Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Patterns of Propaganda
Perhaps the greatest impediment to human rights and world peace is the failure of Americans to recognize patterns. As the United States prepares the minds of US citizens to support yet another military misadventure -- this time in Central Africa -- the pattern of propping up a U.S.-backed dictator with caches of cash and tons of guns under the pretext of bashing a bogeyman, seems all too familiar.
While this pattern has been repeated around the world many times over the last century (see Killing Hope by William Blum), the recent U.S. military misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq should suffice to remind us that U.S.-backed dictators -- even those purportedly gone bad -- are never promoters of human rights or world peace. Nor, as evidenced by the farce of scapegoating used to justify U.S. and NATO invasions, are extra-judicial assassinations a viable substitute for law enforcement and diplomacy.
As Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton seek to mobilize public opinion behind an invasion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, using the U.S.-backed Ugandan dictator as its proxy, the bogeyman -- this time in the person of the Lord's Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony -- may have a tough time competing with his predecessor, Osama bin Laden, in gaining the cover of Time magazine, but with Hillary's silly blog and Barack's nonsensical webpage, government propaganda as social media just might make up the difference.
In the Real News today, Paul Jay interviews DRC human rights activist Kambale Musavuli about the impending U.S. invasion, its thugs on the ground, and the reality behind the U.S. cover story. (So much for hope and change).
Oh, and did I mention the Congo has a lot of oil? Probably just a coincidence.
While this pattern has been repeated around the world many times over the last century (see Killing Hope by William Blum), the recent U.S. military misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq should suffice to remind us that U.S.-backed dictators -- even those purportedly gone bad -- are never promoters of human rights or world peace. Nor, as evidenced by the farce of scapegoating used to justify U.S. and NATO invasions, are extra-judicial assassinations a viable substitute for law enforcement and diplomacy.
As Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton seek to mobilize public opinion behind an invasion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, using the U.S.-backed Ugandan dictator as its proxy, the bogeyman -- this time in the person of the Lord's Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony -- may have a tough time competing with his predecessor, Osama bin Laden, in gaining the cover of Time magazine, but with Hillary's silly blog and Barack's nonsensical webpage, government propaganda as social media just might make up the difference.
In the Real News today, Paul Jay interviews DRC human rights activist Kambale Musavuli about the impending U.S. invasion, its thugs on the ground, and the reality behind the U.S. cover story. (So much for hope and change).
Oh, and did I mention the Congo has a lot of oil? Probably just a coincidence.
