The witch is displaced by water. The power lies in OZ. Not the man behind the curtain, for he holds no real power. He plays with all the gadgets and sweats enough to kill the witch but is still useless. The true power of the Wizard is the idea of a greater force capable of taking care of us when we have no heart, no courage, no brain. Bring on the little girl with the stolen red shoes and there you have it. The Wizard will take us all home in a big balloon. Toto, Auntie Em ... can we find our brain, our courage, our heart without losing our soul? Our country depends on it.

Clicking my heels together and hoping we get it right this time. There's no place like home.

Rec'd, because the post is very eloquent about how strange it feels to be a social animal. Who exactly *is* in control? Why do people all go to sleep, sometimes, and then all wake up at once?

I think this is one fight where the media is on our side -- as much as the structure of the news business will allow them to be. First of all because our cause is just, and secondly because McCain is displaying the same contempt for journalism that Bush has displayed for eight years -- and they're personally sick of it.

The question that remains is whether it really matters that the journalists know your side is telling the truth, and the other side isn't. The jury, I think, is still out. For one thing, as Josh and others have been saying, occasional fact-checking isn't enough to stop determined liars.

But maybe even more importantly, many swing voters don't watch a lot of news. They really do form their opinions, as Rick Davis says, by getting an overall impression of the candidates as people, rather than attending to their records or positions on the issues.

I think we've got ways to reach those people -- ads, Letterman appearances, canvassing, and so on. But it may depend on our donations and labor, more than it depends on Mark Halperin.

Psychological studies show that well-educated people perversely are better able to use their IQ's to adopt positions unsupported by facts.

This so funny, Des. A very wordy and poetic description of...wait for it...spin.

Are you, by chance, a University Professor - in the social sciences, perhaps?

Waking up from our self-induced torpor requires a superhuman effort. In fact, it's so massive that most people simply refuse to attempt it. Our primitive, reptilian mind simultaneously informs and poisons our intellect. It makes us do things we don't understand. As Clotaire Rapaille, author of The Culture Code has said, "I don't care what you're going to tell me intellectually. I don't care. Why? Because the reptilian always wins. My experience is that most of the time, people have no idea why they're doing what they're doing. They have no idea. So they're going to try to make up something that makes sense. Why do you need a Hummer to go shopping? 'Well, you know, in case I need to go off road.'"

We have no idea why we're doing what we're doing. And unless we're willing to make the effort to rip the weeds out of the garden of our mind the moment they appear, we never will. Don't look to the human race to do this any time soon. It's simply too difficult. Most human beings will die in their ignorance. They might as well be chickens.

http://archive.salon.com/books/int/2006/05/20/rapaille/index.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/interviews/rapaille.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/interviews/luntz.html

Well, I wrote a longish comment here, but it appears to have been tucked away in the TPM safe. Which they seem to be doing more & more. Donno. I said something about birds, and how they can see in the ultraviolet. Probably shouldn't have said that.

Oh yeah. There were tunes. I'll see if I can sneak this one through. Peter Gabriel and Karl Wallinger (from World Party & Waterboys), recording spontaneous, over years, with lots of people passing through. Love this first one - Big Blue Ball.