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Growing Experience...

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Heather

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I had an enlightening experience this past weekend that I want a few other viewpoints on.

I was out shooting a short film in downtown Sacramento last weekend, where I found the Democratic convention across the street from where I was filming and found myself constantly being harrassed by various liberal groups (i.e. "Old Broads for Peace" picketers, among others who had stuck long PVC pipes down thier clothing mounted with banners). I turned my camera from the architecture on my side of the street to the activity on thier side of the street. When I go back and watch the footage, you can see the picketers on the other side of the street with my audible conversations in the foreground with various passerby who would accuse me of being a 'warmonger' when I told them that I would not carry signs with them. I switched the focus of my video and started interviewing on tape members of this group called the "Youth Movement for Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr.", a few members of which had made passing sneers about how it wasn't like I was 'doin' anythin' impo-tent' (ebon-ified) with just a camera and tripod...

I grew up in a conservative-Republican household and had never understood this other point of view, so when I was invited by the members of this 'movement,' who beleived that they were recruiting a skeptic, to 'hospitality appetizers' and a town meeting, I took them up on it. I had always assumed my lack of understanding of this other type of 'thinking' only to be a reflection of my own naivety. This many people can't be just ignorant.

After I got to the hotel where all of this was to take place, I spoke breifly with an older lady in the back of the meeting room then went to sit in the front, and within 5 minutes I was surrounded by 4 younger people who all knew my name (they were talking about me in the back of the room apparently). In discussion with a few of them over appetizers I understood the main ideology of this guy's (LaRouche's) campaign to be the faulty idea that the workers are exploited by the capitolists, and that the reason why the workers don't rise up and take action against the capitolists is that they've been brainwashed to accept this way of living as virtuous. HOWEVER, this 'youth movement' group (interestingly, this info took some serious prying to get out of anyone) is made up of mostly ex-students who had dropped out of school and work to follow the movement. They get paid $30 per week for food, and to pay for lodging for the places they travel they 'solicit donations' (i.e. beg). Obviously they do this because they beleive thier purpose to be virtuous. When I pointed out the contradiction, I was told I focused too much on money. (The girl I spoke to for the longest kept saying repeatedly in a breathy-mystical voice, "Heather, What is money? What is wealth?)

Okay, the purpose of this post...The way this group of people interacted was incredible. For about an hour I sat at a table having a discussion with one (1) girl trying to understand the basic foundation of this way of thinking. I was stumbling across more holes than basic facts or ideas to support anything. I would ask for clarification, or for the hole to be explained, and the conversation topic would either shift to something completely unrelated or I would be accused of being 'too concerned' with it. However, the entire time we were surrounded by 7 or 8 people, all part of this movement. At no point in time did any one of them speak up to clarify, to fill in a hole, to restate an idea so that it might make more sense or even be more effective in brainwashing. At one point the girl I was speaking to threw her head back in laughter at my 'over-concern' with money, and she turned to the group. They all broke out into forced laughter in unison, then all silenced at the same instant, and the girl went on speaking. This was creepy--it seemed to go way beyond group-think. It was like the existence of a hive-mind, except that the way they interacted didn't suggest any concern for one another or friendship on any level. The word 'cult' came to mind, except that they seemed more malicious toward one another than anything else.

These are all behaviors and states of mind that I've read about but had never experienced in this extreme. I'd like to know your thoughts on what type of person snaps into this type of being. Do you think it's just a complete lack of self, that they have to find a world outside thier bodies to try to fill that vacuum of needing to belong and needing a purpose? (recall the "It's not like you be doin' anythin' impo-tent" remark...) It seems that these types of 'movements' have existed off and on throughout history, but do you think that our generation is any more susceptible? (I keep remembering the masses honking and screaming in support of the "old broads for peace"...) I have faith this particular Presidential pre-candidate will never be voted into office because too many Americans think with thier brains, but this 'youth movement' seems to be picking up power exponentially. It is a bit disturbing and it makes me wonder about the type of country I will be living in in twenty years...

If any of you have never seen this type of existence that Objectivism completely denies, and want more experience of the reason why it is denied, I would recommend that you go find the "LaRouche Youth Movement' if they pass near your town. Ask too many questions and see how they react. I may have been validating thier 'point of view' by trying to understand it, but this was an incredible (though admittedly disgusting) opportunity for my own understanding of my own principles and why they are correct.

Read more here: LaRouche Youth Movement

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I live in D.C. and have seen many LaReich, excuse me, LaRouche disciples handing out pamphlets and "newsletters". I have not engaged in conversation with them because I know what their going to say before it comes out of their mouths. And the stuff in the fliers they hand out isn't any better. Just yesterday I was presented with a LaRouche newsletter with an article entitled something like "How capitalism evolved into fascism." Unlike, most left-wing rhetoric, LaRouche's stuff is actually grammatically correct and decipherable, but, of course, his arguments are completely fallacious and illogical. A lot of the time I want to grab these people by the shoulders and tell them the reality of what they preach, but when I do, as you experienced, they don't listen and just spew back at me their little slogans and disgusted dismissal of my opinion. These are the same people that say everyone's opinion is equally relevant. The more clever ones will bend your principles, take them out of context, and distort them until they fit into their irrational little world. Unfortunately, for most of them, I don't think there is any hope of changing their minds, or even getting them to listen. They don't know how to think logically and therefore cannot grasp the simplest of objectivist concepts. If you are going to attempt to reason with someone, you should probably try children.

