What the world thinks?
I’m question the accuracy of this, but it’s certainly worth taking a look.
03/29/2003
Reality Check
Support the troops
I’ve talked to several people who have the opinion that we should “support the war until it’s finished”. Some of these folks are opposed to the war but believe that we should stop the protesting as long is war is on. I strongly disagree and have yet to encounter an argument which would persuade me otherwise.
One primary argument is that the troops will have lower morale if they don’t see a unified front at home. The conclusion is that they may not fight as well. I don’t think this could be proved or disproved.
My reply is that it’s irrelevant. I don’t want them to be effective. I don’t want them to kill or be killed.
Let me break it down: Leave troops in Iraq and they are more likely to die. Bring them home and they are less likely to die. That’s not hard to understand. Of course to bring them home would be embarrassing. Good. We should be embarrassed. Or, I should say, George Bush should be embarrassed. No, he should be ashamed.
There are millions of people around the planet that will not stop protesting this war. There are millions of people that are increasingly angrier at U.S. aggression and arrogance. There are millions of people that believe that the U.S. is a rogue nation armed with weapons of mass destruction. There are millions of people that believe that it is the U.S. which is the primary threat to our planet. There are millions of people that believe George W. Bush is a war criminal.
If not war, what?
Here’s a solution. George Bush should order the troops home. If this “president” really, really wanted a safe and secure U.S. he would apologize for what has been done so far. He would divert the U.S. military budget to rebuilding Iraq with a stated goal of restoring it’s infrastructure to it’s state before the 1st Gulf War. He would use the remaining military budget for humanitarian aid both in the U.S. and abroad. He would order the termination of the CIA. Then he and his entire administration should step down. This would surely be welcomed by the world community.
The solution to a secure world will only come through global disarmament and the building up of the capacity of every country to feed, house, and educate it’s people. The U.S. should immediately cease all activity designed to overthrow or undermine regimes it does not approve of. The U.S. should respect the sovereignty of all nations. It should cease the development of weapons of mass destruction and set a schedule for the elimination of it’s current stockpiles. It should engage the world with open hands willing to build rather than fists ready to beat down.
The Media
CNN, MSNBC, ABC and all the other BSers are nothing but propaganda machines. Really. I’m not joking. It’s not a matter of opinion, but fact that these corporate media are disseminating filtered and government approved information. These entities serve the agenda of international capitalism. They are not about the free flow of information which is necessary to a healthy democracy. Rather, they exist to broadcast very carefully crafted programming designed to manufacture consent (props to Noam Chomsky).
Say it with me… I cannot believe everything I see on TV, I cannot believe everything I see on TV, I cannot believe everything I see on TV, I cannot believe everything I see on TV. Please keep repeating that until you understand it. It’s deprograming. If you need to write the phrase down on pieces of paper and then carefully position them all around your home. I’m consistently amazed that people take the broadcasts of CNN as truth which they accept without question.
The charters of the largest media corporations should be revoked.
What’s the alternative? Community-based media functioning at the neighborhood and city level. It’s about time we had a flow of information which has at it’s base the intent of informing citizens to function in a democracy rather than one which attempts to coerce them into a role of passive consumerism. Such an information system would serve to assist in the cooperative efforts of citizens to improve their communities rather than broadcast fear-based infotainment.
We don’t have to continue down the path we are on. If we do continue as we are I fear for our survival.