{"id":251,"date":"2002-02-26T13:03:30","date_gmt":"2002-02-26T18:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/burgwinkel.com\/blog\/?p=251"},"modified":"2002-02-26T13:03:30","modified_gmt":"2002-02-26T18:03:30","slug":"discovering-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/burgwinkel.com\/blog\/?p=251","title":{"rendered":"discovering america"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>discovering america<\/div>\n<p>\nAnd why should we believe that <a href=\"opWin('http:\/\/media.guardian.co.uk\/marketingandpr\/story\/0,7494,658409,00.html', 'PopupWin', 'toolbar=no,menubar=yes,status=no,left=20,top=10,width=860,height=640,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes');\">this<\/a> is true.&nbsp; Why should we believe, just because they <i>say<\/i> they&#8217;re going to close the propaganda office, that they actually <i>are<\/i> going to close the propaganda office?&nbsp; &#8220;We have decided not to lie.&nbsp;  Honest.&#8221;.&nbsp; It&#8217;s like an Escher engraving?the hand drawing itself.&nbsp;  The act of drawing, and its result, are both part of the two dimensional image produced by an unseen artist.&nbsp;  <\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;d like to think that I can see everything there is regarding the intrigues and deceits of government, and on a warm summer night near the shore under stars I can believe anything anyone tells me.&nbsp;  But in the harsh light of a cold dawn, my overlooked suspicions have often been confirmed.&nbsp;  <\/p>\n<p>We are not a noble nation.&nbsp;  We are not a righteous people.&nbsp; Least of all are we fearless.&nbsp; We tolerate pronouncements of assassinations and kidnappings for the sake of, what, peace?&nbsp; safety?&nbsp; in the name of &#8216;truth&#8217; and the American way?&nbsp; After they float those balloons successfully, we have the gall to squirm with discomfort when they tell us they are going to lie.&nbsp;  (!).&nbsp; What is it exactly that bothers us about this Office of Strategic Influence?&nbsp; That it promulgates and disseminates lies?&nbsp; Hardly.&nbsp;  We take those easily, with tea and lemon.&nbsp;  <\/p>\n<p>Institutionalizing the culture of deception which exists in government lays bare something raw and sore?our collective conscience.&nbsp;  That&#8217;s the only problem we have with the OSI.&nbsp; Just give them an out of the way office, bury their budget within another, and for crying out loud, do not outright tell us about it!&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>Myth precedes reality.&nbsp;  Joseph Campbell taught us this.&nbsp;  The myth of a New World preceded its discovery.&nbsp;  On an uncharacteristically optimistic note, I&#8217;d like to suggest that the myth of America will one day become a reality, too.&nbsp;  It will be a nation of free people gathered under principles which affirm the significance of the individual, and promote the inclusion of all.&nbsp; There will be diversity imbued with equality.&nbsp;  America then will hold as its only might the truth, and will have learned how to rehabilitate sophisticated thugs and power-mongers like our present day politicians, enabling them to participate productively in the collective soul of America.&nbsp;  We will then stand as proof of these wild imaginings, rather than stand as we do now, as proof that such things are nothing but wild imaginings.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>discovering america And why should we believe that this is true.&nbsp; Why should we believe, just because they say they&#8217;re going to close the propaganda office, that they actually are going to close the propaganda office?&nbsp; &#8220;We have decided not &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/burgwinkel.com\/blog\/?p=251\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[269,485,484,486],"class_list":["post-251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-america","tag-joseph-campbell","tag-office-of-strategic-influence","tag-unseen-artist"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/burgwinkel.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/burgwinkel.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/burgwinkel.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/burgwinkel.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/burgwinkel.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/burgwinkel.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/burgwinkel.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/burgwinkel.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/burgwinkel.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}