Propaganda
Americans seem to be engaged in a quiet war. There appear to be two groups largely defined as liberals and conservatives operating in the political and social arenas of this country. The conservatives spoke the loudest during the last national political election and the liberals appear to be unable to understand just what has happened and why they lost in such an unprecedented defeat nationally and locally. So, many of the people I know thought that the madness in our country: the war in Iraq, the state of medical insurance coverage, and the rising deficit, just to name a few issues, would be laid to rest during this presidential election, yet the madness is continuing to escalate and a democracy, our democracy, hangs in the balance.
I have never really minded people thinking differently from me, in fact I think being able to talk to other people with differing views brings strength and wisdom to decisions that might otherwise be made hastily and foolishly. I cannot easily say that every conservative in America feels and believes the way that President Bush and his close supporters/followers believe. Dissent of any type against the current administrations point of view are unacceptable and largely uninvited, except by tacit admissions to the fact that there are wide ideological differences within the country, by this administration. There is such a practiced, cloying air of secrecy surrounding this administration, an impregnable facade that even the major media cannot and does not penetrate. White house press credentials are given only to journalists who don't ask the tough questions of the president and his staff, questions that were always asked that were designed to garner necessary information for the nation as a whole, questions that ensured democracy was being practiced even in the highest levels of government. The hold, rather, the viselike grip of this administration is so distinct, so anti-American, and yet it appears that the American populace has fallen asleep at the helm. There are no people demonstrating in the streets and if they are they are labeled malcontents and anti-American. There are no mainstream journalists compiling information or writing stories that are even attempting to probe the inner sanctum of the men and women who march to a tune that only the privileged few are allowed to know and understand the melody. Yet, everyday American lives are being essentially changed by an administration that claims that it understands and respects the wishes and mandate of the voters. The Iraq war is no longer a war that is supported by the majority of Americans, yet efforts to correctly disentangle our troops and economic support wane. The war has disappeared in the media, a back-burner issue that can be trumped by the breakup of Jennifer Anniston and Brad Pit, or any other fluff item that doesn't feed the minds and intellects of a nation woefully short of useful content from its media about the world and itself.
What will it take to wake the sleeping giant in the hearts and minds of Americans, conservatives, and liberals,e that there is truly something amiss with the current state of affairs in our country? The problems that plague this administration, the fate of true democracy and freedom is not merely confined to either the liberals or the conservatives, but issues that affect each and every person who considers themselves an American. Tens of thousands of Americans with the approval of this administration feel that they are justified in their desire to preclude freedoms from certain groups merely because "they are not with us so they are against us!" I can't imagine that a liberal democratic president could have remained in office without censure from the so-called liberal press or the media for the mounting misdeeds of this administration without, at the very lead, exposure in the press. Yet we have a sitting president whose first election win was granted by the Supreme Court and his second presidential win has been questioned because of voting irregularities in key states. We have a sitting president in office who started proactive war against a country by disseminating false information to Congress and to the American public, a man who clearly has no problem with bending or perverting the rules when it benefits his purpose. We have a sitting president who have sent our young men and women to war to fight a war in the name of democracy, yet these young men and women were not provided with adequate armor, modernized weaponry, or essential equipment to safeguard their lives in their quest to "spread democracy."
There is so little in the news media in America about real issues and concerns in our country. Celebrities and their concerns are the fluff that fill our air waves, and oh for such a brief moment, the terror and gut wrenching pain of the tsunami in Asia that chronicled the deaths of a hundred thousand people. The tragedy showed that we as Americans, we as a people who are a part of a much larger world, were able to come together to offer aid to other people on the other side of the world that needed help. Yet, many Americans have no problem with denigrating fellow Americans who cannot accept the conservative agenda or their religious ideologies. The checks and balances that were instituted by the Founding Father's in our Constitution have been violated and plans for future tinkering with a document that defines us appears to loom largely in our future. Unbelievably there has been no major upheaval of our elected officials or within the populace, and issues such as religious beliefs, homosexuality, our safety from terrorism,all were used to polarize a nation to win an election, a mandate for four more years of imprudent economic policies and unheard of national isolationism of a major world power from the rest of the world. This extreme polarity of our supposed differences has resulted in far too many people not thinking about issues, not evaluating or asking questions about how and why we are living in this heralded, unheard era of terrorist threats against Americans on American soil.
As Americans, we know so little, and it seems that we care even less about other people and other countries. Many of us are quick to accept a sophomoric view that people in other countries hate us because of our freedoms and our wealth. Truly, there are many millions of people who would never consider living in these fair United States and are no more jealous of us than we are of them. But because our history books do not tell the full story of America's imperialist's rise in the world or of our support of villainous dictatorships throughout the world because our support furthered our political and economic agendas. Far too many Americans believe that we are the good guys wearing the white hat in cowboy movies from our youths and therefore all of our political motives were/are altruistic and inherently good. Like most things in life, black merges with white to produce large grey areas even in politics and religion. Yet, millions of Americans think and react simplistically to problems whose roots are tied to our history and our alliances. Our myopia, albeit practiced on the part of many, has gifted us the horrific event of 9/11, and our naivete has the blood of our children staining the sand in a foreign land.
