When Atheists Attack

Yes sir Lee, you conservatives have done a bang up job running this country over the last eight years. You nearly ran us into the ground. I don't know why you think that having someone as president with the credentials Obama has is a bad thing. If McCain and Palin won the election we'd all be standing in bread lines and the unemployment rate would probably be 30%. McCain would have Sarah doing charity work and working with women's groups because obviously she could not be trusted with vital issues. Obama is actually seeking bipartisan support. Bush sent the Democrats to the corner with a box of crayons. You can talk about elitism all you want my friend but at least democrats aren't going against the constitution or the Geneva convention to have their way. The only really dangerous political group in this country are the elitist conservatives and you can take that to the bank.

The non-partisan PEW poll displays some rather odd results that run against the grain of How Liberal America Views Sarah Palin.

In it it finds that while

44% of Americans are ''strongly'' in disapproval with Palin,

48% of Americans ''strongly'' support her.

The ''why?'' can be observed in a recent New York Times article by Ross Douthat. In it, he explains that the ''anti-Palins'' are members of meritocracy ,complete with Ivy League colleges, affirmative action, and race-gender grievance, coupled with a firm belief akin to a secular Godhead, that they and only they can fix the worlds problems. The ''lesser masses'' are too stupid to figure this out,and must be guided by urbanite brainiacs who Know Better. [ you can view the results of this arrogance in NEWSWEAKS article on the late Robert Strange McNamera elsewhere on these pages].
Not for nothing does GALLUPS brand new poll released yesterday find that more Americans are drifting ''Right''. This is due to the fact that these accurately view ''elites''[ including media] as being condescending snobs ,attitudes vindicated by their twin treatments of Palin,and Obama. Palin,and Biden, who is demonstrably the more ignorant of the two, caught red-handed meddling in Israels affairs regarding Iran to the point that he has now been muzzled by Obama. Into the mix, is the liberals religious belief in global warming [ a far from settled issue as over 700 world scientists recently admitted],healthcare, and economic socialism, all of which appear to the ''unlearned masses'' to be vehicles designed to hinder their own progress. Thus America, as divined by the mere presence of Palin pits Ivy League ''elites'' against the Rest Of Us, who BBQ, own guns, watch NASCAR, perform double-shifts and actually work for a living as opposed to grubbing on a grant or government or Tinseltown dole. The rise of unemployment will only harden these divisions.

OMAAR, who has neatly projected Le Bons crowd theory onto the rest of us, is deserving of this repeat.

The idea of what we see with with Palin is nothing new. It forms itself into that which was recognized with the beginnings of psychoanalysis in the 1890s. Freud would become the solid leader of such theories in the 20th Century, but was not the originator of what the Frenchman Gustav Le Bon called the Herd or ''Crowd Theory''. Here, ''the mentality of men in crowds [ even ideologically] is unlike that which they possess when isolated''. Totemic symbolism as expressed by media and the nation-state which feeds into ''collective thought'' is manifested by the ''generation of illusions which have the force of truth''.[ The Wasilla Library ''book-bannings'', the refusal of these so-called ''rape kits'' to women while a mayor, the ''reduction'' of aid to the mentally challenged, Trigs baby 'as her own'', and the like which permeated the highest levels of what constitutes ''elite''media and commentary]. The prelude to destruction is not merely advanced by the targeted individual or policy. It is fed by an opposition media which uses propaganda and ridicule in a national format.[ranging from ''serious'' [yet truthfully flawed] commentary or even ''hard'' news , to comedic presentation, in order to produce a feared ''other'' the precise totemic origin of Le Bons ''herd/crowd'' theory].
Freud, writing in 1913 and 1921 views the injection of such ''elite''sources as vital to the ''coercive character of group formation''. As opposed to capturing the imagination only of the ''lower classes'', it succeeds in grabbing and holding the attention, while working its ''mystic'' influences, upon the most ''intelligent''among us [or, curmudgeon Sam Harris' ''elites'', which he defends elsewhere here on NEWSWEAK, using these as a stick with which to beat Palin,forgetting that he himself has fallen neatly into Le Bon and Freuds trap].
Such skills are not relegated to the alleged ''progressive'' [ who is just as trapped, as we saw,as the ''lower'' [or less ''intelligent'' class], alone. It was skillfully mastered by the rightist Achesons, Dulles' Nixons and McCarthys during the ''Red Scares'' of the 1950s and used media in order to further fear of ''the other''. The mastery of propaganda, is not writ large upon wartime posters [''Save Your Scrap To Bomb A Jap''] but dwells inside the pages and the newsrooms of the competing ideologies now present in America today.

''The propaganda must be presented in popular form,and it must fix its level so as not to be above the heads of the least intellectual of those to whom it is directed. It awakens imagination by appeal, and the arrest of attention. It must not investigate truth objectively and expresses itself ,as far as possible,in stereotyped formulas''

Saul Alinsky?

Nope.

Adolf Hitler. MEIN KAMPH [My Struggle] 1924.

