America and turn on a television. In the America of 2005, you can sit in
front of a television after an event like this and have your gag reflex
tested as the event is continuously crammed down your throat for as long as
you can stand to watch it. Did you miss something when you ran to the fridge
for a cold one? You didn't really miss anything - the coverage will repeat
itself at the top of the hour. On the hour. Every hour. For days.
Do you know of a better way to keep the population obedient to the "fear and
terror" program? In America, that program sells flags, it sells bumper
stickers, it sells magnetic ribbons, and it sells a lot of military supplies
and equipment. Keep the population in fear, and you stand to make a lot of
money if you know what you're doing. Can't really pinpoint "the enemy"? Make
one up! Generalize, be vague, and use scary words and phrases, ie: the
terrorists, al-Qaeda, the Jews (no, wait, the Nazis already used that one)
or just plain "the enemy". Don't forget to use new grandiose terms for your
own country, too, such as "The Homeland" (damn it, the Nazis already used
that one, too - I'm sure glad they're gone). Come to think of it, the Nazi
political leaders fed their population with all the bullshit they could
swallow, too, and swallow it they did, and look where the Germany of the
1930's and 1940's ended up for believing that crap. I'm so glad we've
progressed, and political leaders of today don't lie to their people and
twist facts and use fear and terror tactics to control the population.
London was bombed, and that sort of thing is always tragic, but London is no
stranger to being attacked. Many different groups have bombed London over
the years, for many different reasons. A recurring scenario in the 1970's
was the IRA bombing the UK. Were a gazillion troops sent to Ireland to blow
it to bits, litter it with depleted uranium, use banned chemical weapons
against its people, destroy its infrastructure, kill hundreds of thousands
of Irish civilians, and occupy the country? Not that I can remember, and I'm
pretty sure that it would be in the history books today. Apparently,
different countries have different ways of responding to being attacked, and
not all countries have a burning need for sympathy. Hell, some countries
actually look for the root cause of the attack, and address that, rather
than rushing to war without a clue!
Just since 9-11, attacks like this have happened all over the world, in
places such as Saudi Arabia, Spain, Turkey, Indonesia, Morocco, Kenya, Bali,
and Tunisia. If you were in the United States and had access to a
television, you saw them all, and you were subject to every opinion under
the sun from every Talking Head on television news programs. If you had
access to a television, and had it tuned to Fox News because you like Fox
News, you got your opinion spoon-fed to you without having to burn a single
calorie on independent thought. If you disagreed with anything you saw or
heard on Fox News, you're a dirty, liberal, whining, unpatriotic,
sympathizer-of-the-enemy commie bastard who should just move to Iraq.
attacked. The American media would have you believe that Londoners were a
beaten lot, shocked and dazed by the bombings, needing aid, crying in the
streets, asking, "Why us?". But that's the American media, controlled by the
same people who brokered this unstoppable war in Iraq, and an important tool
in maintaining an air of fear and terror among the American public. The
truth is that Londoners dusted themselves off and went to work, ate their
lunch, rode the buses and trains, and shopped at their favorite stores. They
didn't ask for (or want) the world's sympathy, they didn't need a television
newsperson to tell them what happened and why, and they sure aren't going to
sit back and blindly accept a line of garbage from Tony Blair. Londoners
know why they were bombed, and they won't let Tony Blair get away with
having his staff come up with some neat soundbites and catch-phrases to use
for twisting the facts.
London was bombed, this is our world now, and it's never going to change.
You can thank George W. Bush personally for that. His followers would
respond by saying that Bush isn't the one who bombed the World Trade Center
on 9-11, so the world of 2005 isn't his fault. Don't laugh - that's really
how his followers think. Iraq didn't bomb the World Trade Center on 9-11,
either, so that argument is in the toilet. Never mind U.S. foreign policy
questions, such as the U.S. policy of arming Israel to the teeth while
demanding that its neighbors disarm. In Bush's mind, that's a policy
conducive to world peace, and Israel's neighbors should lay down all their
weapons and trust that a super-nuclear Israel would leave them alone. The
truth is that Israel couldn't withstand a collective sneeze from the rest of
the Middle East without the billions in U.S. aid that it receives annually.
That makes it a welfare state, doesn't it? Watch out for the canned
response: I'm anti-semitic for pointing out the truth.
There's a root cause for these bombings, imbedded in foreign policy, and the
bombings won't stop until the root causes are addressed. London will
survive, despite television news teams crawling all over themselves, trying
desperately to paint the British as stunned, dazed, and beaten. Sorry, guys
- that kind of sensationalistic "news" only works in America.
Steven A. Hass desert_vet@msn.com
