Thursday, August 01, 2019

THE AMERICAN PROPAGANDA MACHINE REVISITED

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE
EFFICIENT THOUGHT IS THE KEY TO BLACK EQUALITY
THE AMERICAN PROPAGANDA MACHINE REVISITED

Donald Trump’s idiotic response to “The Squad” (Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib) saying, "They should go back where they came from", and his criticism of Colin Kaepernick for having the audacity to peacefully protest the brutal killing of innocent Black people by rogue cops, once again betrays his astounding ignorance of what America is all about. The very flag that he’s claiming these people are disrespecting is a symbol of the American tradition of speaking out against injustice, and his attempt to deny Americans that right threatens to render the American flag just another piece of cloth. America was founded on protesting injustice. What IS un-American, however, is being too cowardly to defend that tradition, as Trump was during the Vietnam War, but Trump has a genius for seeing everybody's shortcomings but his own.
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Thus, Trump’s vision of what it means to be an American is based on racist latter-day propaganda that's grounded in ugliness, bitterness, bigotry and greed rather than the founding fathers' vision of freedom and justice for all. The man is not only an ignorant buffoon, but a smudge on the ideal of American democracy - and anyone who follows his lead is not only un-American, but certainly can’t claim to be a Christian.
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Yet, many on the "Christian" Right claim that Trump was sent here by God. Well, maybe he

