Monday, April 9, 2007 | In regard to the broader Sunroad discussion about who runs the city, and what their long-term objectives are, there is a recent quote by Noam Chomsky that distinguishes between crude propaganda and the sophisticated kind:
In crude and brutal societies, the Party Line is publicly proclaimed and must be obeyed — or else. What you actually believe is your own business and of far less concern. In societies where the state has lost the capacity to control by force, the Party Line is simply presupposed; then, vigorous debate is encouraged within the limits imposed by unstated doctrinal orthodoxy. The cruder of the two systems leads, naturally enough, to disbelief; the sophisticated variant gives an impression of openness and freedom, and so far more effectively serves to instill the Party Line. It becomes beyond question, beyond thought itself, like the air we breathe.
The takeover of Montgomery Field by developers is a fait accompli like the Naval Broadway Complex, the NTC, and wide swaths of downtown. Gary London in his voiceofsandiego.org Café blog called the recent downtown activity a “redevelopment orgy,” he should know. And now London talks about cracking the Clairemont Mesa community and redeveloping that area, not far from Montgomery Field.
Our city is small time, so our local politicians and their appointees get swooned and picked on pretty easily — they actually care what people (especially wealthy/ influential people) think of them — and they are considered by the ruling class as low hanging fruit when it comes to political lobbying.
The sophisticated form of propaganda is a dance the developers and politicians do while we all watch and get fleeced. When was the last time you — anyone — thought that developers really cared about community development — they only care about their profits. And when was the last time you — anyone — thought that politicians cared about the concerns of the average person compared to the high rollers in the development community? Ha! (My apologies to Donna Frye.)