Sender: Mark Stahlman (via RadioMail) <•••@••.•••> Charles (et al): You might as well puke now and get it over with. Maybe it will clear your head. Direct democracy will *only* come about in this country at this time as an intensely manipulative system of using "public opinion" by a social science elite (i.e. technocrats) to pressure "elected" governments to act. Period. Grossman and his frightening book is just the beginning. How about Jim Lehrer's new "democracy" TV show? Or, Perot's non-party to destroy all parties (i.e. destroy the institutions of representative democracy)? Or, all the post-partisan positioning by ex-Democrats. You don't think that John John Kennedy has missed the boat with his new magazine "George" do you? Not him, he's a seasoned sailor (and he sold the first issue out in days). Politics is nothing but image and celebrity to these cynics. They fully intend to take a palpably dumber population which is more volatle, more ethnically divided, more blinded to rationality and play them like a kazoo. When JJ Kennedy's buddy and cyber-celebrity JP Barlow writes in SPIN magazine (where else?) that the future of politics is "post-reason" this is not simply posturing. Barlow is an advanced scout for these scoundrels. Yes, he's a poser but a well connected one. He wants to be PFF/Vlahosian "Brain Lord." However well intentioned and pure of heart you may be, you have no real power in this game. Neither do the "people." There is a move afoot to use a population which has been trained to believe that their opinions actually matter -- as opposed to their judgements, if indeed they have any, since they have been taught to be non-judgemental -- and that policy should be driven by an aggregate of these opinions and the associated feelings. This is demagoguery of the worst sort. And, it didn't happen over night. These guys have been laying pipe for this opportunity for decades. I remain convinced that the "grassroots" efforts to promote direct/hyper/participatory democracy will inevitably be hijacked by these characters. They must be stopped now or we're all in for one hell of a ride. Mark Stahlman New Media Associates New York City •••@••.••• ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ Posted by Andrew Oram - •••@••.••• - Moderator: CYBER-RIGHTS (CPSR) You are encouraged to forward and cross-post messages for non-commercial use, pursuant to any redistribution restrictions included in individual messages. ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~