was, because we're told that God works in mysterious ways. So maybe God sent Trump here to test their faith. He's clearly demonstrating, for example, that in spite of the fact that Vice President Mike Pence has been going around all of his adult life bragging about how much he loves the Lord, he's now passionately embracing this evil, lying, Herod-like infidel instead. So it is now crystal clear that while Pence may love the Lord, he doesn't love him nearly as much as he loves the idea of possibly becoming President of the United States; and while right-wing "Christians" claim to love their neighbor, they have absolutely no problem with putting them in cages. So it's going to be quite interesting to see them trying to justify their faux Christian propaganda before God. 
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MIKE PENCE - A "CHRISTIAN" TOADY
These people better hope that Christianity is a myth, because if it's not, they're all going to burn in Hell throughout eternity. You can't be mean-spirited, evil and bigoted towards others and then claim to follow Jesus:
"It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does."
They're trying to use the Bible to justify their bigotry, just like they used it to justify their brutal atrocities during slavery. So if there's any justice in the world, they're going to pay for their gross hypocrisy dearly.
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Muslims are also our neighbors, but because we covet their oil, the American propaganda machine tells us that Muslims are a hostile people who hate American freedom so they must be invaded "to protect our national interest". But the most cursory examination reveals that the evidence that claim is based upon is highly flawed. Yet, the American people have been persuaded that it's true. That suggests that the American people have learned absolutely nothing from our experience with the Nazis, and it also suggests that the biggest threat to America is the propaganda machine itself.
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The primary argument against the claim that Muslims are inherently hostile toward America is the fact that we had absolutely no problem with Muslims at all until we - Western "Christians" and Zionist - began our imperialistic excursion into the Middle East. Prior to that time Muslims were content to be left alone to practice their religion in their own lands. And there's another thing that should be glaringly obvious to everyone - Muslims are not invading our land, we're invading theirs. So who's the hostile aggressor? Thus, the pattern is always the same, regardless to whether we're talking about Vietnam, Iraq, or here in the inner cities - the White establishment ALWAYS finds a way to justify their self-serving aggression towards others, and ALWAYS while carrying a Bible in their hand - "Dear Lord, please help us to kill more of them than they do us".
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So when we consider Muslim hostility towards America we must keep two things in
mind. First, we need to consider all the hell we raised over the loss of 3000 citizens during 9/11.  If we've been impacted to our core over the loss of 3000 Americans, how do you think Muslims feel over the loss of hundreds of thousands of their people resulting from the unjust and illegal invasion of Iraq? And again, we must remember that while we're quick to call Muslims aggressors, we're invading their countries, they're not invading ours.
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And with respect to our accomplice, the state of Israel, why are they persecuting the Palestinians? The Palestinians weren’t responsible for the holocaust, it was the Germans. So why aren’t they demanding a Jewish homeland in Germany? I’ll tell you why – because the Germans are White and they weren’t having it, so the Zionists chose an easier mark. The Zionists came to the conclusion that the Germans were not going to tolerate their nonsense for a minute, and besides, they'd had their fill with the Germans, so they decided to go and steal the land of non-White people. Prior to deciding upon Palestine, they had their eye on Zaire, Africa.  
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In 1948 America agreed with the Zionists, so now, the American propaganda machine dictates that it’s unpatriotic to criticize Israel. There was even a
bill pending in congress attempting to make it illegal to even request information regarding boycotting the state of Israel.
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According to the ACLU, Sen. Ben Cardin proposed legislation that would “bar U.S. persons from supporting boycotts against Israel, including its settlements in the Palestinian occupied territories conducted by international governmental organizations, such as the United Nations and the European Union. It would also... include penalties for simply requesting information about such boycotts. Violations would be subject to a minimum civil penalty of $250,000 and a maximum criminal penalty of $1 million and 20 years in prison. The Israel Anti-Boycott Act (S. 720) would impose civil and criminal punishment on individuals solely because of their political beliefs about Israel and its policies.” The bill is not only unconstitutional, but un-American.
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Why can't Israel be criticized for committing atrocities just like any other country? Considering the gross atrocities it's committing against the Palestinian people, they
certainly deserve it. Israel is currently engaged in the Manifest Destiny II. Based on their behavior Netanyahu and Israeli right-wing Zionists should be ashamed to face the world; they’re making a mockery of their very own outrage over the Nazi holocaust. Is murder only evil when it’s committed against Jews, and how is the atrocities they're committing against the Palestinian people any different from what Hitler did to the Jews during WWII? The answer is, there's absolutely no difference  - they just haven't heated up the ovens, at least, not yet. That's all Rep. Ilhan Omar is trying to point out - and it has nothing to do with either her lack of love for America, or hatred of Jews. Yet, Dubious Donnie (Putin's puppet), has demanded that she go back where she came from.
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And now Trump has gone even farther. In betrayal of his gross ignorance of simple 8th grade civics, Trump tweeted,  "It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep.Tlaib to visit. They hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds. Minnesota and Michigan will have a hard time putting them back in office. They are a disgrace!" In response, the state of Israel, the United States' number one recipient of foreign aid, has denied two members of congress entry into the country as part of a congressional fact-finding delegation. The Democrats should cancel the trip in response.
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All these two members of congress were doing was speaking out and reflecting American ideals, but Trump neither know, nor care, anything about such "nonsense"; all he knows about is what's in the best interest of Donald Trump - and what's so ironic about it is, a large part of his most enthusiastic supporters have a passionate hatred of not only Zionists, but ALL Jews. Yet, Trump says they're very good people. And during his 2016 campaign against Hillary Clinton he posted a picture of Hillary next to a Jewish symbol and a pile of money, suggesting that Hillary was in collusion with the Jews to takeover America. Thus, Trump cares absolutely nothing about either Israel, or Jews as a whole. All he cares about - as usual - is how they can benefit him personally.
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The truth is, right-wing Israeli Zionists need to stop being such fascist hypocrites, and Trump - and all the other politicians who are criticizing them - need to stop trying to use the Palestinian massacre as a tool to garner political advantage. Criticizing the Israeli atrocities waged against the Palestinian people is neither unpatriotic, nor anti-Semitic - it's anti-Zionist, and there's a big difference. God didn't promise any plot of land to anyone. So in order for true justice to prevail, the United States should go to the aid of the Palestinian people just like we went to the aid of the Jewish people during WWII - and we certainly shouldn't be financing that atrocity or denying members of congress their right to the freedom of speech. Donald Trump would recognize that fact if he weren't an autocratic-prone, self-serving  illiterate.

