Wattree's picture

    THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS BAD KNOWLEDGE

    By Wattree on Sun, 07/19/2015 - 10:36am |
    BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE
     
    THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS BAD KNOWLEDGE


    THERE'S AN ERROR IN THIS POSTER. HILLARY ONLY CAMPAIGNED
    FOR BARRY GOLDWATER. SHE WAS ONLY 17 AT THE TIME OF THE ELECTION.
    BUT SHE WAS PRESIDENT OF "THE YOUNG REPUBLICANS" AT 
    WELLESLEY COLLEGE.

    A couple of friends asked me in response to a piece I did on Hillary Clinton why was it necessary to bring up the fact that Hillary Clinton campaigned for Barry Goldwater over 50 years ago. I'll respond to that question with a question - why not bring it up? A true progressive always gives truth priority over ideology.  In fact, that's what it means to be a progressive. So again, tell me, why shouldn't I mention it?
    .

    I'm a writer.  My job is to disseminate information and  knowledge, and since there's no such thing as BAD knowledge, I don't pick and choose what knowledge I disseminate. A writer writes to relate knowledge, not hide it. The tendency to be selective in the dissemination of knowledge is one of the most serious problems that we have in this country. Isn't that one of the major complaints being lodged against the mainstream media?  And it's a valid complaint, because it's led to an entire generation of under-informed people - a population of people who are merely  "edge-ucated,"or who have only been brought to the edge of a true education, because someone, somewhere, have decided that revealing certain information to them is "inconvenient." That's also THE primary reason that most people don't know the many contributions that Black people have made to this country, because someone decided that information was inconvenient.

    .

    The fact is, you probably wouldn't be currently reading this article on your beloved Personal computer if it wasn't for a Black man. "Dr. Mark Dean is a Ph.D. from Stanford University. He is in the National Hall of Inventors. He has more than 30 patents pending. He is a vice president with IBM. Oh, yeah. And he is also the principle architect of the modern-day personal computer. Dr. Dean holds three of the original nine patents on the computer that all PCs are based upon."(http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/10/black-man-invented-pc-as-we-know-it.html). 

    .

    DR. MARK DEAN PRINCIPLE ARCHITECT OF THE
    PERSONAL     COMPUTER

    ​Thus, the fact that Hillary Clinton was a part of the Barry Goldwater campaign in her youth may be quite significant to a person who wasn't cognizant of that fact. And it takes on more significance when you take into account her current association with the very secretive Bilderberg Society, and even more significance when you consider the political strategy espoused by her close friend and mentor, the late Saul Alinsky.  Alinsky said, "True revolutionaries do not flaunt their radicalism. They cut their hair, put on suits, and infiltrate the system from within."
    .
    Thus, a person who wasn't aware of this fact may want the opportunity to assess her motives for themselves. After all, it's not like Hillary was a naive little girl who was simply following in her mommie and daddy's footsteps. She was so passionately motivated that she didn't simply support Barry Goldwater, she took it to the next level and actually went to work on his campaign. So that obviously wasn't just a young girl's passing indulgence.  When she went to college she became the PRESIDENT of the "Young Republicans" at Wellesley College.That reflected a passion, commitment, and dedication to the conservative cause.    
    .
    So to say that Hillary spun on a dime is an understatement.  Thus, the question that needs to be pondered is, did she suddenly undergo a passionate epiphany, or was her sudden change of direction a cynical calculation based on ambition because she saw which way the wind was blowing.  Every individual deserves the right to make that assessment for themselves.
    .
    So again, why should I take it upon myself to hide Hillary's past from those who may not have that knowledge?  It's one thing to admire a person (as I do Hillary Clinton),  but let us not get so caught up in our admiration of an individual that it causes us to go blind and stupid. That's also a serious problem in this country. That's what conservatives do.
     


    .
    Eric L. Wattree
    Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does. 

    Comments

    Well, what do you think about this piece of history? The way you present it is doubled. You want to defend the fact you brought up the topic but want to also say you are not responsible for any of the ways reporting it might influence other perceptions.

