Renee Montagne’s fundraising promo for NPR, at least the one I heard this morning, is insulting. Attempting to convince listeners that her “in-depth” reporting on stories no longer in the news are pledge-worthy, she performs a mind-reading act.
An Afghani woman voter dropped her ballot into the box and asked Renee “Where does it go”? – but with a sense of “wonder” – because the poor pathetic creature couldn’t possibly comprehend the voting process or the meaningfullness of her act before slipping the paper into the magical box, even though this same woman and others had just told Renee they were going to cast their ballots as their husbands ordered them to.
“Where does it go” could have meant a lot of things. NPR listeners only know that Montagne did the woman’s thinking for her.
KILLING WITH IMPUNITY
Nine-Second Coverage For Dozens of Dead Iraqi Women and Children
When the mass killing of Iraqi civilians is couched in propaganda terms imported wholesale from the military, and reported in nine seconds or 300 words, it means the media have given the military a green light to kill with impunity. It means we are a couple of hundred words away from the kind of performance we would expect from a totalitarian media system.
What is it about Iraqis that makes us believe we have a right to go on killing them year after year? Why do their deaths mean so little to us? How can the deep moral degradation of our corporate press, and of our corporate political system, remain invisible to so many of us? How long must innocent people continue to pay the price for our indifference and complacency?
Katrina and the good Americans
All the kindness, all the concern and generosity, the utmost empathy, taking strangers into their homes, donating so much money and goods and time, helping them find a roof over their heads, find a job, locate their loved ones … But it must be asked: Why is it that so many of these same people can show so little concern for the many, many victims of US foreign policy — the bombed and the tortured, the maimed and the impoverished, the widows and the orphans, the overthrown and the suppressed? How can these kind and generous Americans take delight and pride in the “shock and awe” of the Pentagon military machine? How can they exult in the machine’s unstoppable power to smash through brick and flesh? Unquestionably, many of them display more regard for their dog than for any Iraqi or Afghan.
I think the main reason is that Americans are convinced, or at least tell themselves, that the devastation and suffering of these foreigners is the price that has to be paid for a higher cause. Residing comfortably in Americans is a deeply-held belief that no matter what the United States does abroad, no matter what horror may result, no matter how bad it may look, the government of the United States means well. American leaders may make mistakes, they may blunder, they may lie, they may even on the odd occasion cause more harm than good, but they do mean well. Their intentions are always honorable. Of that Americans are certain. They genuinely wonder why the rest of the world can’t see how benevolent and self-sacrificing America has been. Even many people who take part in the anti-war movement have a hard time shaking off some of this mindset; they march to spur America — the America they love and worship and trust — back onto the right track.
Another comparison worth pondering: Look at the US government’s preparation for the invasion of Iraq. For almost a full year the bases were set up, the airfields laid out, the tanks moved into place, the army hospitals readied for the wounded in Germany, the body bags inventoried, hundreds of thousands of military and civilian personnel assigned their spots and their duties, money being printed round the clock upon request, every “t” crossed, every “i” dotted, little left to chance … and look at the preparation for a hurricane hitting New Orleans, which was beyond the “if” stage, waiting only for the “when”. The empire has its priorities.
ACORN Katrina Survivors Association Will Unite Displaced Residents to Work for a Just Recovery
On October 18th, ACORN announced the formation of the ACORN Katrina Survivors Association (AKSA) — the first nationwide organization of displaced New Orleans residents and other Katrina survivors. The AKSA will unite members of our displaced communities in order to demand more effective relief efforts and a voice in the rebuilding process.
“We want to return to our homes, and take part in rebuilding our communities,” says Tanya Harris, a former resident of the Lower 9th Ward and a leader of the AKSA. “Right now, too many decisions are being made without us at the table.” Harris and 1,600 New Orleans residents from across the country came together to form the Survivors Association, whose launch was announced today in a national phone-in press conference.
Read more at www.acorn.org/katrina.
People in other countries who have been killed by the United States of America have done so much to keep me free that I think we should give dedicate a fountain to them in a public park somewhere in America.
As for those merely injured, there should be one day where we American show our appreciation by wearing jeans to work.
The monument will be built but for dead soldiers not innocent Iraqis. Toby Keith will perform at the dedication. He would have joined the military but was afraid there wasn’t another American capable of writing jingoistic war chants that would resonate with brainwashed morons.
But I’m tired of monuments to American soldiers as well as police officers. How many pats on the back do these people need?
The funny part of “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American),” at least for me, is that the song is about revenge when the official line from the White House was, and is, we are going to remake the world as we want it (not necessarily in our image), which is different if similar. Nobody who loves the song seems to get this, which I believe is the result of a lack of critical thinking on their part about the politics of the “war on terror.”
People I know who like the song have a wink-wink relationship goin’ on with George & CO, if not in fact, certainly in their minds. They think him brilliant because they see the democracy building talk either as a deliberate ruse to placate state dept. sympathising terrorists or an extension of democracy that ensures the white man’s hierarchy. I notice some of late are calling this Jacksonian. A pan-nationalism? Why they apply it globally with such relish and confidence this takeover will ultimately succeed is the “result of a lack of critical thinking on their part about the politics of the “war on terror,” as you say. But the righteousness is something else, no? The populism I’ve encountered is rooted in the belief that Arabs are “our” niggers and these patriots won’t be sated untill they do what they’re told and retreat to whatever reservation the benevolent USA carves out for them.