Adam's Apple
Senior Member
- Apr 25, 2004
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Maybe We Should Give Up Reading
By Vincent G. Gioia for www.MichNews.com
Dec 16, 2005
Years ago there was a cute saying, "I read so much about the bad effects of smoking that I gave up reading". This is the "curse of the informed". Today, this curse of being informed takes on a wholly different perspective.
During the build-up to WWII, FDR was not truthful with the American people about the support given by a "neutral" America to the British people; during the war itself, FDR and Truman were not truthful to the American people about development of the atomic bomb, "a weapon of mass destruction"; during the "Bay of Pigs" disaster, John Kennedy was not truthful about the role (or more accurately, the "non role") played by the government in inciting, but not supporting, the attempt to topple Castro; and during the Vietnam war, LBJ was totally not truthful to the American people about how the war was manipulated (resulting in the death of over 50,000 American soldiers).
Not once during the entire history of our country in the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s did the news media or any political party say "the president lied" or did not tell the truth to the American people. Yet today, an entire political party and millions of Americans (if polls can be believed) say "Bush Lied". Why is that?
I believe it is because the spirit of America has been successfully transformed from a truly patriotic (in the finest sense of the word) population to one that now includes an irrational domestic Anti-American element which in prior days would have been referred to as a "fifth column" that supports our countrys adversaries in profound and incredibly damaging ways, all under the banner of our "right to free speech" and "lets not go down to the level of our enemies", (the latest demonstration being the McCain bill to ban demeaning treatment of terrorists).
History now shows us the damaging effect domestic Anti-American propaganda (even by so-called "well meaning" civil libertarians) can have on our country. North Vietnam was close to giving up their war until those anti-war elements among us gave the enemy hope that they could win through the American public what couldnt be won on the battlefield.
Today the news media fall over themselves to report a "new" revelation of some information that can cast the USA in a bad light, at least overseas, and through ceaseless repetition here at home as well. First we "humiliated" terrorists in our custody in Iraq and in our base in Cuba, we "secretly" detain the enemy in different locations, we "abuse the Quran, (how does this compare with banning bibles and killing Christians?), we "torture" enemy terrorists by making life uncomfortable for them, and, horrors, we deprive the enemy we capture of their "right" to a US court.
In doing all these terrible things, political adversaries of our government and the news media accomplices conveniently forget, or at least fail to recognize the brutal treatment of prisoners and hostages by the terrorists (how does cutting off heads compare to humiliating prisoners?). Furthermore, how does the Anti-American press get their information about the negative things they report? Why is there no investigation of violation of security and classified information about these public disclosures while we investigate ad nauseum the "Valerie Plane affair", which pales in comparison to the seriousness of these breaches of national security?
In the "olden" days, we only had to contend with Tokyo Rose and some German equivalents that tried to demoralize our troops, now we have a far larger assortment of "demoralizers"; from an entire political party and their cohorts in the news media to the "expert" political analysts in Hollywood.
Its enough to make one give up reading.
http://www.michnews.com/artman/publish/article_10865.shtml
By Vincent G. Gioia for www.MichNews.com
Dec 16, 2005
Years ago there was a cute saying, "I read so much about the bad effects of smoking that I gave up reading". This is the "curse of the informed". Today, this curse of being informed takes on a wholly different perspective.
During the build-up to WWII, FDR was not truthful with the American people about the support given by a "neutral" America to the British people; during the war itself, FDR and Truman were not truthful to the American people about development of the atomic bomb, "a weapon of mass destruction"; during the "Bay of Pigs" disaster, John Kennedy was not truthful about the role (or more accurately, the "non role") played by the government in inciting, but not supporting, the attempt to topple Castro; and during the Vietnam war, LBJ was totally not truthful to the American people about how the war was manipulated (resulting in the death of over 50,000 American soldiers).
Not once during the entire history of our country in the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s did the news media or any political party say "the president lied" or did not tell the truth to the American people. Yet today, an entire political party and millions of Americans (if polls can be believed) say "Bush Lied". Why is that?
I believe it is because the spirit of America has been successfully transformed from a truly patriotic (in the finest sense of the word) population to one that now includes an irrational domestic Anti-American element which in prior days would have been referred to as a "fifth column" that supports our countrys adversaries in profound and incredibly damaging ways, all under the banner of our "right to free speech" and "lets not go down to the level of our enemies", (the latest demonstration being the McCain bill to ban demeaning treatment of terrorists).
History now shows us the damaging effect domestic Anti-American propaganda (even by so-called "well meaning" civil libertarians) can have on our country. North Vietnam was close to giving up their war until those anti-war elements among us gave the enemy hope that they could win through the American public what couldnt be won on the battlefield.
Today the news media fall over themselves to report a "new" revelation of some information that can cast the USA in a bad light, at least overseas, and through ceaseless repetition here at home as well. First we "humiliated" terrorists in our custody in Iraq and in our base in Cuba, we "secretly" detain the enemy in different locations, we "abuse the Quran, (how does this compare with banning bibles and killing Christians?), we "torture" enemy terrorists by making life uncomfortable for them, and, horrors, we deprive the enemy we capture of their "right" to a US court.
In doing all these terrible things, political adversaries of our government and the news media accomplices conveniently forget, or at least fail to recognize the brutal treatment of prisoners and hostages by the terrorists (how does cutting off heads compare to humiliating prisoners?). Furthermore, how does the Anti-American press get their information about the negative things they report? Why is there no investigation of violation of security and classified information about these public disclosures while we investigate ad nauseum the "Valerie Plane affair", which pales in comparison to the seriousness of these breaches of national security?
In the "olden" days, we only had to contend with Tokyo Rose and some German equivalents that tried to demoralize our troops, now we have a far larger assortment of "demoralizers"; from an entire political party and their cohorts in the news media to the "expert" political analysts in Hollywood.
Its enough to make one give up reading.
http://www.michnews.com/artman/publish/article_10865.shtml
