[/caption]Carol Forsloff - The letter came from a friend. It is the kind that is forwarded again and again over the Internet, identifying Barack Obama as the anti-Christ who is trying to take over the country with Islamic beliefs with his Chicago goon squad, but the highlight is on his so-called Muslim background from someone identified as a former classmate, revealing another example of extremism that creates an atmosphere for violence from fear.
It is that fear we should fear the most, as Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared in his inaugural address.
The letter has been making the rounds for certain, for more than a year. Therefore it has likely been read by many people. Email news is often what fuels debate and where “facts” are presented at small and large gatherings as evidence. But they are often of the same ilk, basing information on emotionally-laden words designed to create fear and hatred in the reader.
Wayne Allyn Root is the author of a letter dated June 6th, 2010
Barack Hussien Obama is no fool. He is not incompetent. who writes this:
To the contrary, he is brilliant. He knows exactly what he's doing.
He is purposely overwhelming the U.S. economy to create systemic failure,
economic crisis and social chaos -- thereby destroying capitalism and
our country from within.
Then Root goes on to explain that his information comes from the fact he was Obama’s classmate in college, not a roommate or close friend, but someone who happened to be in Obama’s college and that Obama is Muslim and working with extremists to bring the country to ruin.
The rest of the letter merits no recitation, because it is of the type that makes the rounds and rounds these days. It isn’t written with logic nor read with it as well, as the motive becomes apparent as the drivel continues on. The letter itself is deemed authentic by Snopes.com, which encourages the reader’s belief in the contents itself.
But how many of us would be able to define a fellow classmate in a large University class unless that person had been a close friend or a well-known individual in the school with whom the person becomes acquainted over time? Most of us could not. Yet there is no mention in the letter of any special relationship that would give Mr. Root any information that would be more authentic than what one might read in a right-wing brochure or an Internet piece sometime.
These letters are passed along from one to another, some simply asking rhetorically what the reader might think. This means the audience grows until more and more people wonder if the accusations are true. For enough smoke that is sent up the chimney, some people believe is a fire. And those motivated to write and send on these letters recognize that even those who disagree with the contents will have some small reservation, just because of that scent of smoke.
This is called propaganda, which differs from education in that its intent is to persuade using tactics of manipulation for negative purposes and power. It’s the kind of propaganda that leads to ruin not enlightenment and mirrors the history of earlier times.
In the 20th century one great leader who knew the value of propaganda said this: "Propaganda tries to force a doctrine on the whole people... Propaganda works on the general public from the standpoint of an idea and makes them ripe for the victory of this idea.”
There were several audiences for this propaganda. There were those who feared foreign immigration and believed they would dominate the culture. There were those who feared domination by those of different beliefs. And there were still others who believed that economic chaos had been visited on the country specifically to create schisms so that a takeover by these foreign folks could occur with sureness and speed.
The propaganda machine and the quote came from a man who knew the value of twisted facts and emotionally-laden words. It is that propaganda provided in the way defined by his words that continues to be mimicked by those folks who have learned that same lesson and practiced it years later in places like Norway by an extremist whose manufactured beliefs led to violence. It plays out In email exchanges from person to person and blogs like that of Pamela Gellar, whose writings are dedicated to creating fear of Islam.
It is that fear, that propaganda, that presents us with danger. It is the reason to stop the email forwards and the tactics used to undermine government, create suspicion and distrust and gets in the way of reasoned exchange. It is the reason the letter from “Obama’s classmate” is an insult to democracy too and those folks who read and know history and when its worst parts don't need repetition.
