Blurred Vision

A Blurry Line Between Propaganda and News

EDITORIAL: A shocking thing happens midway through Norman Solomon's documentary film War Made Easy.

While analysing the George W. Bush administration's lead-up to the Iraq invasion, Solomon plays a news clip of Eason Jordan, a CNN News chief executive who, in an interview with CNN, boasts of the network's cadre of professional "military experts." In fact, CNN's retired military generals-turned-war analysts were so good, Eason said, that they had all been vetted and approved by the US government.

War Made Easy, which is narrated by Hollywood actor and peace activist Sean Penn, begins as an antiwar film that decries the Bush administration's interventionist rationale and misinformation campaigns during the post-9/11 era.

In one scene, he describes how a Hollywood set designer was hired to build a news set (with polished backdrop and sleek high-definition televisions) for the public relations arm of the US military during the Iraq war. Presentations by military commanders and officials resemble news broadcasts. There is no discussion of the facts, and what the government says is accepted without question.

War Made Easy offers a timely criticism of the media, and portends an ominous future for the US news viewing public should they sit back and accept without question the pronouncements of political leaders and evening news anchors.

-------Yep, there's a whole lot of propaganda out there. But, if government propaganda is this insidious – what of the propaganda of the "opposition?"

If Hollywood and MSM can ignore fact with sleek presentation for the government would they not also be engaged to do the same for the "opposition"?

For those who believe BushCo is controlled by Israel and/or neocon Jews do they trust Jewish Solomon and Jewish Penn to come forth any less sleek, any less biased, with an altruistic agenda? Could the BushCo "opposition" be just another ruling class controlled cabal with a different means to the same end? Ya think?

Strikes me as ludicrous that former brawling badboy bratpacker Sean Madonna has become a world renowned "peace activist."

As BushCo propaganda is produced to promote wars for profit what is the "opposition" propaganda promoting? Peace? Hmmmm. Apparently, State propaganda performs better as the US historically fails to keep the peace for any length of time.

Are the sheople following promoters who produce what they want to hear? Remember the proverbial saying – the first casualty of war ... applies to all players.