The Official Version versus the Truth
One of the most important and useful things that progressive people (and all people interested in the truth) can do is to help remind each other what the real truth is. In any given situation, the "official version", which is often created by the Republican National Committee and then repeated by the media, has very little to do with the objective truth. This can lead to the watchful citizen feeling uncomfortable internal dissonance; while the media are telling us (repeatedly) one thing, our guts are telling us something else entirely. Some people are not with it enough to feel the dissonance. Other people seem to embrace it, dutifully incorporating the double standards of their political leaders into their own ethic. Others, hopefully many people, cannot stand the lies or the liars.
The dissonance between official version and actual truth occurs in matters both vastly important and laughably trivial. Surprisingly, the truth is not always that hard to find. Usually, there are articles published that present facts which support an objective truth which differs from the conventional wisdom. But you rarely will see these facts used to pick apart the spurious fabric of mendacity woven by the people in charge of our discourse, our history, our view of ourselves and our country and the people who run it.
Here are a few examples of official versions (OV) of some events, followed by the actual truth (AT). In each case, the actual truth is factually based, and we will find supporting evidence for each item in the future. These are a few off the top of my head:
OV: Staffers in the Clinton administration trashed their White House offices as they left them for the incoming Bush misadministration.
AT: No evidence of this has ever been presented, apart from Ari Fleischer's just making stuff up about it.
OV: The Clintons stole items from Air Force One.
AT: This never happened.
OV: Saddam has nuclear weapons!
AT: There is no evidence of this.
OV: The Clinton administration was very corrupt.
AT: The Clinton administration was extremely clean by almost every measure, with no convictions for any official wrongdoing.
OV: Gore would have lost the 2000 election even if the votes were counted.
AT: Most honest estimates show Gore beating Bush handily.
OV: The Clintons were guilty of something in the Whitewater deal.
AT: The Clintons were completely exonerated by the Whitewater investigation.
The list goes on like that. Actually, it gets pretty redundant, mostly with accusations against the Clintons and Gore. Whitewater, HaircutGate, TravelGate, FBIFileGate, Vince Foster, "Love Story", "Love Canal", the Gore canoe-ride and water-release, Inventing the internet, Farm Chores, Air Force One, Trashing the White House, Gore's posh boyhood hotel, the Clinton "pardons scandal", etc. Most of these lies and smears were just pretty much made up by the RNC, and repeated in the endless no-facts echo chamber of the servile media.
Is any of this really important? Surely, Clinton's term will be remembered as scandal-ridden - the people who write the history of this period will be as lazy as those who reported it in real time, which is a shame. Even though 1993-2001 provided us with some of the least corrupt and well-run federal government ever, the lies of Clinton's political enemies (and those complicit with them) are louder than the truth. Maybe that is an academic point. But the problem is that the RNC has learned that they can lie about almost anything - they can make up the most egregious lies and they will be repeated by the press - and nothing stops them. And the lies become the truth through constant retelling and the fact that they are never refuted.
The media are really the keepers of the Story, and they get very incensed when people try to present opposing facts. They told us that Bush won the election, now we should just be quiet about it like good little children. They told us that Bush would have won the election anyway, so there!
Anyway, if you can handle the dissonance, then I am happy for you. You will probably have a fine life, and always feel as if things are proceeding for the best in this country. For those of you who don't believe that W. was anointed by God himself to be our glorious leader, good luck and remember to keep the truth alive.
As an example of this process, here is a little tidbit assembled by FAIR, the media watchdog, about that bad old Saddam "ejecting" weapons inspectors in 1998.
Iraq Watch
In the interest of the truth, I should mention that I mangled the facts about the bogus satellite pictures a bit last week. See this article for a more complete picture of the untruths which surrounded that conflict, perpetrated by the same people who are lying to us now.
Also, here is a good little true-and-false quiz about Iraq to give to your conservative friends.
Here is a MUST SEE animation concerning Operation Inigo Montoya.
A beautifully cynical little game, in which you are the despot of a desert country with the world's second largest oil reserves, and you are trying to keep a larger country from invading. Good luck!!
Some international cartoons showing the rest of the world's view of us.
Some more on the false, but oft-repeated connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda.
ChickenHawk Watch
Another grim look at those who avoided war themselves, but now cannot wait to send others into it.
Bush Watch
Nelson Mandela has reservations about the Bush administration, to say the least.
Here is an article entitled "Bush's Messiah Complex". Very scary. Nothing like living in a virtual theocracy, especially when the theocrats show no connection to the actual tenets of the professed religion. Blessed are the peacemakers!