    Pick a lane. Either do whatever you can do to discredit a candidate or not. Once you have started, other people will figure out what you are trying to do. Take responsibility for cutting down who you want to be taken down. That is why it is called Politics.


    by moat on Sun, 07/19/2015 - 5:28pm

    Moat, 
     

    I simply reported the facts and defended my reason for doing so  If Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee I will support her enthusiastically, but as I pointed out in the article previous to this one, I prefer Bernie Sanders because I don't completely trust Hillary Clinton.  Thus, it is what it is, and I reported it. What I really should have gotten into is how did this country manage to slide so far downhill that a writer has to defend reporting the facts in the first place.


    by Wattree on Sun, 07/19/2015 - 11:10pm

    You made a bad argument. You were called out for your bad argument and it was explained why some thought that argument weak. That's how debate works.  But please continue to slam Hilary for supporting Goldwater when she was 17 and for being president of the Young Republicans her first year in college. It's a silly argument that won't hurt her and will discredit you.


    by ocean-kat on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 12:01am

     

    What does it mean to you that she came up this way?


    by moat on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 8:19pm

    Everyone picks and chooses what information to disseminate. It's impossible to include every thing a person has done in their life. Even several hundred page books must leave some information out. In a short article one can choose to include that which is meaningful and important or one can choose to include the information which they feel makes the best propaganda and matches their partisan slant. Your partisan slant is always clear and your propaganda pieces rife with both unimportant data and data that is often distorted or incorrect.


    by ocean-kat on Sun, 07/19/2015 - 5:29pm

    Wattree, who created the "poster" included here? It is a clear attempt to portray facts as propaganda for political purposes. It's done effectively all the time and serves that purpose well - just don't pretend the intent is merely to inform.


    by barefooted on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 1:20am

    Barefooted,

    First, you're making an unwarranted assumption, one of the most pronounced signs of sloppy thinking of all the logical flaws.  Unless you're clairvoyant, you have absolutely no idea what's going on in my mind, nor what motivates me. And as a matter of fact, I DIDN'T create the poster. I got it off of Google Images. Secondly, you're dealing in projection, another logical flaw. You seem to be betraying the assumption that I think like you and share the flaws in your character. Therefore, I have to hide a malevolent motive. Well, I don't think like you. If Hillary gets the democratic nomination, I will enthusiastically support her. So believe it or not, Barefooted, some people are honest in their motives. As I clearly pointed out, I was simply sharing my concerns about Hillary, nothing else. So all of the dark recesses in the caverns of your mind are your own, and you need to work on them.  


    by Wattree on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 9:25pm

    Wattree, not just a bottom-feeder but shamelessly building new bottoms.

    "Thus, the fact that Hillary Clinton was a part of the Barry Goldwater campaign in her youth may be quite significant to a person who wasn't cognizant of that fact. And it takes on more significance when you take into account her current association with the very secretive Bilderberg Society, and even more significance when you consider the political strategy espoused by her close friend and mentor, the late Saul Alinsky."

    Simply wow - affiliating with pro-black, pro-people, pro-underdog organizer Alinsky is a scary threat leading to secretive cabal in Wattree's hands (even though an inspiration for Obama's south side organizing). Hillary came from a conservative Republican family (you don't bother to note). She did sleuthing for Nixon at 13, campaigned for Dem antiwar maverick Eugene McCarthy, campaigned for the humane soft Republican Nelson Rockefeller, and then left the GOP party for good, campaigning heavily for McGovern at 24 and then working with the Watergate committee to expose Nixon. You're guilty by omission - pure propaganda techniques - to try to smear her.


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 5:20am

    Okay.

    But Krauthammer or whatever the hell he calls himself campaigned for McGovern.

    I have problems understanding the issue?

    I think there are choices.

    I get confused.

    But would the world or this country be better off if McCain had been elected in 2008?

    No. That is my answer.

    Are 'they all' part of Wall Street?

    It depends upon which side.

    hahhahaha

    I am at times a nihilist.

    But I cannot take that philosophy that far.

    We are all guilty by omission and commission I guess.

    Come on.

    Eric is my friend.

    Let's give him some rooooooom

    Can you just imagine what the hell 'they' have done to his song.

    I love his song.

    Give him a fucking break.

    LET IT GO.

    Right and wrong aint that clear.

    But I still love you my dear.

    hahhahaha

     


    by Richard Day on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 10:05pm

    Eric is my friend.

