A Season of Diversion
Reality is only what we see and hear. Each year, Hollywood throws millions upon millions of dollars at future blockbuster scripts in hopes of making the unreal real. Films like Star Wars, The Matrix, and especially The Lord Of the Rings, to name a few, have thrilled us because they bring to life worlds only our imagination could conceive.
People in politics have long known that image is everything. And they’ve long known that the less their constituents know, the better. But they’ve rarely played around with our concept of reality until G. W. Bush’s grand entrance into the White House. Since then, great care has been given to control what we see and hear; and not only what we see in America, but also of how the world sees America.
Do you remember last December, in the midst of the Trent Lott fiasco, that the Pentagon was considering establishing an international system of information dissemination in which the military would oversee propaganda programs throughout the world? Thom Shanker and and Eric Schmitt of the The New York Times revealed this in their article "Pentagon Debates Propaganda Push in Allied Nations,"on December 16th.
In this article, Shanker and Schmitt mentioned that "Many administration officials agree that the government's broad strategy . . . must include vigorous and creative propaganda to change the negative view of America held in many countries."
In fact, one military officer was quoted as saying: "We have the assets and the capabilities and the training to go into friendly and neutral nations to influence public opinion. We could do it and get away with it."
Most damning though is this quote:
In February, Mr. Rumsfeld had to disband the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Influence, ending a short_lived plan to provide news items, and possibly false ones, to foreign journalists to influence public sentiment abroad. Senior Pentagon officials say Mr. Rumsfeld is deeply frustrated that the United States government has no coherent plan for molding public opinion worldwide in favor of America in its global campaign against terrorism and militancy.
What really interested me about this news article was this–that Rumsfield and company were more interested in perceptions in foreign countries rather than in America. Why did this interest me? Because I feel it is an indication that a system of propaganda already existed in America. You control your own house before you step outside to control others.
So what might be involved in this propaganda system? According to Shanker and Schmitt, the Pentagon has listed the following:
1) Pay journalists to write favorable articles about American policies.
2) Pay outside contractors without obvious ties to the Pentagon to organize rallies in support of American polices.
(As a note, this reminded me of the myriad of college-age students who suddenly appeared in outside of the courthouses in Florida to protest and attempt to break into the rooms in which the ballots were being counted.)
3) Achieve physical and psychological results in support of objectives against adversaries.
4) Communicate national interest and demonstrate resolve.
(As a note, I think of Bush’s expensive end-of-war speech on the U.S.S. Abraham as a prime example that portrays the America’s resolve at fighting their enemies. The strategists wanted to show Bush not only as a heroic wartime president but a popular "superstar" president, a.k.a. Tom Cruise in Top Gun.)
One campaign that still seems odd is that which occurred directly after the tragedy of 9/11. Like a scene right out of The Wizard of Oz, where the Great OZ demanded Dorothy not to pay attention to the man behind the curtain, television and cable channels were filled with commercials (prepared around Bush’s speech) urging Americans to live their life as if nothing happened--to go about their business. Though I appreciated the fact that Bush may have intended to stave off an economic disaster, this speech also seemed to suggest that he and his administration would take care of everything else amidst the talk of war.
The events resulting in the bestowal of the presidency upon Bush were chaotic; most everything America has encountered since has been as chaotic, confusing, and destructive.
We have faced a summer season in which the administration would not allow the release of the entire 9/11 report, that the reasons for war against Iraq were based on manipulated information; that the heroic mission to save Jessica Lynch was staged; that Britain’s top weapons inspector David Kelly was found dead from a suspicious suicide; that more soldiers have been returning home in body bags from Iraq than when the war was officially being fought; that Iraq under American rule has turned into another West Bank; and why don’t you just <fill in the blank>.
As we approach Autumn, as the leaves from our favorite trees lose their color and their life, falling into our yards and laying about like dirty laundry, we’ll be diverted by many other things that will attempt to paint a picture of a reality that is quite untrue. We won’t necessarily care, of course. As long as it’s beauty makes an impression, as long as the message is easy to remember, as long as it excites the animal instinct in us, we will be happy; we will be hanging on for more.
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