Bartcop Watch
Enjoy this mini-rant from Bartcop last week:
The dissonance between official version and actual truth occurs in matters both vastly important and laughably trivial. Surprisingly, the truth is not always that hard to find. Usually, there are articles published that present facts which support an objective truth which differs from the conventional wisdom. But you rarely will see these facts used to pick apart the spurious fabric of mendacity woven by the people in charge of our discourse, our history, our view of ourselves and our country and the people who run it.
Here are a few examples of official versions (OV) of some events, followed by the actual truth (AT). In each case, the actual truth is factually based, and we will find supporting evidence for each item in the future. These are a few off the top of my head:
OV: Staffers in the Clinton administration trashed their White House offices as they left them for the incoming Bush misadministration.
AT: No evidence of this has ever been presented, apart from Ari Fleischer's just making stuff up about it.
OV: The Clintons stole items from Air Force One.
AT: This never happened.
OV: Saddam has nuclear weapons!
AT: There is no evidence of this.
OV: The Clinton administration was very corrupt.
AT: The Clinton administration was extremely clean by almost every measure, with no convictions for any official wrongdoing.
OV: Gore would have lost the 2000 election even if the votes were counted.
AT: Most honest estimates show Gore beating Bush handily.
OV: The Clintons were guilty of something in the Whitewater deal.
AT: The Clintons were completely exonerated by the Whitewater investigation.
The list goes on like that. Actually, it gets pretty redundant, mostly with accusations against the Clintons and Gore. Whitewater, HaircutGate, TravelGate, FBIFileGate, Vince Foster, "Love Story", "Love Canal", the Gore canoe-ride and water-release, Inventing the internet, Farm Chores, Air Force One, Trashing the White House, Gore's posh boyhood hotel, the Clinton "pardons scandal", etc. Most of these lies and smears were just pretty much made up by the RNC, and repeated in the endless no-facts echo chamber of the servile media.
Is any of this really important? Surely, Clinton's term will be remembered as scandal-ridden - the people who write the history of this period will be as lazy as those who reported it in real time, which is a shame. Even though 1993-2001 provided us with some of the least corrupt and well-run federal government ever, the lies of Clinton's political enemies (and those complicit with them) are louder than the truth. Maybe that is an academic point. But the problem is that the RNC has learned that they can lie about almost anything - they can make up the most egregious lies and they will be repeated by the press - and nothing stops them. And the lies become the truth through constant retelling and the fact that they are never refuted.
The media are really the keepers of the Story, and they get very incensed when people try to present opposing facts. They told us that Bush won the election, now we should just be quiet about it like good little children. They told us that Bush would have won the election anyway, so there!
Anyway, if you can handle the dissonance, then I am happy for you. You will probably have a fine life, and always feel as if things are proceeding for the best in this country. For those of you who don't believe that W. was anointed by God himself to be our glorious leader, good luck and remember to keep the truth alive.
As an example of this process, here is a little tidbit assembled by FAIR, the media watchdog, about that bad old Saddam "ejecting" weapons inspectors in 1998.
Iraq Watch
In the interest of the truth, I should mention that I mangled the facts about the bogus satellite pictures a bit last week. See this article for a more complete picture of the untruths which surrounded that conflict, perpetrated by the same people who are lying to us now.
Also, here is a good little true-and-false quiz about Iraq to give to your conservative friends.
Here is a MUST SEE animation concerning Operation Inigo Montoya.
A beautifully cynical little game, in which you are the despot of a desert country with the world's second largest oil reserves, and you are trying to keep a larger country from invading. Good luck!!
Some international cartoons showing the rest of the world's view of us.
Some more on the false, but oft-repeated connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda.
ChickenHawk Watch
Another grim look at those who avoided war themselves, but now cannot wait to send others into it.
Bush Watch
Nelson Mandela has reservations about the Bush administration, to say the least.
Here is an article entitled "Bush's Messiah Complex". Very scary. Nothing like living in a virtual theocracy, especially when the theocrats show no connection to the actual tenets of the professed religion. Blessed are the peacemakers!
Bartcop Watch
Enjoy this mini-rant from Bartcop last week:
"Before September the 11th, many in the world believed that Saddam could be contained. But chemical agents, lethal viruses and shadowy terrorist networks are not easily contained. Imagine those 19 hijackers with other weapons and other plans -- this time armed by Saddam."
--Dubya, SoTU
That's not a case for war, that's a case of pure horseshit!
"Imagine them armed by Saddam?"
Imagine them armed by the Klingons!
Imagine them armed by The Dark Side!
Imagine them armed by the evil wizards in The Lord of the Rings!
posted by ProfessorPlum | 10:00 AM
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