Posted on 07/01/2015 4:01:44 AM PDT by RoosterRedux
Thucydides uses the frightening story to warn of the wild — and often dangerous — swings in public opinion innate to democratic culture. The historian seems at times obsessed with these explosions of Athenian popular passions, offering an even longer and more hair-raising account of popular mood swings over invading Sicily. We forget sometimes that the Athenian democracy that gave us Sophocles and Pericles also, in a fit of unhinged outrage, executed Socrates by a majority vote of one of its popular courts.
American democracy has become increasingly Athenian, as it periodically whips itself up into outbursts of frantic indignation. While the government in theory still operates according to the checks and balances of the Constitution, in reality, in the hyped Internet world of modern pop culture, fevered passions can seize the majority of the population in a matter of hours.
The idea of gay marriage in 2008 earned unapologetic disapproval from Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The liberal voters of California twice rejected the idea in statewide plebiscites. But after years of constant harangues in the media, boycotts, public ostracisms, and ad hominem attacks on the integrity of skeptics, the liberal political establishment — many of whose members are recipients of large amounts of cash from wealthy gay donors — suddenly flipped.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
… Rush Limbaugh talked at great length about Stella Morabito's recent article in The Federalist: “How to Escape the Age of Mass Delusion.” …[she expressed her enthusiasm] to see this topic get exposure to such a wide audience. Because … it is absolutely key that we understand the processes and methods of coercive persuasion if we are ever going to be able to defeat them. Let’s set aside the swirling mess of issues for a little while — Obamacare, Common Core, climate change, immigration, marriage, transgenderism, and on and on and on and on . . . . Those pushing “transformation” know that pitching us this vortex of chaos is a critical element in the game of attrition they are playing with us.
So she proposes that we should instead focus on the Machinery itself. What exactly drives the propaganda machine and how does it work on us? She expressed the fear that people of goodwill have been in the dark about these dynamics for too long. Let’s shift focus and look behind that curtain. Because we’re dealing with a war on reality itself. You and I know that we’re not in Kansas anymore.
Here is the link to the text of Rush’s lengthy commentary related to Stella Morabito's article:
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2015/06/15/our_overnight_orwellian_unraveling
VDH reviews the terror of democracy.
Hint: The solution involves the senate.
They executed Socrates by a majority vote? Can we do the same to “someone”?
Just read your About Page. Impressive exposition on NBF.
This is as a result of something I read last week; that some state (I forget which) is going to stop declaring the sex of newborns on their birth certificates; the justification for this is that any child may wish to "self-identify" as another sex later in life, and for this reason a declaration of sex at birth is "stigmatizing."
The Left then demands that everyone go along with this, and those who don't are declared to be bigots.
The Republicans and Conservatives didn't ask for this. I'm sure they weren't even thinking about it. But here we are, another phony issue created out of thin air, that has to be fought against in order to preserve whole swaths of traditional culture built up over thousands of years.
And those who try to fight back are called out as weirdos.
“Progressive” is mass hysteria so the title is redundant.
SRBFL
Judicial Tyranny and horse**** polls is not a massive shift in public opinion. If the gay marriage issue came up at the polls again every single state that voted in favor of a male/female amendment would do so again today, by the same margins.
This snap from the 1978 remake is how it will look if you hold hands with your wife or wear the Confederate symbol in public: 
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