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The first ten paragraphs of
The Great Judeo-Christian Sin, Outlaw, Guilt, Crime & Punishment T.V. Show
from Timothy Leary's Neuropolitique

April 1976
Federal Prison, San Diego

"I pulled the gun on the President to call attention to Manson"
--Lynette Fromme

 The Average American watches television seven hours a day. This is a neurological fact so ominous in its implications that it cannot be understood in words. Would it take a year of full time Television explaination and neural demonstration for us to understand how our brains have become addicted to electronic "junk," how television creates, manages and schedules our reality, how tonight's crime show becomes next week's crime wave, how the images and illusions of politics are produced?

    In order to package and arrange the flow of "news" our television civilization requires a continual supply of newsmakers . . . reality-actors who play parts in the day-time and prime-time shows which define our existence.

     And who, besides the "mad-programmer" of ABCBS, understands how news-events are carefully calibrated to meet seasonal scheduling?

     It is no accident, for example, that the Wars on Drugs occur in election years, and that political carnivals usually occur as summer replacement shows. They are scheduled to charge up the boredom of summer programming. It's not the heat, it's the cupidity.

The Bachelor God     ...The essence of "news" is, of course, the modern version of Roman coliseum shows and gladiator combats. American civilization, for certain explicit biblical reasons, apparently requires that its leaders, its political heroes be publicy sacrificed.

     An enormous industry, similar to the national projects of pyramid-building in Egypt, cathedral-building in medieval Europe, and prison-camp building in Stalinist Russia has emerged in America--the production of political martyrs, fallen heroes and "concept outlaws."

     There is nothing new about the political martyr role. In mammalian politics as in every other competitive game there is a winner and many losers. Martyrs are traditionally produced and exploited by losers to symbolize their resentment against those on top. Dreyfuss, Sacco-Vansetti, the Scottsboro boys, Alger Hiss, Patrice Lumumba, Che Guevara are classic "loser-heroes" all apparently modeled after the guiding sacrifice myth of our epoch--the political assasination of Christ by a gang of Italians.

     American television culture has added an ancient twist to the familiar "martyr role." In a religious ritual rivaling that of the blood-letting Aztecs, the American people seem to demand the public immolation of its top officials. This mysterious process has been called "The Curse of the Oval Room" to remind us that, since 1900 (the beginning of the American Empire) the psycho-history of the American Presidency reveals an ominous record of failure, break-down and death.

1900William McKinleyassassinated
1904Theodore Rooseveltrepudiated in 1912
1908William Howard Taftrepudiated in 1912
1912Woodrow Wilsonphysical and mental breakdown;
repudiated while in office
1920Warren Hardingdied in office
1924Calvin Coolidgealleged to have died before assuming office
1928Herbert Hooverrepudiated in 1932
1932Franklin Rooseveltdied in office
1948Harry Trumanrepudiated while in office
1952Dwight Eisenhowerheart failure while in office
1960John F. Kennedyassassinated
1964Lyndon Johnsonrepudiated while in office
1968Richard Nixonrepudiated while in office
1972Gerald Fordrepudiated in 1976
1976Jimmy Carterrepudiated in 1980
1980Ronald Reagandisgraced in 1988
continued by deoxy.org
1988George Bushrepudiated in 1992
1992Bill Clintondisgraced in 1998
2000George Bush, Jr. coup d’état in 2000
humiliated in 2001
war crimes in 2001
war crimes in 2003

     To summarize this wretched record of executive sacrifice: of the last 16 presidents, four have died, ten have been repudiated, and only two, Coolidge and Eisenhower, coasted out of the White House, with any psycho-political rapport. Does some sort of mythic mystery operate here? One is reminded of the "Ritual of the Slain Hero" which, in antiquity, demanded the fall of the leader--Dionysus, Anu, Adonis, Attis, Lao, Jesus, Osiris and which in modern times has cursed the American throne of global power.

The rest of the essay is an in-depth analysis of this phenomenon and can be found in Neuropolitique available from New Falcon Publications

The Timothy Leary and Robert Anton Wilson Show