9.11 has been used as blackmail and as a scare tactic one too many times. It’s about time that we as a country quit hiding behind 9/11, it’s about time that we as a country let 9/11 become history, and quit letting its fuel present day fears. Two planes hit two towers, 3,500 people died, and every one in the nation shared the same experience. It was an event that took away the 6 degrees of seperation from everyone, it scared us all, and it angered us all. We will always remember what happened, where we were, what we were doing when it happened, but it’s time to quit hiding behind it. It’s time to stand up and realize that 9/11 is over and the aftermath is very real. It’s time for us to quit hiding behind the idea that osmeone that speaks up against government or American policy is commiting treason.
The fact is that the only reason we’ve allowed what’s been going on to occur, is because of 9/11. If there had been no 9/11 and we went to war ond evidence that is obviously false, we would have done something about it. We wouldn’t have stiffled dissenters, we wouldn’t have sat back and done nothing. If 9/11 didn’t happen, and we went on a unilateral killing spree that culminated in top officials justifying egregious torture, what would we have done? Would we have sat back and done nothing? Or would we have seen the top officials facing trials?
Better yet, would you have tolderated it if Clinton had done during his administation, what Bush is doing now?? Is there anyone that can claim Clinton wouldn’t have been impeached and removed from office by now?
Will you allow your patriotism to become debased to the point where hate, anger and total obedience to a corrupted authority are the hallmarks of your love of country? Or will you let 9/11 go where it belongs, into history.
Clinton wasn’t impeached for Kosovo or supporting paramilitaries in colombia. Reagan wasn’t impeached for the activities in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Sudan. What about Vietnam, South Korea, Cambodia, and selling arms to Indonesia and providing funds that resulted in the genocide of the people of East Timor? Illegal CIA activities including the overthrowing of democratically elected governments, the training of terrorists and deadly paramilitary forces. All these activities were in defiance of the U.N. All of these activities have gone unanswered. Why would it be any different now? 9/11 is just an excuse to do this stuff out in the open. Every president since WWII has done something that he should be impeached for. They never get impeached. American’s don’t care as long as it doesn’t interupt their t.v. shows, decadent shopping sprees, and fast food meals.
There is a difference between starting a conflict, and justifying it infront of the world through the use of obviously false information, and trying to link an act of domestic terrorism with the target you wish to attack. It’s also different than revealign the name of deep undercover CIA angent that just happens to be the married to a major political opponent. And I’d say that torturing prisoners and then attempting to justify it instead of “nip it in the butt” as your promised to do is a bit different. Not to mention the fact that putting out a document that has so many errors it requires 8 pages of corrections is a bit suspicious.
The only difference I see is media coverage. There is a lot more media coverage of the whole Iraq deal. The U.S. has repeatedly defied the U.N. under reasons that were obviously false and totally full of holes numerous times. Just now the media is making a big deal about it. If Bush was smart he would’ve just attacked Iraq and not even discussed it with the U.N. or established paramilitaries to do it like the CIA does all the time, and all the other sneaky presidents before him have done. Then this whole thing would just be a foot note. But Bush IS an idiot, and in America even idiots can get away with international terrorism as long as people aren’t inconvienenced by it. In fact, I’d say the propaganda was slightly better then usual, the case was just over-publicized and too high profile of a target. It was still more believable then the reasons given for support of paramilitaries in Nicaragua, or the destruction of half of the pharmaceutical productions and stores in Sudan that ended up producing casualties at least well in the hundered thousands due to deaths from quite treatable illnesses that went untreated due to the U.S. bombing of the main Sudanese pharmaceutical production factory.
Right, more Chomsky readers. So I know where you all come from, and while the problem runs far deeper than maybe any of us truly understand, what are we doing to fix it? It’s nice to know several people on here acknowledge the deeply rooted problems - maybe based on you’re own observations so you’re not completely reliant on scholars like Chomsky - but I’ve rarely ever heard practical, working solutions…
Present activism is usually just the other side of the equation, and leads to the present illusion that everything is just fine. The undecided rely on the protesters to fight the battles, and go back to the convenient lifestyle. Some protesters just do so to rebel, not really understanding why they protest, and thus go back to an inconsistent lifestyle once the protest is over.
Revolution is far too idealistic, and probably wouldn’t even work. The problem with reform is the illusion of progress.
I’m politically active, but there is only so much you can do. Luckily I don’t have kids and a family. That slows most people down who are politically active in this country. The fact is though, protesting has done very little for this country. The government never listens to the people except through official elections and votes, and I’m sure that’s just because they have to. I wish I could think of something else that could be done. The only thing I have come up with is putting counter propaganda on T.V. to battle the overwhelming amounts of it that flow into American minds as a constant drip feed. But of course that doesn’t happen. It’s the “liberal media” as the propaganda goes. The “liberal media” that just happens to be owned by ultra-conservative corporations that donate large amounts of money to conservative politicians. The fact is that mass propaganda (and the occasional subliminal propagandas) are much more effective then protesting. Left wingers are fighting a losing battle right now.
As far as Chomsky goes, I think he is a great source. He makes some good points, but he is certainly not where my theories stop. I see evidence of government corruption in places Chomsky doesn’t dare go (such as 9/11). That doesn’t mean I’m just going to stop there. The good thing about Chomsky is all the young readers that can get a bit of history from his books. There are too many people who think this government behavior toward foreign policy is new thing. The goevernment has been abusing foreign policy since shortly after WWII when America merged as a definate super-power. Abuse is exactly what this is too. I seriously doubt that anywhere near the majority of the population agrees with these abuses of foreign policy. It is made to look like that with media polls (which I consider are probably either inaccurate or rigged to begin with). I believe these abuses to be a gross misrepresentation of the public who voted these officials into office, and evidence of the degeneration and eventual total break down of the American system. This is also evident in the challenge against our constitutional rights recently revoked by the patriot acts (the new ones no less). Honestly, I think that America is a sinking ship. They are expanding and conquering the world right now, and will continue to do so. I don’t think that they will succeed. No one in history has succeeded in this. The empire will be torn down.
There has been alot more media coverage, but I don’t think this is the reason why people are making a big deal of it. Infact most of the major networks rarely if ever bring up the issue of false information, and misguided guidance of public opinion. Most of the information I get is from good ol’ research, not from mainstream media.
I agree that it is in the public eye partly because of the media, but then again any major military action will be from here on out. The fact that the media doesn’t want to be painted as “liberal” or seen as “unamerican” influences what and how they report what they report.
If anything I would think that all this media coverage has biased americans toward the position of Bush, not away from.