Our Time of Universal Deceit Needs an Orwell
by Paul Craig Roberts
Foreign Policy Journal
If we were to be blessed with a 21st century George Orwell, he would coin a new “speak” to apply to “support the troops.” Would he call this “Deceptive Speak”? Or would he be more clever?
The words certainly deserve an Orwellian name. The catch-phrase was rolled out the minute the war started, which makes one wonder about its public relations origin. Who can oppose supporting the troops, at least before we learned from WikiLeaks and Abu Ghraib of the intentional killing of civilians and torturing of whoever happened to be rounded up in the various sweeps? All for the fun and games of it.
“Support the troops” originated in the public relations department of the military/security complex. What “support the troops” really means is to support the profits of the armaments industry and the neoconservative ideology of US world hegemony.
“Support the troops” is a clever PR slogan that causes Americans to turn a blind eye to the brutal exploitation of our soldiers and military families for profit and for an evil ideology.
Our soldiers and military families are paying for the Bush/Cheney/Obama/neocon wars with lives, limbs, post-traumatic stress, suicides, broken marriages, children without fathers, wives without husbands, and parents without sons and daughters.
“Support the troops” is one of the most cruel hoaxes in human history, and yet the vast majority of the population has fallen for it. “War Is Peace.”
When a people are so gullible, it is little wonder that they can be marched off to unaffordable open-ended wars based on nothing but lies, deceptions, and fabrications.
America produces an endless supply of material for a new Orwell. Imagine what an Orwell could do with Hillary’s recent speech on America’s firm commitment to dissent and the First Amendment. CIA veteran Ray McGovern stood with his back to Hillary in an act of dissent from the Obama administration’s policy of coercing Internet companies into helping to eliminate WikiLeaks as a source of information. McGovern was dragged beaten and bloody from the room, while Hillary continued praising America’s commitment to dissent and freedom of information.
To capture this level of hypocrisy requires a George Orwell. “Dissent Is Subversion.”
To Read the Rest of the Essay
3 comments:
Dr Roberts always hits the nail on its head and shows how American imperialism operates and deceives its own people and the rest of the world. In this article he again shows how the grand deception of ‘support the troops’ has been played out by the vested interests who want to perpetuate wars for their profit under the cover of patriotic slogans.
The brutal and inhuman way American authorities are treating the U.S. soldier Bradley Manning is another crime and a disgraceful act of vendetta. Obviously, Obama’s reply to a questioner about Manning shows the degree of contempt for human rights and indifference to the lot of those who dare to tell the truth and don’t follow the official diktat. In contrast to the president’s position is the case of P.J. Crowley who was the spokesman for the State Department. He chose the honourable course of objecting to the cruel treatment of Manning and resigned from his office.
Dr Roberts always hits the nail on its head and shows how American imperialism operates and deceives its own people and the rest of the world. In this article he again shows how the grand deception of ‘support the troops’ has been played out by the vested interests who want to perpetuate wars for their profit under the cover of patriotic slogans.
The brutal and inhuman way American authorities are treating the U.S. soldier Bradley Manning is another crime and a disgraceful act of vendetta. Obviously, Obama’s reply to a questioner about Manning shows the degree of contempt for human rights and indifference to the lot of those who dare to tell the truth and don’t follow the official diktat. In contrast to the president’s position is the case of P.J. Crowley who was the spokesman for the State Department. He chose the honourable course of objecting to the cruel treatment of Manning and resigned from his office.
Nasir--thank you for your comment. I'm always interested in socialist/marxist perspectives, especially from other parts of the world, so I linked your blog in my bloglist.
I'll check out your books.
Solidarity,
Thivai
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