Iran as a political crisis
The NYTimes points out once again that all sane analysis shows Iran is 10 years from a nuclear weapon.
And Americablog has a pretty good post on how the Republicans are using the Iran crisis to put them back on top on National Security. Remember, in December, Karl Rove made a speech where he said that the Republican midterm strategy would be to run on national security.
It's really a pretty brilliant strategy. We react to the hype and they reap all the benefits. Although I'd be much more impressed if the strategy didn't involve the very real possibility of accidentally starting a war.
But, apparently, Americans still like to bomb Muslims. (Here's the LATimes article the next blurbs are sourced from.)
Also, in the blurb,
And Americablog has a pretty good post on how the Republicans are using the Iran crisis to put them back on top on National Security. Remember, in December, Karl Rove made a speech where he said that the Republican midterm strategy would be to run on national security.
It's really a pretty brilliant strategy. We react to the hype and they reap all the benefits. Although I'd be much more impressed if the strategy didn't involve the very real possibility of accidentally starting a war.
But, apparently, Americans still like to bomb Muslims. (Here's the LATimes article the next blurbs are sourced from.)
Asked whether they would support military action if Iran continued to produce material that could be used to develop nuclear weapons, 48 percent of the poll's respondents said yes; 40 percent said no.
Also, in the blurb,
However, a majority (54%) of the poll's respondents indicated that they don't believe President Bush will make the "right decision."
posted by mikevotes at
10:28 PM
3 Comments:
Fool us once, shame on them...
Fool us twice, shame on us...
Why are so many Americans so easily manipulated?
It's not even clever manipulation!
They're using the same goddamned playbook they used on Iraq, right down to issuing alarming (and bullshit) warnings about Iran's nuclear capabilities.
At any point I expect to hear the preznit talk about how we have to take out the Iranian mullahs before "the smoking gun comes in the form of a mushroom cloud."
By
Reality-Based Educator, at 6:39 AM
By bullshit warning, btw, I don't mean we shouldn't be worried about Iran obtaining nuclear weapons.
I just mean they're not going to have them in 16 days, like some in the administration have suggested.
(Sorry, I forgot to put this in the above post)
By
Reality-Based Educator, at 6:40 AM
Actually, my heretical side says that I'm not all that sure we really need to fear a nuclear Iran. Iran has not started a single war in a century despite being attacked several times. They do not pose a credible threat to the US. Any use of nukes by Iran would evoke a response that would turn the entire country into a sheet of glass, and despite the rhetoric, I don't see even this extreme president authorizing that.
But, I guess that fear that's part of the hype.
And, as to why Americans are susceptible to that hype, I think there are many factors. We were raised in it. The threat of annihilation by Russia pounded into small children must have some effect on their world view development. There's a reason that the nuclear threat was emphasized in both Iraq and Iran when, really, a credible bioweapons program in the hands of a crazy could create far more deaths. It's almost a cultural archetype at this point.
When people imagine a nuclear attack, they pull up some fictionalized version, most do not immediately flash on the Hiroshima pictures and stories(which are far worse than what pops first into my mind.)
We've been conditioned to respond to "an enemy with nukes." Now, when that is combined with the three decades of propaganda of a brown skinned middle eastern terrorist, and the still resonant shock of 9-11, you have a powerful propaganda element to popularize your geopolitical war.
We're steeped in it on a very fundamental level. I think that's why it works.
And, I've got that 16 days article linked below in the Iran v North Korea post.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 8:52 AM
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