What Goes Around Comes Around (Political)

Psychological profiling is a key element in today’s crime-fighting television dramas like Criminal Minds on CBS, or Law and Order: Criminal Intent on NBC.  A psychological profiler analyzes the criminal mind to understand how they think and what they’ll do next.  But psychological profiling is not a new thing.

In 1943, the OSS (Office For Strategic Services – a US intelligence agency formed during World War II and the precursor to the CIA) released a psychological profile on Adoph Hitler.  The complete profile can be found here: http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/documents/osstitle.htm

One of the most intriguing parts of that report is to be found in the chapter entitled “Hitler – As his associates know him.”  Here, the report’s authors suggest how Hitler approaches the job of swaying the public:

His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.

Flash forward just seven years.  In February, 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin said in a speech that the U.S. Department of State was “infested with communists,” launching one of the darkest periods of threat to American freedom since, well, World War II.  Most likely without even being consciously aware of it, McCarthy used Hitler’s rule book: McCarthy lied about his own war record while running for office, and accused his opponent during the election of “war profiteering,” without proof, of course.  He ruined careers, using half-truths and misstatements without apology.  The story of Joe McCarthy is (hopefully) widely known and his ultimate, well-earned downfall only appropriate for one who chose to employ Hitler’s “big lie” for his own gains.

Fast-forward again to – now.

On June 13 of this very year, Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security accusing Mohamed Elibiary, a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, of being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.  This was after DHS had already cleared Elibiary of an earlier charge by Gohmert.

But, Gohmert is not alone in his efforts to suggest the Department of State is full of bad actors.  Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), Thomas Rooney (R-Fla.) and Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.), along with Gohmert are all calling for investigations into whether the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the U.S. government.

Also in July, Michelle Bachmann accused fellow U.S. Representative Keith Ellison (D-Minn) of having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.  Ellison happens to be a Muslim.  Earlier, Bachmann similarly accused Huma Abedin, an aide to Hillary Clinton, and in this case even John Boehner found Bachmann’s allegations “dangerous.”

Are there employees of the United States government that are practicing Muslims?  Yes.  Are they all threats to the security of the United States?  No.  Do these Representatives have any proof that any of them are a threat to the security of the United States?  It doesn’t seem so.

Is this anything more than old-fashioned racism?  You be the judge.

Hitler’s approach to managing public opinion is still at work in the world.  It’s most saddening to recognize that the Big Lie is still at work (again) here in our very own country.

Next up: How fear drives some of us to do whatever it takes…

Southern Beasts

A friend and I went to Cinema 21 the other night to watch Beasts of the Southern Wild.

A remarkable and unique film, Beasts of the Southern Wild asks you to step back into your childhood and view tragic and confusing moments from that perspective.  A little girl is being raised by a single father in the most desperately poor community, isolated (by choice) from the rest of southern Louisiana, and facing utter destruction from a hurricane.

The little girl - Hushpuppy - knows her world is going wrong, and thinks it partly her responsibility.  Hushpuppy says, "The whole universe depends on everything fitting together just right. If one piece busts, even the smallest piece... the whole universe will get busted."

Hushpuppy (played by Quvenzhane Wallis in her very first acting role)  is our observer who tries desperately to take the right action to save her world.  Her daddy Wink (Dwight Henry in his first acting job as well) seems at first a drunken layabout who feels some small obligation to his daughter, but not enough to let her stay in his own house.  Wink, in fact, seems to be a large part of the threat to Hushpuppy's existence.  As the movie evolves, though, we begin to realize that Wink is just like the rest of us, trying to do what he thinks is right and best for all.

My friend mentioned after the film that she'd never been exposed to a life like that experienced by the characters in the movie.  She was referring in part to the extraordinary poverty, pitiful living conditions, ignorance, and occasional brutality of a life lived in the rough.  Most of us, blessedly, are not exposed to that kind of existence.  But, it's always been with us, whether we see it or not.  People do live under bridges, in gullies beside the freeway, in a row of bushes next to an apartment house.  They carry everything they own.  They are, for most of us, aliens living a life so different from our own that we cannot imagine it, just as my friend could not imagine it.


