This is important!
One of the most astounding illustrations of the gullibility of the American public is our absolute joy in accepting breathless accounts of horrors committed by the enemy du jour. The Iraqis tossed babies out of incubators - we are better than those monsters!! (Except they didn't, and we aren't.) Hussein created mass graves with hundreds of thousands victimized - we were justified in forcing regime change on that country!! (Except he didn't, and we weren't.)
I know this is unrealistic and stupid, but I wish I could get every American to recognize propaganda when it is being used to justify violence. I wish I could get every American to realize that there are very, very few people out there who are wildly different than we are. Mass murderers do exist, and some of them achieve power, but no country has ever existed where the average citizen did not want almost exactly what you want.
One of the most unsettling parts of Fahrenheit 9-11 was the segment portraying regular Iraqi life pre-invasion. Those awful, evil, America-hating sand-niggers were shown to be normal people, getting married and doting on their children. And the prospect of "nuking them into oblivion" - the mainstay of angry conservative talk radio - became a little more nauseating. Because people over there are like people over here.
America, wake up! The next time someone tells you that another group of people is totally different from you, and they hold nothing sacred, and you have nothing in common with them - REALIZE THAT YOU ARE BEING LIED TO!!!! (And then ask why.)
posted by Dan at 7/20/2004 09:42:00 PM
3 Comments:
Unfortunately being gullible to propaganda is also one of those characteristics that seem to unite the peoples of the world. Propaganda does become a more dangerous tool in the hands of a strong military power,though.
I hope your wish isn't unrealistic. It's definitely not stupid.
Regards
Flip
You are right, Flip. The people in the Middle East that think all Americans are immoral infidels are part of the problem as well - education and exposure are the answer.
Dan, you have a good point. The average citizen in most other countries wants what the average citizen in this country wants - a decent life for themselves and their children. The propaganda upsets me, too, but don't paint Saddam Hussein's regime with the same brush you paint the average Iraqi citizen. Hussein was a bad man. We can argue about whether or not some specific horror he is accused of actually happened, but you can't be seriously suggesting that he was running a good government. Ask the families of some of Iraq's losing soccer teams how he treated players he was not happy with.
The question remains - did the U.S. make the right decision when it invaded Iraq? It's a legitimate question and I don't think the answer is as simple as Michael Moore suggests.
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