It always begins with words and the ongoing repetition of false narratives. In this community, the valid arguments against Caruso in 2015 have been reframed and reiterated so often, and have been repeated often enough to distort observable realities.
There has been a growth management plan in places for decades which was supported by the residents when passed. Like it or not in Coastal California, people are going to try to develop projects and make money. There will always be tension over issues of growth. There's not some deep-state conspiracy at play each time a development is proposed.
Just like we saw in the 1930s, we see on the broader national stage today that local propaganda has shifted to creating a perpetual phantom enemy to blame for every irritation of life. In Germany, it was done by the creation of fictional crises like the Reichstag Fire; in the 1950's it was the Worldwide Communist threat. In Carlsbad, it's fed by a laundry list of minor NIMBY style grievances but still employs the "knifed in the back" fiction that involves some grand conspiracy led by a cabal getting ahead by leeching off of others.
There has been a growth management plan in places for decades which was supported by the residents when passed. Like it or not in Coastal California, people are going to try to develop projects and make money. There will always be tension over issues of growth. There's not some deep-state conspiracy at play each time a development is proposed.
Just like we saw in the 1930s, we see on the broader national stage today that local propaganda has shifted to creating a perpetual phantom enemy to blame for every irritation of life. In Germany, it was done by the creation of fictional crises like the Reichstag Fire; in the 1950's it was the Worldwide Communist threat. In Carlsbad, it's fed by a laundry list of minor NIMBY style grievances but still employs the "knifed in the back" fiction that involves some grand conspiracy led by a cabal getting ahead by leeching off of others.
By creating a straw man to blame for everything, the door is opened to the dehumanization of the targets. That stage sets up the next progression, which is the commitment to purge "the others" by any means necessary. That has made it easier for all sorts of petty self-interests to coalesce, and for what has been framed as civic-mindedness to be turned darker and increasingly totalitarian in spirit.
There is a politician sitting on your City Council willing to weaponize anything and everything against her critics. The recklessness of Councilwoman Schumacher's recent attacks against every North County mayor for racism, a beat cop for allegedly not wearing a mask, and the daily online character assassinations executed on her behalf and with her encouragement, is driven by the final stage of weaponized demagoguery. The myth is of a strong leader who is the only person that can "save Carlsbad" from her self created crises and threats.
The mythology of the indispensable leader, the one person who will fearlessly do what others couldn’t and wouldn’t dare do, leads into a personality cult. The utter audacity of the messaging, the consistency of the propaganda, causes people to forsake critical thinking and to quiet even their own divergent thoughts. One of the most telling watermarks of hypocrisy is seeing the same people condemning Trump for his assertions that he is the only one who can fix things, accepting the same arguments on behalf of our Surfer Savant.
When we add in the built-in confirmation bias of the Nextdoor and Facebook platforms Cori's supporters have hijacked, you have the moral equivalent of a state-controlled media. If nothing else, the pervasiveness of the same fibs by the same people being repeated constantly has the effect of making a person who has never won a majority in an election seem like the obviously winning team. The most fanatical of the Coricrats are those who are dying to breathe in her referred power and status.
Sadly in Carlsbad, it has caused everyday citizens to assent to believing and uttering some very despicable lies they wouldn’t have ever thought about on their own. If you venture into the wrong platforms, the sheer numbers of those echoing the party line create the assumption that it has to be everybody else.
The mythology of the indispensable leader, the one person who will fearlessly do what others couldn’t and wouldn’t dare do, leads into a personality cult. The utter audacity of the messaging, the consistency of the propaganda, causes people to forsake critical thinking and to quiet even their own divergent thoughts. One of the most telling watermarks of hypocrisy is seeing the same people condemning Trump for his assertions that he is the only one who can fix things, accepting the same arguments on behalf of our Surfer Savant.
When we add in the built-in confirmation bias of the Nextdoor and Facebook platforms Cori's supporters have hijacked, you have the moral equivalent of a state-controlled media. If nothing else, the pervasiveness of the same fibs by the same people being repeated constantly has the effect of making a person who has never won a majority in an election seem like the obviously winning team. The most fanatical of the Coricrats are those who are dying to breathe in her referred power and status.
Sadly in Carlsbad, it has caused everyday citizens to assent to believing and uttering some very despicable lies they wouldn’t have ever thought about on their own. If you venture into the wrong platforms, the sheer numbers of those echoing the party line create the assumption that it has to be everybody else.
To those of you who cannot believe that a retired surfer can do that much damage, there is that failed artist from Vienna who ruined the world. The stage may be smaller, but the energy is the same. The gap between "Triumph of the Will" and "Waves of Disruption may be smaller than you think.
MANY BLESSINGS- NOEL
MANY BLESSINGS- NOEL
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