Atomic Bomb victimBut both right-wing Israelis, and right-wing Americans tend to believe that the lives of their people (at least, their White people) are more valuable than the lives of others. When Americans are killed we never stop talking about it. It, literally, goes down in the history books as an unspeakable atrocity frowned upon by God. But when Americans or Israelis kill innocent men, women and children in other countries, we simply say, "Oops, sorry 'bout that", then expect the people to forget about it and go on about their lives.
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But American politicians must adhere to the propaganda machine just to survive in this political environment. Look at what Obama said about Bush and Cheney's war crimes - "We want to look forward, not back." What the hell was he talking about? Bush killed close to a million people for nothing more than the theft of oil and the benefit of Dick Cheney's Haliburton, so how can we expect to dismiss the killing of a million men, women, and children by simply saying, let's let bygones be bygones? One can only wonder if Obama would have taken that position if his family had been among the million killed? Somehow, I doubt it. 
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It was that one remark that opened my eyes regarding politicians in general. While I consider Obama the best that we've had, he’s a politician nevertheless, so we must closely watch ALL politicians and not allow ourselves to get caught up in a personality cult. While Barack Obama was one of our greatest presidents, he was far from an angel – none of them are. You can’t be an angel and survive in their business, so his remark served to remind me that Obama is also the product of the propaganda machine - he was a captive of it just like the others. So, while I continue to admire Obama (mainly, because he was the best among viable alternatives), I never allow myself to forget that even though he's an impressive man, he's also a politician, not the Messiah. Thus, America must never forget that politicians are not our leaders, they’re our employees. So, it is up to us to set the moral standards of this nation, and that entails clear and objective thought when it comes to the just treatment of others, including our own citizens.
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Americans must recognize that life is not a football game. It's not good enough to just pull for our side, regardless to whether we're talking about the nation, political parties, or individual politicians. We must always pull for justice, regardless of whose political ox it gores.  Because if we continue to allow the propaganda machine to cloud our minds to the truth, none of us will be safe. It's Muslims, Blacks and Hispanics who are being demonized today, but tomorrow it may be Jews, activists, the entire middle class, or Eskimos. Whatever group deemed necessary to demonize to meet our rulers' needs can be targeted overnight. And yes, I said rulers, because those who control our minds, control our destiny.
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The propaganda machine is an insidious device, because it tells us what we want to
hear, and it helps us to hide what we don't want to see, so it has the seductive properties of a drug. Take the issue of terrorism for example. Terrorism is defined as the killing of innocent noncombatants for political gain. Keeping that definition in mind, we must not forget that we are the ONLY country on Earth who has ever dropped an atomic bomb on not one, but two cities, killing and maiming hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children indiscriminately. So, as horrible as 9/11 was, the horror of that atrocity makes 9/11 look insignificant. 
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But by accepting the fact that we committed such a horrible atrocity is inconsistent with the image that we so passionately embrace of "That shining light on the hill," so our propaganda machine swung into action. It helped us to justify the action by convincing us that we only did it to save the lives of thousands of American troops. But there's a very serious flaw in that argument. By embracing it, it affirms that we also accept the fact that there are times when terrorism is justified. Thus, by our own definition, the United States is, in fact, a terrorist state. Thus, the fact is, the only difference between Muslim terrorists and American, or "Christian," terrorists is that we have a much more efficient delivery system. 
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But now, our hypocrisy is coming back to bite us. Under Donald Trump the propaganda machine has been revved up to commit crimes against the American people themselves, by demonizing our national institutions, and undermining our legal system.
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Republican Rep. Steve Scalise said, “Even after a 2-year, $25 million dollar witch hunt
and a disastrous Mueller Hearing, impeaching @realDonaldTrump is still the only thing Democrats can focus on. There was no collusion! They need to let it go and get back to work for the American people.”
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That was, and is, total nonsense, so it is essential that the American people waste no time in running these traitorous scoundrels out of office. Every time they open their mouths a lie drips out. Even their fellow Republicans can see it. Five Republican members of the house have chosen to retire just this week, and nine this year, rather than run for re-election under Donald Trump. Rep. Will Hurd, the only Black Republican congressman in the House of Representatives, just announced that he would not be seeking re-election. And as for the $25 million that Rep. Scalise was complaining so vociferously about spending on the investigation into Trump's criminality, that's chump change. Trump has spent $106.25 million just playing golf. So these people are trying to delude the American people with smoke and mirrors.
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Now, before Trump supporters get all upset and start jumping up and down shouting that I'm un-American, please remember that truth and justice is the American way - and what I've just told you is both true and just. What I've said here is not simply my opinion. Every word I've written is verifiable and based on truth and logic - and like mathematics, truth and logic don't lie.


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Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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