On an uplifting and positive note, for the past week, hundreds of thousands of Romanians have turned out in record numbers to protest recent moves by their government that essentially legalized their own corruption.
As the Free Thought Project reported, the protests began when Romania’s leftist Social Democrat Party (PSD) issued the emergency decree which decriminalized cases of corruption involving less than 45k euros. It essentially legalized the bribing of government officials, as long as it was under 45k euros.
Saturday, the Romanian government conceded to the massive protests and said it will withdraw the decree that would have decriminalized some corruption offenses.
Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu just said it would be repealed on Sunday.
“I do not want to divide Romania. It can’t be divided in two,” Mr. Grindeanu said in a televised statement. “We’ll hold an extraordinary meeting on Sunday to repeal the decree, withdraw, cancel it … and find a legal way to make sure it does not take effect.”
While there is certainly nothing wrong with watching football and the Super Bowl, complacency and ignorance should be resisted. A well-informed society is far less likely to descend into tyranny than one who cares more about a pigskin than their own skin.
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. …We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. …In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons…who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.”
Edward Bernays – Propaganda – 1928
http://www.postnewsreport.com/romanias-leaders-back-down-but-protesters-arent-going-anywhere/
Realist - Everybody in America is soft, and hates conflict. The cure for this, both in politics and social life, is the same -- hardihood. Give them raw truth.
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