    Let's give him some rooooooom

    Problem is he wants his own separate room. He doesn't want debate and he doesn't want his blogs to be challenged in any way. When challenged by anyone he gets insulting and nasty to attempt to chase people away. Most people leave him alone rather than deal with the nastiness. The nice people leave first. If you don't see that you're not paying attention. Just look a couple of comments up thread.

    PP and I are stubborn and will fight back rather than let him chase us away. We get a bit nasty too and then we get muddy and maybe that's all you see.


    by ocean-kat on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 10:32pm

    Oh Ocean.

    I would not even be here without you or Peracles.

    That is a fact.

    I like Stubborns, hahhahaha

    I just never sensed that Eric was attempting to chase anybody away.

    I get muddy at times and so do you for heaven's sake.

    I like this blog.

    I like you and Peracles or I would not be here.

    I meant no offense.

    I still love Eric.

    THE END


    by Richard Day on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 11:03pm

    Thank you, Richard,
    .
    I appreciate your trying to defend my position, but I really don't need it.  In order to attack, people must think, and that's the reason I write, to make people think, even if their thinking is flawed. People generally attack a position not so much because they think they're right, but because the facts, or a given truth being revealed, is challenging their comfort zone. People generally attack a position not so much because they think they're right, but because the facts, or a given truth being revealed, challenges their preferred view of reality.  But that's what writing is about, isn't it - challenging comfortable assumptions. 


    .
    All of the arguments put forward in opposition to my position are either weak, invalid, or based on gross and unwarranted assumptions. For example, one argument is that when Hillary Clinton was campaigning for Barry Goldwater at 17, or when she was in college and became the president of the "Young Republicans," she was much too young to have developed a fundamental political philosophy.  What evidence do they have of that?  When I was 14 I held the very same political philosophy - and attitudes - that I have today. 

    So the argument that Hillary's tender age at the time she was engaging in these activities should indeed be taken into account, but contrary to the position of my critics, her age should be argued to bolster the other side of the equation. It should be used as an indicator of her fundamental predisposition. Politics is like religion. As we age we may modify and fine tune our beliefs, but most people take their fundamental belief system to the grave..

    And the argument that Hillary's mentor, Saul Alinsky, was a liberal is also meaningless.  If Hillary's motive for spinning on a dime was a cynical decision based on ambition and a recognition of which way the wind was blowing, the very first thing she would want to do would be to start building her new liberal credentials, and what better way to do that than to establish an association with someone like Saul Alinsky?  In addition, he would be invaluable in helping her to understand the progressive mindset and how to speak the language of a liberal. And everything she's done since could have been in pursuit of building her liberal credentials. Just because Alinsky was her political mentor doesn't necessarily mean that she embraced his political philosophy.  Perhaps what she wanted most from him was his strategic thinking, i.g., "True revolutionaries do not flaunt their radicalism. They cut their hair, put on suits, and infiltrate the system from within."  That could be exactly what she's doing.
    .
    Now, I'm not saying that everything I've said above represent the facts, but they are issues that should be pondered, because efficient thought doesn't elevate ANYTHING above question. In fact, to think, IS to question. So if you're not questioning, and you tend to take certain issues for granted, you're not a thinker; you're a feeler - and one of the biggest problems that we have in this country today is we have far too many feelers, and far too few thinkers.
    .
    By the way, and finally, if Hillary Clinton is chosen as the Democratic nominee for president, I will support her enthusiastically.  But again, I don't completely trust her, and I've explained why.


    by Wattree on Tue, 07/21/2015 - 7:22am

    Sorry, I promised but... I had to let you know how brilliant you are, and so overjoyed you've freed me from my comfort zone. Free at last, I'm free at last...

    Hillary - scheming since she was not-so-sweet sixteen. Ambitious cynical party switch at 20. I bet she plotted out how to kill Vince Foster when she was 7. Could she have killed the Kennedys, even Fred Hampton? Check those call records & 2nd set of emails. Pure Chicago evil, always vindictive - "they bring a knife, you bring a gun. they put yours in the hospital, you put theirs in the morgue". Here she is at eight - how did she get those shoes?

     

     

     


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 07/21/2015 - 7:32am

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