That kind of poverty bends your perspective of what's right and wrong, and who matters and who doesn't.  Once during the winter while talking a walk at lunch time, a homeless guy I'd seen around a lot gestured at me and said, "Give me your coat, man.  My bud's stole mine last night."  My knee-jerk impulse was to say, "Well then, they weren't your friends then, were they?"  But, I didn't.  I said something like "Too bad."  It seems to me now that the homeless guy was really pointing out the fact that he was a member of a society to which I did not belong, and as an outsider, I didn't matter to him while those members of his own society did matter, even if they happened to steal his coat.

This kind of us-versus-them attitude seems to be deeply woven into the human fabric, and comes out in this movie very clearly.  Wink believes that he needs to toughen Hushpuppy up because it's a hard, cruel world out there and the only one you can count on is yourself.  But he had it a little wrong.  Hushpuppy could also count on her own society.  Her people will take care of her and keep the rest of us, the aliens, at bay.

Go see the movie.  It's absolutely unique and worth the effort.

Can't Even Give It Away

Imagine this, if you can. You’ve had a good life, operated a prosperous business, travelled the world, and now you want to give something back to the community. Because you care for nature, you decide to buy some land to protect it from development. Knowing you won’t live forever, you also decide to give the land to the state to create a park so that everyone could enjoy what you have protected. What does the state say in response to your generous gift?

No thanks.

Virgil Talmadge McCroskey didn’t have to imagine it. He lived it. Born on a farm in the wheat fields of Eastern Washington State, Virgil McCroskey earned a degree in pharmacy and bought the Elk Drug Store in Colfax, Washington. In 1920 he sold the business and retired to travel the world, and especially to visit national parks all over the Western United States. Once he had satisfied his wanderlust, Virgil settled back onto the family farm at the foot of Steptoe Butte, a quartzite cone thrusting upward from the rolling hills toward the sky. Steptoe Butte is a remarkable landmark, and provides a visitor to the top a breathtaking view of the vast Camas Prairie.

Perhaps it was the hotel that Cashup Davis had built in 1888 at the summit of Steptoe Butte that offended Virgil’s eye. In any case, by the time Virgil bought the land, the hotel had burned down and Virgil was able to make sure that it was never replaced. Nearing his 70th birthday, Virgil offered Steptoe Butte and 146 acres of land to the state of Washington who graciously accepted. Steptoe Butte State Park was dedicated on July 4, 1946, becoming Washington’s 72nd state park.

Although he could have rested on his laurels, Virgil wasn’t done. Turning his still energetic eye toward the east, Virgil decided that he needed to save Skyline Ridge, just over the border in Idaho. The heavily timbered sides of Mission and Huckleberry Mountains were being threatened by logging, and in those days mandatory replanting was not a strict requirement. Virgil began work anew.

Buying up chunks of land as he could, by 1951 Virgil had put together about 2,000 acres of ridgeline, and he wrote to the Idaho State Legislature, offering the land as a state park. The Idaho legislators weighed Virgil’s gift (and the costs associated with maintaining a park) in one hand, and the tax money the property would generate in the other. It turns out the tax hand weighed more than the park hand, and the state turned Virgil down flat. Never one to say never, Virgil continued buying up parcel after parcel, accumulating yet another 2,400 acres to add to his holdings. Virgil now held property on either side of the 18 mile long Ridgeline Road, offering stunning views to both east and west.

In 1955 Virgil tried again. This time, the state was interested. The legislature considered, and decided to accept the most generous man’s offer. With one proviso. The State of Idaho would create the Mary Minerva McCroskey State Park if the 79 year old Virgil would agree to maintain the park at his own expense for the next 15 years!

Lucky for Idaho that Virgil McCroskey believed in what he was doing and what he was offering. He accepted their somewhat parsimonious offer and went to work improving the park. For the next 15 years Virgil added camping spots and picnic areas, did road improvement, working steadily on the park until just before his death at age 93. Virgil Talmadge McCroskey had created a 4,200 acre park named for his beloved mother and in honor of all pioneer women.

Today, the park is pretty much neglected and certainly underutilized by the public. Few people visiting the top of nearby Steptoe Butte know that when they’re looking east at the lovely ridgeline covered in trees that they’re seeing a state park in Idaho that’s easily accessible in the summertime, offering unsurpassed views of both states and cool respite from the hot prairie winds.

If you find yourself in this part of the world, by all means drive to the top of Steptoe Butte, but take a little extra time and tour Virgil’s Ridgeline Road in the Mary Minerva McCroskey State Park. You won’t regret it.