Oscar Jr. Was Here

What's the Left's Version of "Sheeple"?

I normally avoid any intersection of Paul Krugman and politics, but I had some time to kill during lunch today. I’m pretty sure everyone who might be interested has already read Kevin Drum’s interview of Krugman on CalPundit today. While much of the interview struck me as paranoid and delusional, I’ll leave that to the better Fiskers of the Blogosphere. In addition, I’ll leave the economic critiques to the EconoBloggers out there.

What really struck me, though, was Krugman’s (and many of the other commenters’) assumption of irrational ignorance, not to mention bad faith, on the part of their (for the most part) fellow Americans.

The public still has little sense of how radical our leading politicians really are.... (Krugman)

But in each case the administration has reassured moderates by pretending otherwise — by offering rationales for its policy that don't seem all that radical. And in each case moderates have followed a strategy of appeasement....this is hard for journalists to deal with: they don't want to sound like crazy conspiracy theorists. (Krugman)

I have a vision — maybe just a hope — of a great revulsion: a moment in which the American people look at what is happening, realize how their good will and patriotism have been abused, and put a stop to this drive to destroy much of what is best in our country. How and when this moment will come, I don't know. But one thing is clear: it cannot happen unless we all make an effort to see and report the truth about what is happening. (Krugman)

It's one thing to hear him say that the Bush administration lies continually, it's another to read column after column in which he documents it. The lies are relentless, brazen, and indisputable. (Drum)

You know, this was not your ordinary average slightly misleading campaign, this was something off the scale, but most people just wouldn't go at it. And that's when I started saying that if Bush said the Earth was flat, the resulting article would say "Shape of the Earth: Views Differ." And then after September 11th it was really impossible, because people wanted to believe good things that just weren't true. (Krugman)

The scales are falling from people's eyes. (Krugman)

If you look at what the introduction is about a lot, it's partly about what these guys are doing, but it's partly about why reasonable people have such a hard time facing up to what they're doing. (Krugman)

And that's what it's addressed to, the intro is really addressed to the liberal or moderate who just can't believe that Bush isn't another Reagan, that this is something really much more radical even than that. (Krugman)

That's the nice thing about the Kissinger quote. I'm not sure he understands it either, but this notion that if you have this kind of revolutionary power you don't feel secure unless you have a complete monopoly of power, that seems to be the way it's playing out. (Krugman)

It's funny, some of the businesses in Alabama were supporting Riley's tax plan because they actually are starting to understand that a decent education level is more important to them than a couple of points off their taxes. (Krugman)

Yeah, and that's partly because people don't know. (Krugman)

I think most people are not well informed, and after all who is going to inform them? (Krugman)

I doubt that Bush understands that that's where it's going, but in effect he's allowing himself to be used by people who have those sorts of goals. (Krugman)

I'm pissed that intelligent people buy into this kind of crap. I'm really angry about how easily Bush has been able to swindle everyone rhetorically. And I'm most angry at the people who aided and abetted him. (commenter Mitch Schindler)

The average American, the average Rebuplican [sic], has absolutely no idea what lies in store if we continue on our current course. They don't even understand what the current batch of Republicans stands for. (commenter Timothy Klein)

911 so deeply traumatized America that you are accepting dictatorship for its comfortable illusion of safety -- we almost did that here, too, but luckily the government we happened to have in power in 2001 restrained itself and did not, for the most part, give in to its own worst impulses. (commenter CathiefromCanada)

Sadly, I feel that American voters' belief in easy answers and appeastement [sic] when told what they want to hear may just get Bush reelected in 2004....As we saw in Alabama, voters, when bombarded with half-truths (which the Republican money machine will continue to do) will strongly oppose a tax structure that is far and away better for their self-interest than the alternative. Perhaps many lower-class voters oppose taxation of the rich out of a moral belief in the evil of class warfare, or because they someday hope or expect to be rich themselves. Or perhaps they are being misled. (commenter Steve Judkins)

The second thought is that, in this media- and bumper sticker-driven culture, we who are justly troubled, scared, and furious about what is being done to our country need to find a simple and clear way of describing what is going on. (commenter Steady Eddie)

Some days I think that what we're looking at is an oligarchy with mass consent. (commenter Invisible Adjunct)

It'd be nice to trust the sincerity of good Christians, but so few of them know anything about Christianity, that is hard to do. (commenter emptywheel)

And, the rules are to get this paperwork paid for, the doctor, himself, often has to get on the phone and beg a clerk who hasn't seen more than a high school education (and, in our terms today, it means he or she is an idiot) ... (commenter Carol in California)

Kevin, you and Krugman perhaps ignored one of the reasons that the Bushies have succeeded so well, other than "it can't happen here," and in my view explains the defeat of the Alabama tax plan: racism. (commenter nolatab)

(Emphasis added.)

Some commenters disagreed. For example:

Personally, I think I can make a more informed decisions than the governement [sic] can with what to do with my money. However, you may not share the same level of confidence in yourself and have to put your trust in the likes of Krugman. (commenter Aric)

It reminds me of the Freeper “sheeple”-rants, e.g., of the Clinton years. Or is that a bad analogy? (Nope.)

Update: Pejman dissects the interview.

Posted by oscarjr at September 16, 2003 10:27 PM | TrackBack