Geofrey Dunn: Anyone who is in any way surprised by Sarah Palin's announcement today that she will not be seeking re-election, and, even more significantly, is stepping down as Governor of Alaska, has not been paying close attention. The signs have been everywhere.

Palin has absolutely zero interest in running the State of Alaska.

She steadfastly refused to live in Juneau after her first year there, had the gall to charge the state for residing at her home in Wasilla 600 miles away, and she basically mailed in her performance as the state's top administrator during Alaska's most recent legislative session. She has alienated virtually all the key legislators in her own party -- that's right, Republicans -- and had failed to move any key legislation forward since her return to Alaska from the national campaign trail last November.

In fact, her bizarre appointment for Attorney General, Wayne Anthony Ross, was rejected nearly unanimously by the state legislature -- a first in Alaskan history. Even in respect to energy policy, her supposed bailiwick, she has been categorically ineffective.

When I asked those in-the-know what role Palin had played in putting together the recent pipeline deal between TransCanada and Exxon, their response was simple: "None."
That about sums up Palin's accomplishments as Governor of the Last Frontier.

Some pundits have said that Palin's resignation is out of character. Hardly. ...

Don't forget that she [Resigned-Quit] her last statewide office -- that as Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

Sarah Palin is a [Quitter].

She fancies herself something else. But, in the end, she [Quit] her position at AOGCC and she has now [Quit] her Governorship.

That's Two-For-Two at the Statewide Level.

In Wasilla, there was nearly a recall launched against her as Mayor.

Trouble and Turbulence have followed her [EVERYWHERE]

---------------------------

http://readitforyourselves.blogspot.com/

Watch Video Conservative Columnist Liz Trotta as she Rips Sarah Palin a New Hole and she does it @ Fox news On Air [Live] !!


Trotta: "Palin is Inarticulate & Undereducted"

Even Fox News has started to turn on Sarah Palin. In the midst of a segment about the Alaska Governor's battle against "liberal" attacks, Liz Trotta went off-message.

Frankly, "the woman is inarticulate, undereducated," Trotta said, arguing that for once liberal criticism was "well-deserved."

"I think all the liberal stylists ... really have a case. She just begs for adjectives like flaky and wacky." When pressed, she added, "We're talking about somebody who, right from the get-go, has been a flashy person who gets into a lot of trouble and really has no credentials for any job."

Great article! But no surprising revelations after all voters with higher education voted overwhelmingly supported Obama. It doesn???t take a political scientist to see the "lowest common denominator" theme with which the GOP attempts to congregate their base. Just watch FOX news for 10 min and the dumbed down theme of the broadcast (Glenn Beck playing Janga for 45 min as a metaphor for national debt and Huckabee playing banjo in front of a trailer park) becomes very apparent. No wonder they have triple the amount of viewers as MSNBC, people don???t like it when them elitist talk all fancy and stuff!
Sarah did well to whip these people into a frenzy but frankly anybody wrapped in an American Flag with a large enough anti-coastal, anti-urban, anti-intellectualism chip on their shoulders can lead these people in frenzied USA USA, DRILL BABAY DRILL chants

Yeah Harris. We are already witness to how well your ''elitism'' Is Working For America. Heh. With any more such ''elitists'' running the Beltway Show, we will see North Korea in better shape than the US before too much longer.

Hey Mr. Harris, Gee Sarah Palin's faith view of life sounds like she belongs to some small group of people that are too dangerous to trust with leadership of the country but are just too dumb to know it. Hmm I wonder what our founding fathers, or a man like Abraham Lincoln would think of this article that you have written? I think they would be appalled, at your elitism, and bigotry that you try and camouflage with an arrogant misguided intellectualism. You are the dangerous one sir, and the good will eventually overcome people like you, and Mr. Obama. Long after you are forgotten, Sarah Pain and what she has done and what she stands for will be remembered and celebrated.

Hey Mr. Harris, Gee Sarah Palin's faith view of life sounds like she belongs to some small group of people that are too dangerous to trust with leadership of the country but are just too dumb to know it. Hmm I wonder what our founding fathers, or a man like Abraham Lincoln would think of this article that you have written? I think they would be appalled, at your elitism, and bigotry that you try and camouflage with an arrogant misguided intellectualism. You are the dangerous one sir, and the good will eventually overcome people like you, and Mr. Obama. Long after you are forgotten, Sarah Pain and what she has done and what she stands for will be remembered and celebrated.

Sam Harris is one of my favorite authors. Everything he writes about he backs with research, logic, and reason. Even in this article what he says can't be argued. Really, who would argue it? Sarah Palin? Her supporters? What would their argument be? Hearing religious people defend their beliefs is like hearing comic book fanatics argue about which super-hero or villain is the strongest. In the end it just doesn't matter because it's just a made up story that has nothing to do with reality. It's terrifying to think that the leader of our nation and military believes and bases his life off a man-written book. I dread the day our President will want to continue God's work. Just as one Adolf Hitler tried to do years ago. Also, the title of this article is crap. If anyone has read any of Sam Harris's work they'd know he doesn't like or agree with the term Atheist.

