http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_370.shtmlScandals: Six 'conspiratorial' and six not
Six of the scandals about the US government that are currently making the rounds of the Internet are simply breathtaking. No one has ever heard of a democratic government being so bold in harming its own people, and thus there is an automatic reluctance (or refusal) to accept these.
Here's a list of horrible things that 'they' are doing to us:
1. They damage the environment, virtually for the fun of it, by causing earthquakes, hurricanes, and forest fires.
2. They instill fear and panic by actually carrying out a terrorist incident, such as the Oklahoma City bombing and the 9/11 attacks.
3. They kill off potential leaders such as Sen. Paul Wellstone who died in a plane crash (Note: bumping someone off used to mean shooting them or arranging a car accident, nowadays it can include giving them cancer, heart attack, or infections).
4. They deliberately destabilize society, both by planting drugs among young people and by imprisoning millions, which breaks up families.
5. They outright attack us with biological or chemical weapons for example, it is said that about 50 percent of the American soldiers who went to the Gulf in 1991 are very ill from an intentionally harmful vaccination that was supposedly to protect them against anthrax.
6. They disrupt normal communication and thought via a barrage of lies, hoaxes, and disinformation.
Six Old-Fashioned Types of Scandals
I shall analyze the above conspiracy-type scandals in a moment, but for now please look at a different sort of six scandals. These old-fashioned ones have been considered normal over many generations and are unlikely to make us feel overwhelmed. Three of the most common kinds of scandal in democratic nations are related to voting, money, and sex. Another three involve aggrieved citizens (rather than naughty politicians) given that the strong arm of the state can be cruel, and the benefits of the state can be handed out inequitably. Thus:
1. Elections are rigged whether by miscounts, by concealed funding, or by last minute smearing of one's opponent.
2. With huge resources just waiting to be abused, financial scandals tend to take the form of bribes, hush money, and padded expense accounts.
3. In the old days, marital infidelity was itself sufficient enough to bring down a leader; today, something more imaginative may be required.
4. Brutality is often reported where police or prison guards assault or humiliate those in their custody.
5. Medical experiments may be carried out on a captive group, such as mentally retarded children or ghetto dwellers.
6. Since favoritism is not allowed in meritocracies, nepotism is the subject of many scandals. One person receiving an undeserved favor means another is overlooked.
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