February 11, 2002

Tolerating the Intolerable

by Doug Morris

The powerful control the systems of indoctrination in society. They shape what we think, what we believe, what we aspire to, what history is kept and what history is erased. Allowing the powerful to dictate our goals, visions and aspirations is one of the grave mistakes many people make. But it is done in such a way that most people do not even notice it, or understand it. For propaganda and indoctrination to be most effective, evidence of its existence must be difficult to see. Howard Zinn claimed that it is a testimony to people's desire for peace and justice, and our opposition to violence and war, that the Pentagon has to spend so much time, money and energy on propaganda. Such propaganda is the reason why many people don't know anything about Colombia, except maybe something about drugs, or the drug war. But nothing about what is really going on. Of course, it is not only the Pentagon, it is also the education system, the media, etc...

Some of this is clearly playing out right now in the discussions about terrorism. What the powerful do is never called "terrorism," though the terror perpetrated by the powerful is on a scale that the weak could never match. Sadly, even September 11 pales in comparison to the massive acts of terror carried out by the powerful over the years. There was a sign at the School of the Americas Watch protests at Fort Benning that helps illustrate this fact: "Kill one person, it is called murder; kill 100,000 and it is called Foreign Policy." But one does not expect the State Department to say anything other than, "We are spreading freedom, democracy and wealth throughout the world, and we are fighting terror, tyranny and villainy."

In doing presentations on Colombia in recent months I have noticed several things. One is that very few people in the United States have even heard of Plan Colombia (see, Plan Colombia: A Closer Look). I was invited to speak to a group of "cream of the crop" high school students who are in a special program for the intellectually gifted. There were 100 students, and five or six faculty in the hall, and not one person had heard of Plan Colombia. The education system is working! Everybody had heard of the September 11 terror, but nobody had heard of U.S.-sponsored terror in Colombia. And that is a form of terror we could act immediately to end, given U.S. power, influence and culpability in that terror. We wouldn't even need to look in caves to find the supporters and planners. But that terror is off the agenda.

Secondly, a number of people have responded with a degree of hostility to the suggestion that the United States might be arming, funding, training, supporting and harboring terrorists. It is a rational response on their part. If one believed the view of the world that many people have been fed and have internalized, they too would be highly skeptical of someone who walked into the room and said, "The United States sponsors terrorism," or, "The United States is the leading terrorist state in the world" (see, Alienating the International Community).

The evidence to support these claims is overwhelming, but even after presenting what we might consider solid and penetrating evidence people will still not believe it. Again, it makes sense. It is as though people have been taught their entire lives that 2+2=5 and we walk into the room and say, "Sorry to tell you, but 2+2=4." A reasonable response from the 2+2=5 people would be skepticism, if not hostility. That is important to understand when trying to talk with people, and difficult to remember. Richard Levins said something along the lines, "There are no bad people, only bad ideas and bad institutions." The 2+2=5 people are not bad people, they are victims of bad ideas and largely criminal institutions.

Hannah Arendt's book, Eichmann in Jerusalem, is a study of the Adolf Eichmann war crimes trial and is subtitled, A Report on the Banality of Evil. One point she makes is that people who are linked to or commit horrendous crimes are not necessarily monsters. Often they are regular people who get caught up in the bad ideas of the bad institutions and they carry out their work efficiently, loyally, obediently and energetically, pursuing the rewards within the system.

Noam Chomsky, in his book, The Culture of Terrorism, refers to how the Nazi leadership, in order to carry out its crimes, required from the general public a mood of passive compliance and a willingness to look the other way, while the country celebrated the glory of national grandeur and patriotic commitments. It sounds all too familiar. I believe Edward Herman called it "the normalization of the unthinkable." One might call it a combination of tolerance and passivity, a very dangerous combination that leads us to tolerate the intolerable.

To plan or participate in, or support, monstrous crimes in a dedicated and systematic fashion requires a process of normalization of what was previously unthinkable. Herman mentions a division of labor in this process. It includes those who carry out the crimes directly, those who keep the machinery of state running efficiently, those who produce the tools of destruction, and those who research more efficient and deadly means of destruction. For example, they may research a "better" (i.e. deadlier) poison to be used for fumigation in Colombia (see, Death Falls from the Sky).

Then there are those in the indoctrination business: the media, the experts, the pundits, the educators, whose task it is, and it is often carried out unconsciously, to normalize the unthinkable for the public so that people learn to tolerate the intolerable. Earlier I mentioned that 100 of the top high school students in a special program did not know anything about Plan Colombia and said it is evidence that the education system is working. It is linked to this idea of the "banality of evil."

The national consciousness, to a large extent, is shaped by elite culture in the interest of promoting and protecting power, privilege and wealth. From the perspective of power it serves no real interest to reveal and discuss the crimes of the State, or the crimes of the economic system. There will be occasional mention of crimes in the system, but rarely any mention regarding the crimes of the system. In other words, the ideas and institutions that dominate are criminal.

There is a simple lesson to be learned from Eduardo Galeano's latest book called, Upside Down: A Primer for the Looking Glass World. If you want to understand the world, simply turn upside down what you hear from the powerful. If they say they are committed to abolishing tyranny, we know that it means, "supporting and creating tyranny." If they say "spreading democracy," we know that it means, "democracy for the few" (i.e. one dollar one vote, or more accurately, one million dollars one vote). And if they say "free movement of ideas, people and goods," we know that it means "free movement of corporate power."

One can measure the U.S. interest in democracy in many ways. A basic tenet of democracy is that people should be able to participate in some meaningful fashion in the decisions that affect their lives. The people in Colombia who are most affected by U.S. decisions to impose military, economic and fumigation violence have zero opportunity to participate in those decisions. Refusing to allow for a diversity of opinion is often a recipe for disaster. Orwell said, "All those who challenge the prevailing orthodoxies will find themselves silenced with surprising effectiveness." That silencing may prove deadly.

By definition, if the United States is carrying out policies, then it is doing so to promote decency and good. If A, then B. It all follows logically. The fact that the official rhetoric conflicts with declassified planning documents, with the UN voting record, and with the always uncomfortable facts of history may be a slight nuisance, but they are easily overcome by the Higher Truth that, "if A, then B."

And if someone is supporting war, it may be because they don't know there are other options. We have all heard people say, "If what you are saying is true, why didn't we hear about it in the newspapers, or on television?" Which relates to something else Galeano said, "The politicians provide the words, the campesinos provide the corpses." People in the United States hear the words of the politicians and the pundits, but they do not see the corpses, though they are there, and piling higher every day. It is true when talking about Colombia, and it is true when talking about much of the world.

As for the argument that one shouldn't raise questions about U.S. crimes while the United States is in a state of war: The United States is always in a state of war. It is either the War against the Reds, the Cold War, the Drug War, or the War on Terror. The powerful always create the impression that the "evil world" is trying to destroy our lifestyle, our liberty, our democracy, our freedom to worship, etc. Consequently, the United States is always at war. But it is a war against the poor, here at home and particularly abroad. Like Galeano said, it is the "Upside Down" world.

This article has been adapted from interviews with Doug Morris of the Brattleboro Area Peace and Justice Group conducted by Joshua Jackson on December 21, 23 and 28, 2001.

This article originally appeared in Colombia Report, an online journal that was published by the Information Network of the Americas (INOTA).

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