[Marxism] Re: Pearl Harbor, etc.

[Duane Roberts <duaneroberts92804@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Carlos A. Rivera" <cerejota@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

> But like the conspiracy theories around the
> building's  collapse, the whole "they couldnt
> have flown them" shows an extreme lack of
> knowledge as to how relatively easy to fly
> modern planes are, how
> relatively easy it is to train  for them, or worse,
> shows a racism similar to that of French when
> faced with the Haitian revolution, something
> along the lines of "those towelheaded sand-niggers
> couldnt have done that, on account they are too
> dumb".

Thank you, Carlos. I'm glad to see that I'm not the
only one here who sees this so clearly.

In the late 60s, there was a Swiss author by the name
of Erich Von Daniken who wrote a series of bestselling
books hinting that the Great Pyramids of Egypt and the
structures of many other ancient civilizations were
built with the assistance of extraterrestrial beings.
Von Daniken claimed that it was impossible for humans
to have built them given the level of technology they
had at their disposal.

But a number of archaeologists pointed out that what
Von Daniken wrote was flat out wrong. First, they
demonstrated that simple techiniques could be used to
build the same structures that Von Daniken claimed had
been constructed with the help of ET's. Second, they
pointed out his argument was imperialist and racist:
he was saying that brown-skinned people were too
stupid to build great civilizations on their own.

It was no coincidence that Von Daniken's books became
quite popular in the U.S. especially since they were
published during a time that wars of national
liberation were breaking out all over the planet and
peoples of the "third world" were taking action to
free themselves from colonialism. Whites needed a new
myth to convince themselves they were still on top of
the heap and Von Daniken provided them with one.

I bring the issue up about Von Daniken because I see
some similarities between the myths he promoted and
many of the "911" conspiracy theories. To some extent,
I view the outright dismissal of evidence showing that
a handful of "Middle Easterners" orchestrated the
scheme that occurred on "911" as implying that people
from that part of the world just don't have the brains
to pull something like this off.

I'm of the opinion many Americans are in complete
denial that somebody living on the periphery of the
U.S. Empire had the means and capability of organizing
such a devasting attack deep inside their own country.
And this shouldn't be surprising since people here
within the U.S. have been taught to believe that their
way of life is superior to everybody else's. After
all, "they" just ride camels, yes?

Then if the Arabs are just too plain dumb to destroy
the World Trade Center, "who dunnit"? Why, one of our
own must have did it. We have high IQ's, don't we? And
if we can't figure out exactly why our own kind did
it, we'll just make up the facts to fit the storyline.
Of course, the problem with this, is that it
obfuscates the ugly realities of U.S. imperialism and
how it affects people abroad. Our attention is
diverted away from the real issue.

But some conspiracy theories are good for the ruling
classes because they are, by their nature, a
reactionary and conservative force. They keep alot of
people busy running around chasing after a ghosts and
phantasms and wasting away their lives speculating
about nonsense rather than engaging in work that will
make them see how the social order really functions --
perhaps motivating them to take action to do away with
it!

In addition to this, they have the potentional to
demoralize the masses. If the "powers that be" are as
powerful and omnipotent as some conspiracy theories
would like to you believe, then why ever bother trying
to change anything? If nothing the "little people" do
will ever matter because the Illuminati, CIA, or a
untouchable cabal somewhere is always calling the
shots, we should just fold our hands and give up!
Resistance is futile!

Sincerely,

Duane J. Roberts
duaneroberts92804@xxxxxxxxx


                
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