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>>The newspaper which did so much to whip up hysteria during the years of the Bush administration I lived through those years, I don't recall people running ar
by jebblue 14y ago
>>The newspaper which did so much to whip up hysteria during the years of the Bush administration
I lived through those years, I don't recall people running around the streets of American cities in a state of hysteria.
- richardjordan 14y agoWe all lived through those years - or anyone old enough to be commenting on here did - and I disagree. I think the media climate, which is what we're talking about when we are discussing newspapers, was absolutely one of hysteria. The march to war and the support for remedies such as Guantanamo. If the American media landscape and political climate was not one of hysteria when we made such terrible choices then it speaks far worse of us than the alternative.
- asveikau 14y agoI remember those times as well. I remember how they convinced so many people that the biggest issue facing the United States was Saddam Hussein ... Even liberals were buying it, or prefacing their statements with "I know he's a bad guy who has to go right away, but..." It was pretty crazy. Or, how about that they successfully convinced the American voter to elect more Republicans in 2002 because ... Saddam. Makes no sense right? But it worked. It was successful enough to convince the opposition party to also support the war. Let's not forget that Dick Cheney's office leaked a fake story to the New York Times, then cited that story as a reason for going to war... People forget that now, and just how fucked up it is.
- jebblue 14y agoIraq span multiple presidents: http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/12/16/transcripts/clinton.html http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/12/16/transcript... "The international community had good reason to set this requirement. Other countries possess weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles. With Saddam, there is one big difference: He has used them."
- asveikau 14y agoYep, I remember that. I don't think that action, or even what Bush the elder did, was anywhere near the colossal fuckup and misinformation of the 2000s decade, though.
- unclebucknasty 14y agoSure there was hysteria, right down to color-coded threat level alerts and people duct-taping their windows to protect themselves from chemical and biological attacks. Even prominent or well-known people were afraid to speak out for fear of reprisal (a valid fear: see Dixie Chicks and Bill Maher).