« You Know You're in the Wrong Country Redux | Main | Britain reducing troop levels »
September 17, 2004
The Forgeries
Isn't amazing that the media and the public can seriously pretend that there is any question whether George W. Bush, who is privilege personified, had strings pulled for him to get out of going to Vietnam.
And isn't it even more amazing how many liberal politicos are implying or claiming what Kerry did was honorable because he didn't dodge the draft like Bush? So, what now, these liberals believe the Vietnam war was just and honorable? And why are they then opposed to the war on Iraq? If anything, Iraq is more justifiable since the Vietnamese people aspired to nothing more than national self-determination while Saddam Hussein was a brutal tyrant and a serious danger to his people and the region.
The truth is Bush's dodging of the draft doesn't qualify as honorable because he was for the war -- he just wanted other people to go kill and die. Kerry's participation in the war doesn't qualify as honorable either because he believed the war to be immoral yet he voluntarily signed up. Risking your life in the service of vice is no virtue.
Meanwhile, as everyone remains occupied with superscripts in old typewriters and such important matters, 54 percent of Americans still believe that "Iraq had weapons of mass destruction before the war" and 50 percent believe "Iraq gave substantial support to Al-Qaeda."
Here's Tom Toles from today's post:
Posted by zeynep at September 17, 2004 12:56 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.underthesamesun.org/mt-tb.cgi/191
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference The Forgeries:
» online poker from online poker
If you decide not to keep the online poker service after the 30 day trial, it will be deactivated and deleted. No obligation, and with our thanks for trying it out. Visit online poker now! We are the ... [Read More]
Tracked on July 13, 2005 09:04 AM
Comments
Wow. More people than {the "Powerline" blog's visitors} are actually raising a fuss about those documents?
Are they really that desperate?
---
FWIW, as for the uninformed, perhaps rather unaware US public: It's understandable, I think, if so-many folks don't really know what's going on, outside of their field of view -- given: the long hours of work; the general (hypothetical?) lack of adequate, formative education, about local and world history; the supposed ... "quality" (generally put) of any "news" (or just "information") agencies, which anyone would have any time or any care to actually pay attention to. (So, I tend to not try to fault the US for much but causes of annoyance, and for the mistakes of supposed "leaders".)
I've been wondering if there's been a symptomatic /lack of education about _critical reasoning_/ - perhaps, throughout the nation - either. (I've wanted to bring it up, before, but had no place for it; I hope this might be a start.)
(I don't mean to wave around a "banner of Science" around, either - but ... well, how does science proceed without the pursuers also reasoning, critically, upon what's been observed of a thing?)
and a prognosis -"unofficial", perhaps speculative - after the fact, perhaps upon any symptoms perceived of a people: The US is, in most, a national workforce -- the individuals of which are not necessarily so aware of things outside of their immediate field of view. This workforce, and the persons within it, continue to work. and work. and work. until retirement. Some entertainments are taken-up, in the while, and some "information" is passed around - be it valid, true, relevant, or none of the above. Meanwhile: The world continues, mostly unknown to us; "our" schools continue, passing people along; "our" businesses continue, trying to make a buck, and then another buck, with interest, however they will or, within the bounds of the national and local law, however they "legally" may.
(And in this workforce system, perhaps the "elite" has been perceived of, as being constituted by: the body of corporate executives "and friends".)
There's nothing wrong with a strong understanding of the necessity of work.
(How can a people continue, without individuals, who know the means and the techniques for the fair work of, for example: construction, of farming, and of enough manufacturing for the production of necessary tools and so-on? and then, who do work?)
Now, if a nation would be taught as if "our" work is all that we're here for ... ("but, oh, we have a free-market economy, so we are not like communist Russia, at that") then what else can people be expected to aspire to? i wonder.
--
Sean
Posted by: Sean Champ at September 18, 2004 05:15 AM
Great political cartoon, Zeynep, and I have to agree that there is nothing honorable about either Bush or Kerry's behaviors during the Vietnam War. Kerry's anti-war protests after he was discharged were certainly honorable, but nothing he did in Vietnam itself was honorable in any way.
In general a very large portion of the American public has little or no ability to think critically, to challenge our political and corporate leaders, or to hold any of our political and corporate leaders accountable for their actions and criminal activities. This is at least in part due to a systematic dismantling of this country's Public Education System by a conservative agenda that has been in place for the better part of 30 years now. It is the agenda of the neo-cons to completely dismantle not only the Public Education System, but our health, welfare, and social security systems as well and return us full throttle to the Gilded Age when there was opulent wealth at the top and mostly everyone else was poor and uneducated.
For example, when I was young education in California was essentially free all the way through the state university system. I never paid more than $100/semester for fees and tuition when I attended California's state university system 35-40 years ago. Now tuitions and fees are sky-rocketing, and social workers coming into the workforce as I was retiring were beginning their careers with debts of $30,000 or more just from having attended a state university or perhaps the UC system for 5 or 6 years. This is ridiculous, of course, and really makes it difficult for workers to stand up to repressive management policies. It is much more difficult to be outspoken and to stand up for one's rights when one has a $30,000 educational debt hanging over one's head. This is all part of the general neo-con plan to "third worldize" the United States and make dissent and critical thinking that much more difficult even for folks directly effected by our government's repressive and fascist policies. It isn't just that the government doesn't adequately educate people, but it also bludgeons them for thinking critically when they may do so, and punitively punishes them for being outspoken. The government wants people to be overburdened with "just surviving" as it makes dissent virtually impossible for a large segment of the population. Again there are no coincidences. All of these various governmental suppressions are well-planned out by the plutocrats who are trying to control American society. That doesn't mean that the plutocrats efforts to suppress us will necesarrily succeed, but they are well-calculated to give the desired results. That is where all of us come in and we must resist these fascist governmental policies in the most creative ways we can possibly imagine whatever they might be.
Sincerely,
Old & In The Way
Posted by: Phil Cicchi at September 18, 2004 09:32 PM
I could be wrong, but as far as I'm aware Kerry didn't believe the war to be immoral when he volunteered. This is important as it changes the honorableness of the act. Volunteering for what one thought was a just war, finding it to be unjust, and coming back to speak out against it is an honorable, understandable course of action.
Going to Canada because you believe the war to be unjust, or going to jail for refusing to serve in an unjust war are also plausible, honorable responses to the circumstances.
Advocating for a war and refusing to act on its behalf in any way that would involve real personal sacrifices is craven and base.
For these reasons, I can't agree with your assessment of Kerry. Risking your life in the service of vice is not a virtue, but risking it for what you think is virtue and later learn is vice is honorable if you admit your culpability and try to rectify the situation.
If you know of some information that shows that Kerry knew the Vietnam was bs before he went, I'd be happy to read it and change my assessment accordingly.
Also: I just started reading this blog a week ago, and think it is excellent. Keep up the good posts.
Posted by: Joshua Bregman at September 19, 2004 09:01 AM
Good to see someone using the preposition "on"
instead of "in" to refer to the War. This is how
Thoreau used the phrase when he wrote about the
"War on Mexico". The "in" construct comes out of the
bag of tricks of mind bending PR funtionaries.
Posted by: sk at September 19, 2004 11:27 AM
Get a Generic Viagra alternative at Cheap Generic ViagraGet a Cheap Generic Viagra alternative at Cheap Generic Viagra
Posted by: Cheap Generic Viagra at March 12, 2005 11:41 AM