April 01, 2011
There is a fascinating concept in Jungian psychology called the "collective unconscious." While the "personal unconscious" stores our own unique memories, the "collective unconscious" is the reservoir for an entire culture.
It's amazing how certain people and phenomena find their way into the collective unconscious, whether intentionally or not. For instance, take the term, "googling." Those young Stanford dudes didn't realize that they would not only change the nature of Internet searching, they'd add a new word into the vocabulary.
People may choose to search via Bing or Yahoo, but nobody "bings." So why did googling sweep the nation? Perhaps Google is a superior search engine. But it may simply come down to being in the right place at the right time.
There are people who become overnight sensations, both for good and nefarious reasons. Back in the 60's, everyone was familiar with those evil people who comprised the Manson Family.
And when Joe the Plumber asked Obama a question, he was suddenly famous (and subject to government investigations). While very few people outside of Alaska heard of Sarah Palin a few years ago, she became a household name as soon as she entered the national arena.
And then there's the "birther" controversy. The progressives have controlled and framed the concept right from the get-go. This has been one of the many issues (including "tea baggers") that the left has seized upon to tar conservatives.
The left has painted "birthers" as racists, nuts, and paranoids. What gets left out of the equation is: one, Obama has spent millions of dollars on attorneys protecting his birth certificate; two, Obama apparently traveled to Pakistan in 1981 when Americans were advised against* going there; and three, Obama's social security number is purportedly from Connecticut, a state in which he never lived.
Although there are valid questions about the mysterious Mr. O, until lately, it's been impossible to get the average American to listen. This is because the left is so much better at controlling what enters the collective unconscious.
Of course, the left controls the flow of ideas by maintaining a stranglehold on the mainstream media. But there's another reason: the left subscribes to Alinsky-type smear tactics.
Progressives will call their opponents a "tea bagger" even though the phrase is sexually explicit and lewd. They'll allow Bill Maher and other amoral types to verbally rape conservative women. Conservatives don't follow suit because these below-the-belt tactics are anathema.
While conservatives don't have to practice gutter politics, we do need our message to penetrate the collective unconscious. Enter the intrepid Donald Trump.
Trump has been beating the drum lately about Obama's birth certificate -- and the lack thereof. Trump has also been wondering whether there's something else on Obama's birth certificate (who's his daddy?) that Obama doesn't want anyone to know. Fortunately for conservatives, when Donald Trump talks, people listen.
And this is why Trump needs to keep raising the birth certificate issue. He shouldn't stop even when the left ridicules him. I hope that he expands his mission to include the salient question of whether unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers penned Obama's autobiography. We need a magnetic figure like Trump going where no man or woman has been able to go.
Because if Trump keeps putting the heat on Obama, something amazing may happen. Rather than Obama and his henchmen continually putting conservatives on the defensive, we may finally see the reverse.
People may start getting nervous about Obama and pay attention to the cracks in the facade. Their concerns may leak into the collective unconscious and take root, as surely as did the concept of "googling." If people start questioning who is this mystery man in the White House, they may feel less comfortable pulling the lever for him in November next year.
Robin is a recovering liberal and a therapist in Berkeley. Her articles are intended to entertain and to inform, not to offer therapeutic advice or diagnoses. You can comment on this article here.
American Thinker
