Suborning Dr. Yueh

I'm about half way through "Loyal Comrades, Ruthless Killers," mentioned a couple, two, three post ago.

Good read. Downside? The sameness. Huh?

Since Robespierre first put steel to neck, there's been a certain sameness to the state as a machine of murder. To these so called "revolutions" against the law and reason.

Loyal Comrades, Ruthless Killers details the um, excesses, of the nascent Soviet. And guess what? Not all those excesses had to do with a lack of consumer goods. Plenty of rape, murder and sadism. A pattern.

Hey, let's take over in five simple steps:

1. Be indirect about your goals.
2. Infiltrate and indoctrinate.
3. Gain a lever of power.
4. Establish some sort of NKVD, Stasi, Mukhabarat or RIAA.
5. Fu*k up.

Probably a little more complex, but the general arc of mass movements, these past few centuries.

I'd like you to listen to "This American Life" episode, titled "81 Words." The blurb:

In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) declared that homosexuality was not a disease simply by changing the 81-word definition of sexual deviance in its own reference manual. It was a change that attracted a lot of attention at the time, but the story of what led up to that change is one that we hear today, from reporter Alix Spiegel. Part one of Alix's story details the activities of a closeted group of gay psychiatrists within the APA who met in secret and called themselves the GAYPA ... and another, even more secret group of gay psychiatrists among the political echelons of the APA. Alix's own grandfather was among these psychiatrists, and the president-elect of the APA at the time of the change.

Interesting.

This isn't a post about homosexuality, per se. I don't have a dog in that fight. Our dog, Louis, is neutered. Instead, listen to the audio as a lesson in suborning. A harmless insight into "how it's done."

I always remark the the Civil Rights Movement was about securing a seat on the bus, not blowing the damn thing up. I further think that, unfortunately, Martin Luther King was unique. At least, looking at today's movements, that's my takeaway.

The Cat posts on "The Call of Cthulhu" and remarks:

Poor men, these al-Qaeda, they who would remake the world in their ostensibly new vision only to find it had been templated long ago by some sad and ancient corruption.

Pretty much. For now, that "ancient corruption" remains hidden, a Keyser Söze of our time. What I find interesting, is the application of accelerating change to political thought. Somehow, we're getting smarter, in bits, about what lies behind the curtain. But that's probably for the sequel. As it stands, we'll still assign names like "violent break away faction loosely affiliated with the moderate wing of" whatever, and expect that to have meanings. Reality makes as*es of us all.

Silliness.

Right, Dr. Yueh?