21st century Lambton Worm

[Doug Millison]

I imagine you put more faith in Bush's propaganda than I do. It's not at
all clear that anything Bush has done has had any impact on terrorism. We
won't have any definitive answers about that, either, for a long time, if
ever; meanwhile, you have to believe the White House PR spin, and I'll take
that with a grain of salt, thanks.


It's funny, my wife grew up in the PRC, under Mao, didn't come to the US
until she was an adult, but all the skill she developed in detecting
political propaganda through the twists and turns of the anti-Rightist
campaigns of the 50s (she had several near relatives who were dealt with
severely in that madness) and the Cultural Revolution of the 60s, doesn't
seem to translate quickly enough to let her  spot much of  manipulation of
the American media by Bush & Co., although she does understand that it's
best to begin start off by disbelieving most of what any politician has to
say...and she was long ago weaned of the need for a charismatic leader.  I
guess the specific bullshit detection skills just don't cross over national
boundaries that easily, because I've known more than a few people who have
come out from under authoritarian/totalitarian regimes and who wind up
easily swallowing mainstream US political propaganda.


At 12:39 AM +0200 7/2/02, Otto wrote:>
>The 21st century Lambton Worm
>It's a tempting picture indeed (though I don't buy it because the analogy
>stops very fast), but let's play: the worm has already brought down the Twin
>Towers & bitten a piece out of the Pentagon, the American symbols of
>economical & military power. Didn't somebody speak of the "Hydra of
>Terrorism", the multi-headed beast? Wouldn't it have been more suicidal to
>let its heads go on, get bridges, power-plants and dams maybe? Doesn't have
>the hero the obligation to go to the beast's cave (Afghanistan, Tora Borah)?


Bush Jr. -- in his role as the Younger, Slayer of Evil-doer, -- is a parody
of Campbell's _Hero of 1000 Faces_.