressed to find a case where Ron Paul doesn’t walk the walk he talks or talks the walk he walks. He’s really the only authentic congressman left, who is as consistent as is humanly possible. Even Kucinich caved on the health care bill, which lost him much credibility.
And though not perhaps the foundations you specifically mention, Sibel has dealt with the issue of foundations as fronts in some recent articles.
But I see what you’re getting at -what Wayne Madsen has uncovered about the Obama mama posing as an anthropologist, but basically performing reconnaissance for CIA-backed “commie” hunters in Indonesia, with Timmy Geithner’s daddy as her boss…
Re: two CIA’s? How to distangle it all? I’ve made some attempts in supplementing Madsen’s (and Corsi’s) investigations. See:
The Clandestine Nativity of Barack H. Obama Jr.
Compromised By Birth
Compromised By Birth II
@Sibel: Yes, some of my best friends are Obama-Zombie dervishes. It’s very frustrating, and does at times put a strain on things. I suppose I was in the category of holding out a benefit of the doubt for a bit, hoping that he was “playing the insider” only to deliver in the end, such as re-instating Glass-Steagal. But it turns out that he has been the biggest obstacle to the latter.
In any case, I saw the signs early on that raised my suspicions – the fawning media at his 2004 DNC commencement address, and especially his vote on the FISA bill. So he didn’t earn my vote.