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Rhetorica|Let the roosting begin... Episode
President Bush finds himself in an interesting political pickle caused in part, in my opinion, by his administration's crusader rhetoric since 9/11. I have no idea if it's a good plan to contract with Dubai Ports World, a state-owned company based in the United Arab Emirates, to run some American ports. A professor here at Missouri State is worried about it.
In order to get the American people to agree to attack a country without provocation (spare me, please) one must resort to the kind of propaganda first perfected during World War I: demonize the enemy specifically by race or nationality or culture. A little (manufactured) fear of nuclear holocaust doesn't hurt, either.
If you teach Americans to hate and fear the people of the Middle East (think: evil-doers), is it any wonder they would react viscerally to the idea of turning over our ports--by nearly all accounts our biggest weakness in national security--to the United Arab Emirates?
Just take a look at the online poll (certainly not scientific) at the Springfield News-Leader (see top item in the sidebar on the left). This is Bush country, the land of Roy Blunt--a conservative town in a conservative corner of a conservative state.
Tag: rhetoric
Tag: politics
[ Thu, 23 Feb 2006 11:19:29 -0600 ]
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