HAVE WE LOST THE ABILITY TO THINK? IT APPEARS SO

Cogito Ergo Sum

Paul Eidelberg

Senator Barak Obama has come a long way since René Descartes, the 17th-century philosopher who famously said, “cogito ergo sum”—“I think, therefore I am.” With Obama, cogito ergo sum has metamorphosed into videor ergo sum, “I am being seen, therefore I am.”

To be fair, however, Senator Obama is simply riding the waves of what I call “Photo-Op Democracy.”—let’s call it “POP Democracy.”

POP Democracy makes nonsense of the “rule of the people.” Of course, one might say the people no longer think, and that this is what makes Obama the media’s presidential candidate.

But it’s not enough for Obama to be seen; he must also be heard. He must utter such mindless slogans as CHANGE or YES WE CAN! Such slogans appeal to youth. They arouse their hormones or overcome their boredom or discontent with humdrum reality. The immature can plug anything they want into CHANGE and YES WE CAN without a moment’s thought about history, about statecraft, about political reality or about Islamic imperialism. Just wish, just hope, just dream—and presto! That’s it kids, that’s all that’s necessary in this spinning world of make-believe.

Yes, Obama is becoming a spin artist. POP Democracy is also “SPIN Democracy.” For example, to make himself appear as a realist vis-à-vis a Iran, he dithers about “tough” negotiations, or “carrot-and-stick” diplomacy with Tehran. Obama is clueless about the revolution that has taken place in that clerical regime, whose mullahs had children walk over and explode mine fields during Iran’s bloody war with Iraq.

SPIN Democracy inevitably producers mindless politicians. After meeting President Shimon Peres, Senator Obama said: “He’s gorgeous!” Mrs. Peres must have felt the same way when Shimon courted her by reading passages from Marx’s Das Capital! Perhaps Obama would say, after meeting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, “He’s charming!”

But again, let’s be fair: Didn’t President George W. Bush refer to Islam as a “religion of peace” after 9/11? Is it any wonder that 9/11 has become meaningless in America? Did the President ever think of educating the American people (and the media) about Islamic imperialism or about the war Iran has been waging against the U.S, since 1979?

Still, it’s shocking that a Muslim (according to Islamic law) may become America’s next president. Who will then be seen, and who will then be heard? And what will happen to those who say Cogito Ergo Sum?