I don't know who to be more angry at: the media or my fellow citizens. Here is a news story about Donald Rumsfeld (former Secretary of Defense under W) talking to military analysts in December of 2006. Totally contradicting one of the many reasons President Bush gave for invading Iraq, Rumsfeld says he agrees "that Iraq needs an authoritarian dictator." On other parts of the taped meeting, "Rumsfeld suggests that the American public lacked the "maturity" to understand that the nation remained under threat from terrorists and that the only "correction" would be another attack on the U.S."
As of this writing, it is listed on MSNBC.com under the "other top stories" section. In fact, "Down to 2 on Idol" gets more prominent display and bigger font than this story. Making my way over to CNN.com, there is nary a word - either on it's front page or the politics page. Let's check out the always-balanced Foxnews.com: nope - not a peep there. How about the networks? Nothing on ABC or CBS.
So I'm angry at the media for not giving this story any weight, traction, or shred of existence (save MSNBC.com). It's still hard to believe that here is a story regarding one of the central figures in the disaster and humanitarian crisis that the Iraq war was destined to become not only clearly favoring authoritarian dictatorships (wasn't Saddam an authoritarian dictator?), but that the only way for the American public to be afraid of terrorists is for an attack to actually happen.
But all of my wrath cannot be spread upon the media alone - even though they're quite guilty of selling us a war based on roses and lies. A really good video highlighting the Bush Administration's successful manipulation of you and me can be seen here. It's of another guilty fellow, Douglas Feith the Undersecretary of Defense under Donald Rumsfeld, who says that Americans "misremember" what was really said about Iraq before the invasion.
No, the other half of my heartache, really, is caused by the towering heights of apathy and ignorance that my fellow citizens seem to posses about not just the Iraq war, but the economy, food shortages, and rapidly approaching irreversible climate change. The few people who actually want to talk about these issues are ignorant of a lot of important facts, or just plainly haven't thought about them much, if at all. Now, some may say that that's because they're much more focused on and consumed by rising gas prices, a recession, and falling wages. And I would probably agree with you, however, it is exactly these issues that are caused by, and can be ameliorated through, our government.
Who's the government? Not some people off in Washington, D.C. or even your state capitals. No, it's you and me. We the People. So when the leaders of this country - those of you reading this - don't do anything like call your representatives (they are there to represent your views), or write letters to the editor of your local newspaper, or hell, even read the damn thing - you're letting us all down. We the People, together, educated, and involved are the only ones who can solve these problems in ways in which we all benefit.
So the majority of you out there who still drive Hummers and other extremely pollutive vehicles or don't recycle or don't read the news or don't get involved in your communities and get to know and work with your neighbors....knock your shit off! You're pissin' me the #$!* off! Quit chasing the Jones' and drop back down to planet Earth, upon which our continued existence is questioned, and start doing things - no matter how small, that make a difference.
What if we don't have that much time left? Would you then wish you had done something now?
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
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