StickWithANose

While my previous post on the dangers of the fanaticism now dominating our political discourse may, in fact, be emblematic of the ’spirit of the age’ and might even be interpreted as being hyperbolic, the “dangers” to which I was referring are visible all around us… if we take the time to look. The goal of the “teabaggers” is not to convince anybody of any coherent political idea or policy. It is not their intent to engage their fellow citizens in the kind of rational discourse envisioned by the framers of our constitution and democratic republic. The ultimate end to which they strive is to make effective communication impossible, to cut off rational political discourse. It is, in effect, a revolt against reason.

The goal of the astroturfing minds behind all of this is to circumscribe public discourse, to make certain ideas un-speakable and thus un-thinkable. It should be recognized as such, and instances in which those tactics are proven to be effective should be identified accordingly.

Creation, starring Paul Bettany, details [Charles] Darwin’s “struggle between faith and reason” as he wrote On The Origin of Species. It depicts him as a man who loses faith in God following the death of his beloved 10-year-old daughter, Annie.

The film was chosen to open the Toronto Film Festival and has its British premiere on Sunday. It has been sold in almost every territory around the world, from Australia to Scandinavia.

However, US distributors have resolutely passed on a film which will prove hugely divisive in a country where, according to a Gallup poll conducted in February, only 39 per cent of Americans believe in the theory of evolution.

In this case, “divisive” translates into coordinated national protests in which one social group mobilizes in an attempt to deny another social group the opportunity to entertain deviant thoughts, or at least be entertained. The steady barrage of protests and boycotts against Hollywood Liberalism during the ‘culture wars’ has scarred the movie business, much to the delight of the conservative base. Now, they have bigger fish to fry, and they are doing so with great success.

If you create enough faux conflict and market it aggressively, you can get wall-to-wall coverage on cable news and ‘frame’ public discourse all the way down to the cognitive basement. This is what we see at work today, and it works. It is a method that frames public discourse by killing it.

[h/t Crooks and Liars]

[UPDATE] Lykins begins to weave the various threads together, and it isn’t pretty.

[UPDATE II] Looks like the movie has found a distributor…