{"id":53371,"date":"2026-03-17T14:59:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T14:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wagingnonviolence.org\/metta\/?p=53371"},"modified":"2026-03-26T23:25:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T23:25:19","slug":"when-madness-becomes-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wagingnonviolence.org\/metta\/2026\/03\/when-madness-becomes-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"When madness becomes policy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cThose whom the gods would destroy, they first drive mad.\u201d This bit of folk wisdom has been kicking around for about 400 years now and even been (falsely) attributed to much earlier Greek and Latin sources. Whatever may be its origin, it rings disturbingly true to now. Looking at the erratic and dangerous decisions of President Trump, renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs, one of the most astute analysts of international affairs recently said<\/a>, \u201cthis is madness.\u201d And he added that it\u2019s the precursor to self-destruction. When you consider how we could have used our financial strength to eliminate poverty and our power to eliminate war, the waste of opportunity is a tragedy of world-historical proportions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, there have been protests, and a big one is coming March 28<\/a>. We have seen many of them come and go, often with no discernible results, but if there\u2019s reason to hope this protest will be different it\u2019s not because of its size \u201412 million protested across the globe against the looming war on Iraq, but the American president launched it anyway. The ray of hope is rather the growing awareness that protest is not enough. The current president, that self-declared \u201cvery stable genius\u201d with a very big ego (yes, he declared that, too) will still show no trace of recognition that he is leading civilization over a cliff. There must be more we can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What might it be? I hold that we need to aim high; to go beyond disestablishing a rogue regime, beyond any political change \u2014 though some restructuring of our political system is clearly and desperately called for. We must get down into the roots of modern culture. Who were the 77 million people who voted for this administration? What were they thinking? It reminds me of a TV producer who was asked what he was thinking to promote such violent programming. He replied almost indignantly, \u201cThere was no thinking whatever behind it!\u201d In his case, there was only a mindless concern for profit; in the present case, it\u2019s an equally mindless drive for global hegemony. You can\u2019t have one without the other; the former madness enables the latter. You have to degrade the human image to produce a population manipulated by shallow, inflammatory language they never think to examine.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, behind the 77 million voters lies the entire cultural infrastructure of America, and to one degree or another of all the Western industrialized civilizations. It\u2019s a culture that predisposes people to want a politics that regards the human being as incompetent, needing to be led and controlled; in other words, the modern Republican party. I once watched a contest on television between two candidates for office. As soon as each had spoken his piece the announcer assured us, \u201cWe\u2019ll have the results for you in a moment.\u201d The <\/em>results? For <\/em>us? I thought the whole point was to allow us to decide. But of course, that would have been democracy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The connection I\u2019m making between commercial and political propaganda is not a new discovery; it was brought out devastatingly by a 2002 BBC documentary, \u201cThe Century of the Self,\u201d that\u2019s available now on Netflix. It should be watched by anyone who wants to understand \u2014 and we must, repugnant as it is \u2014 the devious \u201cmethod\u201d behind the fatal \u201cmadness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n