Propaganda, fear and the corruption of power, the matter of Mark Foley
by Margie Burns | Sep 30 2006 -
Already some of the repellent messages sent to pages still in high school by Rep. Mark Foley, Republican from Florida, have been posted. Since his conduct smacks of compulsive behavior, there are undoubtedly more such messages. They may not be immediately published, pending decisions on federal or state criminal investigations by the authorities, but they are undoubtedly out there. ABC News, to its credit, has published some relatively primetime message excerpts, with links to further supporting material. This is not some political attack blown out of proportion, some dispute “murky” in that favorite word of apologists in sexual assault cases.
This is what we get when we substitute drivel about red states and blue states for genuine political discussion, reasoned discussion relevant to life, civil liberty and the quality of life for the overwhelming majority of Americans. When we label part of the national polity a red state, strongly implying that there is little use for political discussion, adequate reporting, or electoral participation, we get a Mark Adam Foley, now known as Maf54. This is the power of propaganda, that it helps absolute power corrupt absolutely.
Timid reporting is another aid to the corruption of power and to the power of corruption.
Time Magazine, for example, is taking a line of awesome demureness with regard to the published emails, “Opinion may be divided over whether the e-mails Florida Representative Mark Foley sent a teen-age male congressional page last year were inappropriate or even constituted outright sexual harassment. But most observers would agree that what was almost as surprising as the allegations themselves was how swiftly the six-term Republican congressman from West Palm Beach quit a thriving career on Capitol Hill after the e-mails were aired Thursday night on the ABC evening news.”
READ IT ALL HERE