I pray, yes pray, that somehow we will begin to wake up, wake up and demand answers and clean house to free us of the people who threaten our basic freedoms.
I have never really minded people thinking differently from me, in fact I think being able to talk to other people with differing views brings strength and wisdom to decisions that might otherwise be made hastily and foolishly. I cannot easily say that every conservative in America feels and believes the way that President Bush and his close supporters/followers believe. Dissent of any type against the current administrations point of view are unacceptable and largely uninvited, except by tacit admissions to the fact that there are wide ideological differences within the country, by this administration. There is such a practiced, cloying air of secrecy surrounding this administration, an impregnable facade that even the major media cannot and does not penetrate. White house press credentials are given only to journalists who don't ask the tough questions of the president and his staff, questions that were always asked that were designed to garner necessary information for the nation as a whole, questions that ensured democracy was being practiced even in the highest levels of government. The hold, rather, the viselike grip of this administration is so distinct, so anti-American, and yet it appears that the American populace has fallen asleep at the helm. There are no people demonstrating in the streets and if they are they are labeled malcontents and anti-American. There are no mainstream journalists compiling information or writing stories that are even attempting to probe the inner sanctum of the men and women who march to a tune that only the privileged few are allowed to know and understand the melody. Yet, everyday American lives are being essentially changed by an administration that claims that it understands and respects the wishes and mandate of the voters. The Iraq war is no longer a war that is supported by the majority of Americans, yet efforts to correctly disentangle our troops and economic support wane. The war has disappeared in the media, a back-burner issue that can be trumped by the breakup of Jennifer Anniston and Brad Pit, or any other fluff item that doesn't feed the minds and intellects of a nation woefully short of useful content from its media about the world and itself.
What will it take to wake the sleeping giant in the hearts and minds of Americans, conservatives, and liberals,e that there is truly something amiss with the current state of affairs in our country? The problems that plague this administration, the fate of true democracy and freedom is not merely confined to either the liberals or the conservatives, but issues that affect each and every person who considers themselves an American. Tens of thousands of Americans with the approval of this administration feel that they are justified in their desire to preclude freedoms from certain groups merely because "they are not with us so they are against us!" I can't imagine that a liberal democratic president could have remained in office without censure from the so-called liberal press or the media for the mounting misdeeds of this administration without, at the very lead, exposure in the press. Yet we have a sitting president whose first election win was granted by the Supreme Court and his second presidential win has been questioned because of voting irregularities in key states. We have a sitting president in office who started proactive war against a country by disseminating false information to Congress and to the American public, a man who clearly has no problem with bending or perverting the rules when it benefits his purpose. We have a sitting president who have sent our young men and women to war to fight a war in the name of democracy, yet these young men and women were not provided with adequate armor, modernized weaponry, or essential equipment to safeguard their lives in their quest to "spread democracy."
There is so little in the news media in America about real issues and concerns in our country. Celebrities and their concerns are the fluff that fill our air waves, and oh for such a brief moment, the terror and gut wrenching pain of the tsunami in Asia that chronicled the deaths of a hundred thousand people. The tragedy showed that we as Americans, we as a people who are a part of a much larger world, were able to come together to offer aid to other people on the other side of the world that needed help. Yet, many Americans have no problem with denigrating fellow Americans who cannot accept the conservative agenda or their religious ideologies. The checks and balances that were instituted by the Founding Father's in our Constitution have been violated and plans for future tinkering with a document that defines us appears to loom largely in our future. Unbelievably there has been no major upheaval of our elected officials or within the populace, and issues such as religious beliefs, homosexuality, our safety from terrorism,all were used to polarize a nation to win an election, a mandate for four more years of imprudent economic policies and unheard of national isolationism of a major world power from the rest of the world. This extreme polarity of our supposed differences has resulted in far too many people not thinking about issues, not evaluating or asking questions about how and why we are living in this heralded, unheard era of terrorist threats against Americans on American soil.
As Americans, we know so little, and it seems that we care even less about other people and other countries. Many of us are quick to accept a sophomoric view that people in other countries hate us because of our freedoms and our wealth. Truly, there are many millions of people who would never consider living in these fair United States and are no more jealous of us than we are of them. But because our history books do not tell the full story of America's imperialist's rise in the world or of our support of villainous dictatorships throughout the world because our support furthered our political and economic agendas. Far too many Americans believe that we are the good guys wearing the white hat in cowboy movies from our youths and therefore all of our political motives were/are altruistic and inherently good. Like most things in life, black merges with white to produce large grey areas even in politics and religion. Yet, millions of Americans think and react simplistically to problems whose roots are tied to our history and our alliances. Our myopia, albeit practiced on the part of many, has gifted us the horrific event of 9/11, and our naivete has the blood of our children staining the sand in a foreign land.
I pray, yes pray, that somehow we will begin to wake up, wake up and demand answers and clean house to free us of the people who threaten our basic freedoms.
posted by taylorlee at 4:55 PM
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