Squandering the good will of Democrats
Hey! I've got an idea for some fun! Let’s look at some of the basic lies repeated and essentially accepted as fact by even reasonably level-headed Americans.Oh, sorry, I guess it won't be much fun. But it is necessary.
Regarding the post-9/11 era: “George Bush squandered the good will of the rest of the world”. Really? How did he accomplish this? That sounds like an awfully big task. If anything at all about this perception rings true, it is only because the “International Community” had very little good will towards America around that time, and after a brief period of natural sympathy upon seeing maniacs kill our civilians for no stated purpose, everyone went back to their deep-seated resentment of America, and even stepped up higher on their podiums to denounce us more vituperatively than before.
So what specifically did Bush do to “Squander” this “Good will”? Well, apparently, he responded to the terrorist attacks by unseating the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, bringing an end to their reign of terror, and shutting down the safe haven they had granted Osama Bin Laden. Since this was done without the permission or blessings of the European “Community”, it was therefore suspect. This is where the contempt comes in: Europe likes to consider itself our moral and intellectual superior, and when we decided to strike back, we made them uncomfortable with our unity of purpose and our display of power.
Do you still believe Bush “Squandered” this “Good will”? Oh, well, of course the Iraq war…but that’s not what we’re discussing. This phrase was put into play long before operation Enduring Freedom became a reality. So how did it acquire such legs and longevity? By endlessly repeating it until people came to accept it as truth.
Now, of course, with the initial war well behind us, other lies are given wings by perpetual utterance:
“Iraq is a quagmire” - It’s a war, not a party, and the rebuilding of society gets nowhere near as much attention as the sporadic battles.
“Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction” - Recently discovered Sarin gas was easily denied or explained away, but the main problem is that we have no idea where Saddam Hussein put his weapons programs, and the possibility that he hid them underground or in a nearby safe haven is somehow not even worth considering.
“There’s no connection between Iraq and Al-Qaeda” – not only has this not been proved, but given that Al-Qaeda cells have been discovered in such famously tolerant European countries such as Germany, France, Spain, and England, just how much of these possibilities are we supposed to put up with?
Perpetuating lies in order to convince people of your point of view is a fascinating game, but horribly dangerous. Before the Boxers, Kennedys, or Gores bury us in another blizzard of hyperbole, they’d do well to explain exactly how we should be fighting terrorism, rather than pretend that Bush hasn’t been doing so.
posted by ET @ 1:41 PM
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