The deafening noise of jingoism and contempt for others’ perspectives renders people unable to think

[Karmadillo]

http://www.salon.com/2015/01/30/our_dangerous_new_mccarthyism_russia_noam_chomsky_and_what_the_medias_not_telling_you_about_the_new_cold_war/

THURSDAY, JAN 29, 2015 07:01 PM EST
Our dangerous new McCarthyism: Russia, Noam Chomsky and what the media’s not telling you about the new Cold War
Perverse, diabolical obsession: Policy cliques in D.C. have no intention of desisting in this war until they win it
PATRICK L. SMITH

<edit>

This ignorance is what is being done to us. It is essential, indeed, to the prosecution of the war as defined above.

I came to this thought by way of a keyhole’s view of the larger phenomenon. The thread attaching to these columns has grown swiftly of late into a chaos of irrational nonsense when the words “Russia” or “Putin” come up in the copy. Name-calling suffices, the need for logical argument (always welcome) obviated.

From the specific to the general in this case: This casting of critique and dissent as un-American—a deeply un-American notion, of course—is a danger paying-attention people can no longer ignore. Most important is the enabling of bad policy. We are getting ourselves in very bad trouble. Remember, the Cuban missile crisis materialized more or less overnight.

More personally, do many readers remember what it was like to live through the McCarthyist 1950s? Very horrible. One could not breathe. Europe remains populated with the aging exiles from this period.

My abiding concern here is the psychological violence this climate causes. Study the 1950s, or the period just before Teddy Roosevelt invaded Cuba and sent Admiral Dewey into Manila Bay. We are not far from either.

Incessant red-baiting, incessant Russia-baiting, incessant Islamophobia, incessant what have you: The deafening noise of jingoism and contempt for others’ perspectives renders people unable to think. Such people are no longer self-governing. They are the powerless subjects of masters.

more...

[Bluenorthwest]

1. Russia is not 'red' it is a homophobic, orthodox conservative oligarchy.

It is very revealing that none of these pieces that seek to defend Russia from criticism ever mention homophobia. Ever.
But even worse is the attempt to shroud Putin and the Orthodox Church in the laurels of Revolution. Red baiting. Please. The year is 2015, not 1965.

[uhnope]

6. yeah, a very embarrassing article. Click bait for the headline, the rest is filler

written in a rambling, know-nothing first-person style.

I had to stop at:

The very latest arrives as this column gets written. Fresh reports from Moscow suggest—verbatim from one summary will do—“U.S. plans Euromaidan in Belarus to overthrow Lukashenko. Local nationalists licking their chops.” The Maidan is the square in Kiev where the Ukraine crisis started two Novembers ago. Lukashenko is Alexander Grigoryevich, who has presided in Belarus for the past 21 years.

I cannot confirm these reports—four, written in Russian—but I will begin following Lukashenko’s political fortunes closely, this I assure you

He doesn't know if it's true (it sounds like RT conspiracy theory), and he is going "to begin" to follow Lukashenko. Quite a scholar!

and:

A few reporters and analysts who refuse to surrender their integrity—Robert Parry at Consortium News, Stephen Cohen at Princeton, a couple of others

lol

No wonder I rarely read Salon.

[reddread]

2. no shit

they will continue to raise the noise floor and refuse to discuss and consider while
disrupting thoughtful discourse with grade school disrespect.

[seveneyes]

3. The fight for survival has a factor of trust and can be a bitter suite

Finding the terms of this trust is a factor of education at an early age. It starts at childhood and can often be misplaced...

It's getting late, for scribbling and scratching on the paper
Something's gonna give under this pressure
And the cracks are already beginning to show

[zeemike]

4. I know I am tired of it.

And it keeps us divided by those who blindly believe any of it and those who question it...a hostile attitude is what it creates, and that can't be by accident.

[Fred Sanders]

5. None of the jingoism and xenophobia ballooning in America can exist without media complicity.