Wilderness

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  • 1 month later...
Guest DonGalt

Check this out:

Q: How can I answer people who tell me you economic plan is communism or socialism?

- from April 26, 2003 International Cadre School

Question: Hey Lyn, I am from L.A. I'm curious as to when I'm out in the field, talking to these people that have read some of your literature, they seem to get a little bit afraid, that what we're talking about is communism or socialism, and like globalization. And, I'm not really sure how I can address them, as to correct their mistaken thinking.

LaRouche: Don't worry--that's spread, that's gossip. That's spread. You have right-wing stuff, and you have a lot of gossips out there. You get in the street, and you find--Look: If you look carefully, you go out with about five or ten of you. Now, you have a couple of people that are not only identified with me, they're really yours. Now, you go along, say five or six of you are going along the street area--you're organizing. Now, you have a couple of guys who are dressed, say, in suits and so forth, you know?--on the other side of the street, as if they're watching you, hmm? Now, these guys should be watching, who's coming toward you. And, you'll find out, that in many of these of cases, that the people who are coming toward you, with this kind of chatter, are people who are being deployed, to try to confuse you, by asking you and making these silly statements. They may be John Birchers, or similar guys, or maybe Republicans, or crazy Democrats.

But, what we have, is a pattern, and it's more conspicuous in the Washington, D.C. area than anywhere else, of the deployment of operatives--people are being deployed, because they're afraid of you. And what they're trying to do, is fix your heads, by coming around and nagging you, with crazy chatter.

Now, there are very few people in the United States today, except a few Gingrich types, huh?, who are actually concerned about communism and socialism. You have a number of John Birch Society fanatics out there, wandering around loose without their keepers. They may raise these questions. But, in general, in the United States today, people are not afraid of the bogeyman of communism or socialism. If you tried to sell them socialism, they may not agree with you. If you preach communism, they would reject you. But, they don't think it's a big bogeyman that's about to eat them. They think that George Bush is the thing that's about to eat them!

So, a lot of that stuff is phony, and brush that aside. But, as I say, if you want to have some fun, you get a couple of guys dressed in suits, looking like so-called "straight" Baby-Boomer citizens, or something (or maybe they're not so straight, but anyway), following you around or at a distance, as if they had nothing to do with you. And have them watch, what is coming at you. And, you'll often find that you've got a bunch of things that are "stuck on" you; and that's where you get that kind of conversation from.

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  • 5 months later...

I recently had the misfortune of running into the LaRouche Youth Movement on our campus. I had forgotten the name of the group after reading it on this thread, so I started talking to this guy without realizing what their group was. At first the guy was saying some things that were really good (about art and things like that). But as soon as the discussion turned to politics and ethics, it became clear that they were not as rational as I had initially thought.

Still, my first impression from talking to this guy wasn't all bad, so I went ahead and signed up for their email list. Big mistake.

After getting my first email from them (about how evil Sharon and Isreal are for oppressing the poor Palestinians), I immediately replied and asked them to remove me from their email list. They replied and said they could set up a discussion for me with LaRouche himself so that he could address some of my concerns. I declined, and again asked them to remove my name from their list. They didn't.

I got several more emails from them, and each time I replied and asked them to remove me from their list. Finally I had to just block their address.

Anyone who runs across these LaRouche guys, don't even talk to them. It is a waste of your time, and they may end up harrassing you if you are polite enough to even give them the time of day in the first place.

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  • 1 month later...

I'd like to know your thoughts on what type of person snaps into this type of being.

The LaRouche group fills basic needs that most humans share in common. It gives its followers a sense of community, purpose, and identity. The type of person who chooses to join these groups is normal, but hasn't found another way of getting these needs fulfilled.

...this 'youth movement' seems to be picking up power exponentially.

There's no reason to worry. Lyndon LaRouche has been running for president for decades now without success. He's currently in his eighties, and I doubt that LaRouche's organization will survive any longer than he does.

At first the guy was saying some things that were really good (about art and things like that).

This isn't surprising. LaRouche is more or less in agreement with the asethetics branch of objectivist philosophy. However, he arrives at it through a completely different set of philosophical roads. The end result is that you can probably have an interesting discussion with a LaRouchian, as long as you keep the subject on art.

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  • 5 months later...

Wait.. so, in the world, you are either whatever kind of people you posted about are (LaRouche..) or .. a rational mind. Think about it. You either stick decisively to the truth, to fact, to reason and reality.. Or you seek to evade those thoughts and let irrationality permeate your thinking.

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