Bush and Powell were sitting in a bar. A guy walked in and asked the barman, “Isn’t that Bush and Powell?”
The barman said, “Yep, that’s them.”
So the guy walked over and said, “Hello. What are you guys doing?”
Bush said, “We’re planning World War III.”
The guy asked, “Really? What’s going to happen?”
Bush said, “Well, we’re going to kill 10 million Afghans and one bicycle repairman.”
The guy exclaimed, “Why are you gonna kill a bicycle repairman?!”
Bush turned to Powell and said, “See, I told you no one would worry about the 10 million Afghans!”
–The issue behind it—
Do you think that the west has been blinded with “War against terror” propaganda? Are we not paying enough attention to the millions of Afghans that are currently starving to death in a country with very little stability and very little hope? I’m interested in what you all think.
Olly
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In exams the foolish ask questions that the wise can not answer - Oscar Wilde
ofcourse we have been blinded by propaganda, hence the no vote on war, the attempts to stop MP’s opposing the war, the lack on negative coverage. but aren’t we always like this is the more important question?
Consider also that these “millions of Afghans that are currently starving to death in a country with very little stability and very little hope” have been in this situation for a couple of decades, maybe with a slight break in the early 90s. It’s what they’re used to - do they even know any different? In fact, this war against terror has highlighted their previously unheard of plight, causing more people to give aid to the Afghans.
Unless the whole thing has been fabricated (in the way that some people think the man on the moon thing was) I think people have a fairly good idea what is going on.
Here are my ideas:
The taliban are wankers, and they live in Afghanistan
Osama bin Laden most likely was behind September 11th, and he comes from Afghanistan
Most people in Afghanistan are very poor and completely unrelated to september 11th
Number 4 would be my view on whether or not the military action is right, but i’m undecided. However I don’t think people are as bowled over by the propaganda as you say - which explains why a lot of people are against the military action
The moon landing was a complete fraud. I’m not a big conspiracy theorist or anything but from the stuff I’ve read and programmes I’ve seen (including a corker on Channel 5) it does appear to all be fabricated bullshit.
Has anyone seen “Wag the Dog”? It’s an absolutely superb film in which a spin doctor (played by DeNiro) and a producer (played by Dustin Hoffmann) fake a war to divert attention away from a presidential sex scandal the week before an election. Very relevant perhaps if you believe that all we’re fed is propaganda or if you just want to have a good ole laugh at the Americans.
Onto Afghanistan. I believe that America should have presented evidence although I don’t disbelieve that OBL was involved. The action America has taken has been too strong and not particularly successful. Also the undemocratic process that has been taking place on a worldwide scale has been quite embarassing in my opinion.
I wonder why the world seems to decry the way Afghans are living after the fall of the Taliban, when under the Taliban they were starving AND oppressed. As some posts recently in the philosophy seciton hace been going on about, the world isn’t perfect. So there is no way ANY nation could have successfully done a perfect mission in Afghanistan. Any nation would have had to deal with the same issues: how much military strength should be exercised, how to avoid civilian deaths, how to bring aid to civilians, and still get backing by the international community. Any nation in the world would have had these same obstacles. But I agree with HairyGuy. In America we choose to believe what makes us feel better. But everyone in every nation does so.
I don’t think, I know that some Americans were brainwashed by all the propaganda and believe the Afghan’s to be the new force of terror. I don’t know that I can say that American’s in general were brainwashed by the propaganda, but I have seen interviews, read articles, and even chatted with Americans about the Afghan issue so that is how I know that some of them have been brainwashed.
Alex,
Yes, it has been confirmed that the whole moon landing was staged in a warehouse with camera’s and actors. There is nothing America is not willing to do, or any lines they are not willing to cross, as ironical as it may sound, the last country that exhibited the same behaviour was Germany in World War II.
I don’t think, I know that some Americans were brainwashed by all the propaganda and believe the Afghan’s to be the new force of terror. I don’t know that I can say that American’s in general were brainwashed by the propaganda, but I have seen interviews, read articles, and even chatted with Americans about the Afghan issue so that is how I know that some of them have been brainwashed.
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hey i agree and im american. most of us will (or will at least pretend/try to) believe anything tho either A) make us feel better about ourselves, B) make us feel superior to other countries, or C) to make the rest of the world think some other country is to blame for the mess our government has made.
I’d have to agree with most of you, that in America we a lot of times believe anything that will make us feel secure. I think many people could be sucessful like us if we’d show them, but technology is like wild fire.
Using it in a way that would benefit all of us is not easy to find. And I hate to admit it, but sometimes our culture has to use coercive techniques to get us to go along with the dream or illusion we are “great” or somthing…but I doubt we are, sometimes I wonder if we don’t stop making too much rucuss on this world something from another plant is going to notice us.
I just hope they use the same logic, otherwise I don’t know that we would survive. But who knows what “war” and “terrorism” brings. Sometimes it is like the French Revolution, chop some heads off and it’ll be ok sometimes it’s like the American Revolution, be rich, white slave owners and shot some red coats. All in all, I think sometimes it’s like the blind leading the blind…
