Radicals: What was the impetus for your straying from the consensus?

[DerekG]

Disclaimer: I hate to be exclusive here, but this thread is intended for those on the far left; ergo, if you think Jimmy Carter was indeed the "human rights" president, or that Bill Clinton ushered in those eight fabled years of peace and prosperity, you might want to move that cursor to the Back button.

This is for the folks who, upon seeing the visage of a missing child on the Post Office wall, immediately think of the Franklin cover-up.

This is for the folks who use phrases like "national security state" to describe America, or "the War Party" as code for the Republican and Democratic parties.

This is for the folks who think of such altruistic enterprises as "Paperclip," "Mockingbird," MK-ULTRA, and "Phoenix," when the CIA is brought up.


Obviously, the process of deviating from the conservative/centrist/liberal stratum is, more often than not, quite gradual, But can you recall something--a personal experience, a book, perhaps--that served as the trigger?

The awakening for me began three years ago, courtesy of the CNN program Crossfire. You see, Rep. Cynthia McKinney had just asserted that Bush may have known more about the circumstances surrounding the destruction of the World Trade Center than he was letting on. This was fiery stuff, and when it was finally discussed on Crossfire, Paul Begala--representing the "Left"--hinted that she was crazy and actually got out of his seat to cower behind the table. Now, for this (then) 19 year-old, Begala's histrionics seemed bewildering, considering that the congresswoman's queries were quite reasonable. I detected a consensus between Novak and Begala, icons of their respective parties. Something smelled fishy indeed.

The next week, I borrowed Zinn's "A People's History" from the library; from there, it was a hop to Parenti, a skip to Chomsky, and a jump to William Blum. Suffice to say, I'm a bit more paranoid now.


What was your trigger?

[evlbstrd]

1. Steal This Book. Abbie Hoffman

"The only dope worth shooting is Richard Nixon."



The Other America. Michael Harrington

[LoneDriver]

2. I didn't stray from the consensus

The consensus strayed from me. My early heroes were MLK and RFK among others. I still believe in the same things, albeit a bit more cynically.

[Last Lemming]

3. First

1. a kid watching the police riot during the chicago democratic convention--1968
2. sitting in Zenica, Bosnia and watching the world turn its back on the Balkans yet again
3. "run away bloggers" and "exit polls"--heard on the radio while I was getting a picture framed on the day after the election

[toddaa]

4. My cultural reference point was Throbbing Gristle

I grew up consuming massive doses of things like William Burroughs, TG, and Aleister Crowley. I acquired these "alternative" tastes after wasting away my teenage years as a Christian fundamentalist. Reality has always been rather malleable to me. And I don't really consider my self an radical leftist. I'm more or less a moderate anarchist.

[Eloriel]

5. Far left? Or Far Cynical?

I dunno. I'm ancient compared to you, so my cynicism started growing when the Kennedy Assassination didn't add up and also around that time I started learning that the CIA wasn't exactly the good guys around the world.

I still had BIG old freakin' steps to take with this Bush gang. It's been a horrible learning experience that even I, the ultra-cynic (or so I thought) had trouble negotiating. DU has made all the difference in my understanding of the world we now live in.

[EVDebs]

6. "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."

courtesy of George Orwell (see
http://www.arlindo-correia.com/121103.html ).

The Kennedy Assassination, November 22, 1963, and the cavalcade of deception that followed and continues to follow to this day. As Mae Brussell's research unveiled the Operation Paperclip mentioned above, a FOIA related to the JFK assassination is what resulted in the revelation of Operation Northwoods :

"Ironically, the documents came to light, says Bamford, in part because of the 1992 Oliver Stone film JFK, which examined the possibility of a conspiracy behind the assassination of President Kennedy." see pages 3 and 4 of

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662&page=1

[Jose Diablo]

7. The catalyst for me came from TV

The news was showing a clip from Central America and this colonel walked up to the journalist who was face down on his belly, pointed a gun at the back of his head and shot him. I sort of disconnected and part of me said, "they just showed a guy getting murdered on TV".

Now I had seen death before, grew-up through Korea, JFK, Vietnam, Detroit riots, RFK, MLK on and on. But that one instant is what really stands out. Ever since then I have questioned almost everything presented as is this true or something I am 'supposed' to believe. Cynic, maybe skeptic or even paranoid, but sometimes, being paranoid is a high survival trait. Sometimes there ARE people out to 'get' the paranoid.

I always knew something wasn't being told about Kennedy. At the time, I decided that the Russians killed him and nobody wanted a nuclear war, so nobody wanted to find out. I think it was in 65 or so when it came on the news that Ruby was dying of cancer. I remember the girl that was with me, on the sofa as we watched the news said, "that SOB, now we will never know what happened". I didn't say anything to that, but just nodded yes. At that instance I knew it wasn't the Russians.

Many people discount these alternate versions of history and current events. Some say they need proof. I think there is plenty of proof, it's just that most don't want to face it. Because if they do face it, then they would be cowards because they let it happen without forcing those responsible to face justice. It's easy to hide your head in the sand and pretend everything is just peachy keen.

Just like there in New York, 70's I think, when a woman was getting raped and murdered and she cried out for what, 45 minutes or so, and not one person came to her aid. People need a first person to respond before they themselves will interfere in something they know is wrong. Remember, the people could hear her screaming and crying out for help, but they stayed away, behind closed and locked doors, didn't get involved. Didn't even call the police.

[DerekG]

8. Yes, Kitty Genovese

Way before my time, but the circumstances of her murder were dramatized in Harlan Ellison's "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs" and Alan Moore's "Watchmen." Brings new meaning to the word "complicity."

[sweetheart]

9. The media hit the corporate media ran against my religious group in 1996

I never believed that the media would so misrepresent people as to
literally destroy lives in order to create news.... and i frankly kinda
thought that shows like current affair and 60 minutes were honest...
and then when they decided to run a hit on my buddhist master, i was
shocked shocked at how underhanded and really evil they were. It
caused me to realize that the media ALWAYS lie, and the truth is
inevitably what they are not showing.

John kerry was lucky in one sense, in that most people know that he
really was a hero of viet name despite the swift boat liars, however
when the hit is on a more obscure thing like a religious leader you
don't know, people are less inclined to ever refute the lies, and a
subterfuge is created to permanently debase people in society by
defaming them.

It really caused me to realize that there was no longer any rule of law
in the US, just that might makes right, and in knowing that, what kind
of future such a society could possibly have.