LaLaLaI'mNotListening

If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it. - Joseph Goebbels

When I was in high school, I had a teacher who thought Chairman Mao was just about the greatest man who had ever lived. He made a special point to deny that the Great Leap Forward resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of people. He also fervently denied that the Cultural Reformation had ever taken place (quite oddly given the fact that Mao never made an attempt to hide it). Years later when I attended my 10^th year reunion, I made a point of bringing several pictures that I myself had taken of some of the damage wrought on China during Mao's reign. My former teacher responded by informing me that the photos were fake and I was a victim of delusion.

Today there exists a large part of the American people who, like my old teacher, refuse to accept that what they “know to be true” just possibly is not as true as they imagine. No matter what evidence is presented to the contrary, it is as if they have stuck their fingers in their ears and are running around like Miracle Max in The Princess Bride. “LalalaI'mnotlisteningnobody'shomelalala.”

The latest example of this is the attempt to censure the President over the NSA wiretapping program. The text of the censure resolution uses the phrase “illegal domestic wiretapping of Americans.” The fact is that there has never been an examination by any court as to the legality of the program. Further, all federal law dealing with intelligence gathering (indeed in FISA itself) “domestic” refers to actions taking place entirely within the US. Specifically excluded are intercepts of communications that either originate or terminate in the US, but not both. And only people with known or suspected ties to al Qaida are involved. By the way, Clinton used CIA satellites to monitor a domestic extremist group in the months following the attack in Oklahoma City which is an explicit violation of federal law prohibiting the CIA from operating on US soil. LalalaI'mnotlistening.

Nancy Pelosi continues to garner media coverage here in California with repeated references to the “Republican culture of corruption.” Never mind that many Democrats have also received money from Abramoff and his clients. Never mind that Pelosi and her husband were under investigation for allegedly hiring illegal aliens to tend to their orchard and failing to pay proper payroll taxes. Never mind that Pelosi was under separate investigation for awarding a $600K consulting contract to the company owned by hubby. Oh, and Michael Moore owns Halliburton stock. LalalaI'mnotlistening.

Within the last week, Spike Lee repeated false accusations that the levies in New Orleans were deliberately blown up by Bush in order to kill blacks. He even defended his right to include that “fact” in a documentary he is currently producing simply because many blacks believe it to be true. Never mind that an investigation into the allegations has proved beyond all doubt that the claim is false. Despite pictures showing 200 school buses parked idly in a flooded parking lot, despite videotape evidence that both the mayor of New Orleans and Governor of Louisiana were briefed on the potential disaster and still choose not to order an evacuation, and despite the fact that it is now known that the stories of rampant crime in the Superdome were made up, apparently it is OK to perpetuate these lies because some people believe them to be true. LalalaI'mnotlistening.

Seeing a golden opportunity for more power, the race baiters have used this incident to demand more money for the “oppressed” black community. Both Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan are angling to be in charge of disbursing the billions of dollars in reconstruction funds because “the racist white government does not care about you.” Never mind that both of these men are multi-millionaires. Never mind that the average per-capita income of blacks in America exceeds that of blacks in any other country in the world. Never mind that the black middle-class in America, if it were a state unto itself, would be the 5^th largest economy in the world. Never mind that the descendants of western Caribbean slaves on average have higher incomes than descendants of African immigrants who never were slaves. This is not about helping some disadvantaged community; it is about power plain and simple. LalalaI'mnotlistening.

When the federal budget draft was released last month, the Democrats immediately rolled out the tired and thoroughly discredited claim that the Bush tax cuts are only for the benefit of his wealthy cronies. Never mind that the sage of Wall Street, Alan Greenspan, acknowledged that the tax cuts were directly responsible for ending the recession and restoring a healthy growth in the economy. Never mind that the tax cuts were directly responsible for the creation of hundreds of thousands of new jobs. Never mind that the wealthy people who are supposed to be the sole beneficiaries of the Bush tax cuts now pay a greater percentage of the federal budget than at any other time in American history. And don't you dare mention that every single time tax rates went down revenues went up, while every single time tax rates went up revenues went down. LalalaI'mnotlistening.

There have been numerous anti-Capitalist rallies both in the US and the world in recent months. At any of these, pro-Marxist platitudes are wafted almost as liberally as the cannabis smoke. The 20^th century was a complete repudiation of the Marxist idea. Stalin was forced to execute or to starve 30 million people to maintain control. (Lalalaneverhappened). Estimates of Mao's depredations run anywhere from 20-100 million. (Lalalanobody'shome). The killing fields of the Khmer Rouge are (not) filled with the bones of 2.5 million more. Nowhere has Marxism delivered the promise of the Socialist Utopia. LalalaI'mnotlistening.

Of course, this “culture of denial” is at its height when it comes to Iraq. It seems that not a day goes by when there is not a story in the press about how Bush “lied” about WMD. There is never a mention about the fact that Clinton, Gore, and Kerry all said throughout the 1990's that Saddam had WMD and intended to use them. Never mind that very credible evidence exists to indicate that there were indeed WMD, which were either destroyed or moved to Syria mere weeks before the invasion. Daily we here about how Iraq is “on the verge of civil war!!!” even though not a single source used in the story has ever set foot there. Why bother to interview a soldier when the view is so much better from our ivory towers? The press gleefully prints “newly discovered” photos from Abu Ghraib and condemns as barbaric the actions that took place there, but refuses to call it an act of terrorism when a Muslim student runs over fellow students in the name of Islam. LalalaI'mnotlistening.

It's not rocket science. When you have been telling the lies for so long that you start to believe them, it is easy to dismiss all that does not match your world view. It also makes it impossible for you to see the train barreling down the track that is about to b**ch-slap you into reality. LalalaI'mnotlistening.