Hitting the nail on the head
4 Responses to “Hitting the nail on the head”
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Uncle Pays the Bills
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May 4th, 2004 at 3:42 pm
Eh. The United States also hasn’t been involved in a “prolonged war” in which we were responding to a direct attack or direct threat, either. Not since the advent of TV news, anyway. It has always been wars “way over there,” with no perceptible direct benefit to the people here.
Politicians need to understand that the body bags are going to start coming home, and that this will be televised, and be damn sure that the American public will support the cause for which we’re purportedly fighting even in the face of these casualties, or not start the war in the first place.
I’m betting the administration was banking on this being MUCH quicker, like Gulf War I was. They never expected it to be this prolonged, or they would have assigned more resources to it on the front-end.
But hey, it’s MUCH easier to just blame the media rather than admitting a gaffe.
May 4th, 2004 at 3:48 pm
Couple things: Gulf War 1 didn’t get finished, really. I think even you opined once that bush1 should have finished the job.
I don’t know that the cartoon necessarily blames the media (though i’m sure that’s rodger’s intent) but that it points out how televised media has changed the perception of wars (i.e., seeing the body bags come home is quite disheartening). Maybe it’s one of those duality cartoons. Regardless, it made me think about the issue.
May 4th, 2004 at 3:56 pm
I wasn’t aware that, in a democracy, the people learning the truth was a bad thing.
If the American people support the goal, they will pay the cost. If body bags dishearten them, it is because they have decided that the goal is not worth the cost — a perfectly reasonable position for them to have. Hiding the truth from them does not make them more willing to pay the cost, it makes them ignorant of the cost. It is a failure of government and morality and a blow at the institutions of democracy. If the right wing is worried that body bags will weaken “resolve”, then they should try to convince Americans that the price is worth the goal. They should not whine about American citizens acting as citizens.
That cartoon dishonestly attempts to blame the media for what is a failing of the Bush Administration (and, for that matter, the LBJ and Nixon Administrations): their inability to persuade people in the country that the Iraq war is worth the cost, and it implies that the truth should be hidden form the American citizens. It is anti-American in a very real sense, assuming Americans are morons lead around by their TV screens and that Democracy is better served if the people are kept in the dark about the consequences of their nation’s actions.
May 4th, 2004 at 4:06 pm
Uncle:
Depends how you define “finished,” really. In some ways, World War II isn’t “finished,” because a lot of the world’s current problems are a direct result of that war (Israel, anyone?).
I don’t recall ever opining that Bush I should have finished the job, but I don’t rule that out, either…
The cartoon certainly seems to blame the media, although there might be some other intent that the author had that I’m missing.