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But we see the artificial divisions in America now just as they were in Greece. It's not only race that keeps the lower middle and working class separated. It's indoctrination and ideology. The Tea Party is weird and can't be explained easily.

In Greece, however, you have to overcome not only the divisions between the public and private spheres, but the remnants of the Civil War. This too is steeped in ideology. I think the documentary was well done and highly informative (the napalm video horrific!), but at the same time, while it acknowledged abuses by EAM (in terms of punishing traitors, perceived and real), it focused much more on the abuses of the royalists. The people in the video were Committed (with a capital C in the old Communist sense of the word) whereas most of the Greeks I know from the mountains were deeply ambivalent. And the ideological splits in Greek society seem to this day based on the specter of that ambivalence.

In many ways, it's similar to the USA.

by Upstate NY on Fri Sep 30th, 2011 at 09:06:29 AM EST
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The Tea Party is weird and can't be explained easily.

For what it is worth I see the Tea Party as a top down structure created by elements of the very wealthy and designed to attract angry and dissatisfied elements from any part of the US political spectrum. But given the top down structure, those who have organized it have control of what elements and what issues are allowed access to the media and to have their actions funded. Opportunists who can figure this out and who are unencumbered by conscience or scruples then take off in the intended direction, benefiting both from the money and from the base of angry, dissatisfied Tea Party member support. It has become AstroTurfing on steroids.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Fri Sep 30th, 2011 at 02:42:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I think you just wrote Andrew Breitbart's Wiki.
by Upstate NY on Fri Sep 30th, 2011 at 10:42:26 PM EST
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LOL! Andrew Breitbart's Wiki:

Breitbart often appears as a speaker at Tea Party movement events across the U.S. For example, Breitbart was a keynote speaker at the first National Tea Party Convention at Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville on February 6, 2010.[17] Breitbart later involved himself in a controversy over homophobic and alleged racial slurs being used at a March 20, 2010 rally at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. by asserting that slurs were never used, and that "It was a set-up" by Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Party. Breitbart offered to donate $100,000 to the United Negro College Fund "for any audio/video footage of the N-word being hurled", claiming that they made it up. Breitbart insisted Congressman John Lewis and the several other witnesses were forced to lie, concluding that "Nancy Pelosi did a great disservice to a great civil rights icon by thrusting him out there to perform this mischievous task. His reputation is now on the line as a result of her desperation to take down the Tea Party movement."[18][19]

"Thanks" for the introduction. I hadn't heard of this t#*d. Perhaps I should try editing that wiki entry?

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Sat Oct 1st, 2011 at 01:07:46 AM EST
[ Parent ]
It describes him perfectly.
by Upstate NY on Sat Oct 1st, 2011 at 09:38:49 AM EST
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