Sam Harris is one of my favorite authors. Everything he writes about he backs with research, logic, and reason. Even in this article what he says can't be argued. Really, who would argue it? Sarah Palin? Her supporters? What would their argument be? Hearing religious people defend their beliefs is like hearing comic book fanatics argue about which super-hero or villain is the strongest. In the end it just doesn't matter because it's just a made up story that has nothing to do with reality. It's terrifying to think that the leader of our nation and military believes and bases his life off a man-written book. I dread the day our President will want to continue God's work. Just as one Adolf Hitler tried to do years ago. Also, the title of this article is crap. If anyone has read any of Sam Harris's work they'd know he doesn't like or agree with the term Atheist.

Sam Harris 2012.

I agree wholeheartedly with Battlestar. There was no need for this article to be pitched as an attack on Sarah Palin, and certainly not one perpetrated by an atheist. The title suggests a latent contempt for, if not Sam Harris, certainly his views. Very disappointing. I thought better of Newsweek. Whoever decided on the monicker for this article has done the publication a great disservice.

whoever chose the title for this article should be fired

This is a great article but some jerk editor gave it a title ("When Atheists Attack: A noted provocateur rips Sarah Palin -- and defends elitism" ) which appears to have been intended to undermine the credibility of the author, who is unlikely to have referred to himself in the third person as a "noted provocateur" or his article as an example of an "attack" which "rips" its subject. Nor is there any reason for the author to have been identified as an atheist! The article could have just as improperly been entitled "When Jews Attack" or "When Unitarians Attack" or "When Protestants Attack"! Whoever gave this article its title should be identified and should write an apology to the author and to Newsweek's readers.

This is a great article but some jerk editor gave it a title ("When Atheists Attack: A noted provocateur rips Sarah Palin -- and defends elitism" ) which appears to have been intended to undermine the credibility of the author, who is unlikely to have referred to himself in the third person as a "noted provocateur" or his article as an example of an "attack" which "rips" its subject. Nor is there any reason for the author to have been identified as an atheist! The article could have just as improperly been entitled "When Jews Attack" or "When Unitarians Attack" or "When Protestants Attack"! Whoever gave this article its title needs to publicly apologize to the author and to Newsweek's readers.

How about Christians who reject a state mandated religious dogma, and prefer their Constitutional right to the religious beliefs of their own chosing, and a continuation of the Constitution itself. I don't agree with witch hunting as a Christian practice, and seem to remember hearing about another point in our history where witch hunting did a good bit of harm. I also find the effect of Palin's message of hate on increasingly ugly mobs to be pretty horrifying. I pray that Christ saves my country from these beasts.

CORRECTION:
Dear Mr. Harris,
In rebuttal to your commentary in Newsweek, I have several sanctions to address. First let me congratulate you on your awards. I do not agree with many things you say, but as a poet, I appreciate your open expression. However, when attacking Sarah Palin and her beliefs, are you not going against the very thing you are fighting for? Are you not violating your own ethics, to refuse participation in any form of organized religion without repercussion or emotional disregard from another party? I found the article to be biased, pompous, and full of self-idealistic conflict. Why not simply say you disagree with the woman? Has she attacked your views? Has she taken a swing at your lack of faith in God? I found nothing in regards of her faith encroaching your freedom of religion. By supporting the Obama campaign, you are supporting a man who is unsure of what he believes in. You are clearly unsettled by Palin???s eagerness to share her faith, the fact that you are certain of what you believe, and that she is, too, should at least give you some common ground with her. Obama is not certain what he believes in. I could not imagine someone leading this nation who cannot even decide what he believes in. Christianity, Muslim, or atheist, at least these factions offer a solid view, and/or doctrine of why and what they believe in. Obama does not. And all of the foreign policies and tax breaks he can fathom and express in the senate mean little to nothing if he is indeed a man without belief. Sarah Palin has only offered the country???s inhabitants a view of who she is and what she believes in.
This is not Hollywood. No one is going to step into office and reign fire and brimstone upon your head. And yet, every time a People magazine is opened, there is Obama pictured along side Hollywood personas. That is far more frightening than anything Palin could offer an atheist caught in his own insecurities. Obama has many supporters in the media, as well as the Hollywood circuit. And I want a president and vice-president who can handle real life. I fear for our nation. If Obama is elected, who will make the decisions for him?
This is America. Black and white. Red and yellow. Are Christians supposed to call you, write you and harass you? No. Are Christians supposed to slander you and defame you? No. What I have is a relationship. Not a religion. God handles the judging, not me; not true Christians. Christians are called to love and serve, and according to the Epistles, judge and correct only those within that circle of truth. What I want to clarify is this: you and the McCain-Palin ticket focus on your solid belief, or lack thereof. Wouldn???t you rather place your trust in someone who stands by what they say, just as you stand by what you say? Radical, liberal, and conservative- we all deserve to be treated fairly according to this nation???s constitution.
Best regards,
J.R. Seus