Perhaps: "Support Our Troops: Don't Treat Them Like Gulf War Veterans"
This morning I'm also contemplating how badly the anti-war and peace movements have done in countering the PR onslaught inundating the airwaves and every aspect of mediated American life. I look at the hate mail I get at Infoshop and see Americans who have bought all of the US government propaganda, hook line and sinker. These people think that we protesters support Saddam Hussein. They think that Hussein was involved in 9-11. They have no problem suggesting that American dissidents "move to North Korea."
At the same time, I've just listened to a horrible hour of NPR's Scott Simon and his weekend propaganda show. Here we have a slightly more intelligent class of propaganda which cheerleads for the war. After one caller challenges Simon on their poor coverage of opposition views on the war, Simon and Daniel Schorr confer and announce that they have covered most of the protests, perhaps not understanding that part of being fair about covering opposition views is putting opposition guests on shows like NPR's Weekend Edition.
This hour of NPR this morning could be a case study in how the corporate media serve as propaganda outlets for the US state. This one hour included a long stretch of a live Pentagon briefing, with most of the Pentagon propaganda going unchellenged. Later in the hour, NPR had as a guest an Iraqi exile woman who stated that protesters were pro-Saddam and they we are seriously misguided. This statement went unchallenged by NPR.
The Pentagon press briefing was a smorgasbord of propaganda strategies that the Bush adminstration is successfully using to manufacture consent for war among the American population. We all understand that this invasion is about extending US Empire and using "shock and awe" to threaten every other country in the world into obedience. But much of the Pentagon briefing was aimed at the American people, what with the focus on "regime change" and soldiers surrendering. The briefing also included mention of the military strategy to go after terrorists, which is designed to convince Americans of the false connection between Iraq and 9-11.
Shit, now they are running George Bush's speech live...
We can pat ourselves on the back for building a huge peace movement, but we haven't put much of a dent into how Americans understand this war. Part of that has to do with the lack of strategy by the anti-war movements, that strategy being merely to get out a many people to protests in the hopes of getting some media attention. And here in DC, anti-war groups are once again protesting at the White House. It should be clear that the White House doesn't care, but why do we keep protesting at the White House? Why aren't we protesting NPR, or the PR companies on K Street, or out in the neighborhoods? Here in DC, I just see a complete failure of strategy coming out of the traditional peace movement.
Chuck0