Just imagine if some foreign demagogue had caused the daily slaughter of scores of people in America’s capitol city. I wonder what we would think of him, and of the people who brought him to power. We gripe, for good reason, about Osama bin Laden, but his act of terrorism pales in comparison to that of George Bush’s, whose ranting and lying has caused the deaths of about 3,000 innocent people every two months for the past forty-eight months. That’s 24 9/11 attacks, all on a population that was COMPLETELY INNOCENT of terrorism against America. I wonder what we would think of him and his country when his only response to this continual slaughter of our neighbors is that he will “stay the course,” while his propaganda machine churns out an ongoing stream of lies and disinformation, and his country’s government-friendly media willingly plays along.
Bush says we’re safer today than we were before 9/11. Somehow, I don’t think so.
But no one is invading the U.S. currently, so it just doesn't matter to many people what is going on (in our names) over THERE. To me, it seems like a lack of empathy, but that just invites the question "Why a lack of empathy?"
As I've written often at this site, we are creatures of limited attention http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=699 and too many of us are busy filling our hours with passive entertainment, gadgets and other consumer goods. Iraq is out of sight, out of mind. That's the way it is because that is how we set our priorities. Not enough of us are asking whether all of that carnage in Iraq is accomplishing anything worthwhile. We're just throwing more young soldiers into the "meatgrinder" and hoping for the best.
Erich writes: "Iraq is out of sight, out of mind. That’s the way it is because that is how we set our priorities."
I see a much more sinister picture: Iraq is "out of sight, out of mind," because that is how the *Bush Administration* wants it to be. They have very carefully controlled media access to information, as well as dispensed boxcar loads of misinformation, all in an effort to control and shape public opinion, both in America and in Iraq. They have:
– paid "journalists" both in America and Iraq to write favorable stories;
– heavily censored the (mis)information that is given to the American media (e.g., banning the photographing of flag-draped coffins of U.S. troops),
– heavily censored the (mis)information that is given to U.S. troops (e.g., censored the military press, soldiers' emails, etc.);
– heavily censored the (mis)information that is given to the U.S. Congress (e.g., the multifaceted lies about WMDs, yellowcake uranium, aluminum tubes, etc.);
– heavily censored the (mis)information that is given to the Iraqi government and its citizens; etc.
Thus, I agree that Iraq is out of sight, out of mind, and that it is because that is how Americans have ranked their priorities, but there is a very clear reason *why* many Americans have ranked their priorities in this way. It didn't just happen because Americans are lazy or uncaring; it happened because they have been, and are continuing to be, manipulated.