January 11, 2005

Gonzales in the (White) House

By MICKEY Z.

Watching the Alberto Gonzales hubbub reminded me of when Satya Magazine published a provocative interview with a hardnosed founding member of Greenpeace, Captain Paul Watson. When asked for tactical and motivational advice for new activists, Watson offered his version of a realty check for the next generation: “All people are the same. The poor are simply wannabe rich people. The oppressed are wannabe oppressors.”

As difficult as it might be to accept, there is some truth in Watson’s appraisal. Talk to any non-rich lottery player if you don’t believe me. In my neighborhood, playing the lottery is not just state-sponsored gambling...it’s a lifestyle choice. Coercive advertising is used to convince the poor and middle class to accept a cleverly disguised, voluntary tax by promising them a chance to be rich like all their media-created heroes. It’s an awesome victory of propaganda that so many downtrodden Americans strive to be exactly like the man whose boot is stomping on their necks.

This goes a long way in explaining how the Bush Cabinet can include women, African-Americans, Asians, and a Latino like Gonzales.

However, there is little reason to casually categorize such behavior as “human nature.” Rather, thanks to decades of conditioning, our personal dreams have been co-opted and replaced with the American Dream of wealth, material possessions, sexual conquests, being on TV, etc. Best of all, the American Dream myth tells us we can and will accomplish all this on our own. It’s the fable of individualized success: If you outwork and outthink and out-hustle the competition, this is truly the land of opportunity. Anything is possible...and if you succeed, it’s because you worked harder and better and deserved it more. This myth is conveniently helpful for praising success...but mighty damaging in explaining failure. If you don’t attain your goals (or at least the goals forced upon you), the blame is on you and you alone. It’s your fault that you’re not living up to the standards set by billboards, TV commercials, and magazine ads.

Like subjects in a massive social engineering experiment, we are programmed to mimic our oppressors.

As Springsteen sang: “Poor man wanna be rich/Rich man wanna be king/And the king ain’t satisfied/Till he rules everything.”

Mickey Z. is the author of four books, most recently: "The Seven Deadly Spins: Exposing the Lies Behind War Propaganda" (Common Courage Press). He can be found on the Web at http://www.mickeyz.net.

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