TAIBBI: March To War “Any country that squawks when we threaten to bomb it-needs to be wiped out”

[kpete]

Another March to War?
by Matt Taibbi

........................

We have a similar gentleman’s code, a “Westernized industrial power” code if you will, that operates the same way. In other words, our newspapers and TV stations may blather on a thousand times a day about attacking Iran and bombing its people, but if even one Iranian talks about fighting back, he is being “aggressive” and “threatening”; we can impose sanctions on anyone, but if the sanctioned country embargoes oil shipments to Europe in response, it’s being “belligerent,” and so on.

I’m not defending Achmedinejad, I think he’s nuts and a monstrous dick and I definitely don’t think he should be allowed to have nuclear weapons, but to me this issue has little to do with Iran at all. What’s more troubling to me is that we’ve internalized this “gentleman’s code” to the point where its basic premises are no longer even debated.

Once upon a time, way back in the stone ages, when Noam Chomsky was first writing about these propaganda techniques in Manufacturing Consent, our leaders felt the need to conceal – or at least sugar-coat – these Orwellian principles. It was assumed that the American people genuinely needed to feel like they were on the right side of things, and so the foreign powers we clashed with were always depicted as being the instigators and aggressors, while our role in provoking those responses was always disguised or at least played down.

But now the public openly embraces circular thinking like, “Any country that squawks when we threaten to bomb it is a threat that needs to be wiped out.” Maybe I’m mistaken, but I have to believe that there was a time when ideas like that sounded weird to the American ear. Now they seem to make sense to almost everyone here at home, and that to me is just as a scary as Achmedinejad.



Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/another-march-to-war-20120217#ixzz1mkJC8gR3

[theaocp]

1. I cannot stand American exceptionalism.

It is antithetical to humility and we all need a dose or three of that.

[Kaleko]

8. But Americans want to be lied to.

A majority of them insists on it. Only flattering portrayals of this nation's exploits at home and around the world are tolerated. You can hear it here on DU: a constant chorus of, "Tell me lies, sweet lies, and I will recommend you."

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. He is right about the gloves coming off

both internationally and her at home, less pretense is being made about the true agenda.

[fascisthunter]

3. Well Done in Exposing the Hypocrisy and Dishonesty

[girl gone mad]

4. k & r

[woo me with science]

5. K&R

[Initech]

6. Ugh. The last thing we need is another pointless, costly war.

We have no money to keep all our necesary social programs going. Anything to keep the fuckers in the MIC happy I guess.

[malaise]

7. Must read

Rec

[Octafish]

9. C'mon, Taibbi! Get mit das Programm.

Last edited Sat Feb 18, 2012, 11:44 PM - Edit history (1)

Behave! Know your BFEE: Like a NAZI

[leveymg]

10. Many Americans are simply nostalgic for the era we weren't just the dog that gets wagged

There are at least four tails in the mideast.whagging us, and frankly that's kinda scary for a lot of Americans. They'd prefer to pretend that we still have control over our own hindpart. We don't.

[Hugabear]

11. But you're forgetting the "Good Guy - Bad Guy" rule

That is, the rules only apply to the Bad Guys. The United States (along with Europe and Israel) are Good Guys, so those rules don't apply to us. Who made us the Good Guys? We did, silly!