Institutional Memory of War
Poll Finds A Nation Chastened by War
The reality of war seems to be finally catching up with the public. We can tell this not only through polls but through the tenor of the mainstream corporate media, whose business interests make them the last to display any criticism - even behind smaller, supposedly more "conservative" small-town Midwest media. On the other hand, it might be that the "reality of war" is a harsh economic reality at home, what Noam Chomsky argues was the main force that brought a turn in public conscience regarding Vietnam in 1968. Hard to say. Something's happening.
This box has a false bottom though: The 9/11 Committee's whitewash, Abu Ghraib, the 60 Minutes' controversy (the one about the CBS-forged 'Nam documents, not the BushAdmin-forged Niger yellowcake uranium documents, the latter of which was killed to air the former) - all suggest a trick made famous by the CIA: show a little to hide a lot.
What's the lot? This video has been making its way around the world, and you can see it virtually everywhere except the U.S. Also, try this one, an airing of a Irish documentarian Jamie Doran's "Afghan Massacre: Convoy of Death" regarding the torture and killing of 3000+ Taliban soldiers who gave themselves up. Also, note that twice as many Iraqi civilians are being killed by U.S. troops than by the resistance to the occupation. Mainstream media gives the opposite impression at best.
The reality of war seems to be finally catching up with the public. We can tell this not only through polls but through the tenor of the mainstream corporate media, whose business interests make them the last to display any criticism - even behind smaller, supposedly more "conservative" small-town Midwest media. On the other hand, it might be that the "reality of war" is a harsh economic reality at home, what Noam Chomsky argues was the main force that brought a turn in public conscience regarding Vietnam in 1968. Hard to say. Something's happening.
This box has a false bottom though: The 9/11 Committee's whitewash, Abu Ghraib, the 60 Minutes' controversy (the one about the CBS-forged 'Nam documents, not the BushAdmin-forged Niger yellowcake uranium documents, the latter of which was killed to air the former) - all suggest a trick made famous by the CIA: show a little to hide a lot.
What's the lot? This video has been making its way around the world, and you can see it virtually everywhere except the U.S. Also, try this one, an airing of a Irish documentarian Jamie Doran's "Afghan Massacre: Convoy of Death" regarding the torture and killing of 3000+ Taliban soldiers who gave themselves up. Also, note that twice as many Iraqi civilians are being killed by U.S. troops than by the resistance to the occupation. Mainstream media gives the opposite impression at best.
posted by thebaffler at 8:23 AM
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