Brent Hardy

Social Problems

Trigg

April 29, 2003

Seeing Through Media Lies

            Times of war are, it seems, the only time people become concerned with the events in the world around them.  However, the media often takes advantage of these periods of strife to, in a sense, brainwash the people into believing complete lies and doing things they would not otherwise do.  The media and government agencies use fear to manipulate the masses, and the masses then take any option made available to them to help reduce that fear.

            In the Cold War, there was constant tension over whether or not the Soviet Union would use its atomic bombs on America.  Naturally, the Soviets were afraid of an American attack as well.  The price of fallout shelters skyrocketed.  Americans became very concerned with such propaganda as “duck and cover,” and felt that by informing them of this wonderful, life-saving technique, the government was doing everything it possible could to protect the citizens.  The government, meanwhile, was sometimes agitating the conflict with the U.S.S.R. by instigating arms races and the like.

            Now, though, the Cold War is over, but we are still feeling the aftershocks of all the government stupidity that happened during that time.  All our major international troubles can be directly linked to how our government tried to best the Soviets by any means necessary.  Al Quieda is such an efficient organization because we trained them.  Iraqi weapons were so effective in the Gulf War because we sold them to Hussein. 

            Reagan realized something during his presidency.  America had more money available for the development of weapons than did the Soviets.  If we started an arms race, we could bankrupt the “evil Soviet empire” and win the Cold War.  Obviously, nobody thought about what would happen to all those weapons when the Soviets needed money, so we now live in fear of any small terrorist organization obtaining biological, chemical, or nuclear capabilities.  This is the true face of the government that looks out for us.

            Now we are told that we are in a state of war with the terrorists.  Our government may have beefed up security at the expense of our civil rights, but terrorists can still get through at any time to kill us and all our puppies.  That’s why we all need gas masks.  When they drop the massive amounts of gas on us to kill us all, we can just carry on like normal in our fashionable breathing apparatus.  We also need plastic wrap and duct tape, because that’s really going to protect our homes from bacteriological warfare.  If we seal our houses up so that the germs and the chemicals cannot get in, though, we will suffocate after a short time.   Also, what does plastic wrap and duct tape do against the radiation?

            That’s right; the only way to get harmful doses of radiation would be to get directly in the bomb blast.  Those alpha and beta particles can’t penetrate the skin anyway.  If you say so, Uncle Sam.

            So here we are, stuck in a consumer capitalist society where the people in charge care more about their own safety than the safety of the people they are supposed to govern.  After September 11, where was the President?  He was in an underground bunker, totally safe.  Where was the Vice-President for months after that?  He was in another bunker running a “Shadow Government.”  Doesn’t it make you feel good to know, though, that when the population of America is decimated by terrorist attacks, the IRS will still be functional and able to make the most of your tax dollars?  It sure makes me feel all warm in fuzzy inside.