An
astonishing example of how the establishment propaganda transforms
disastrous war criminals into 'preferable' presidents
It
probably all started with this WaPo
article, wondering if we 'miss these guys yet'.
Many responded instantly and clearly: Hell no!
Then,
the establishment apparatus picked probably the worst of the three
(the one in the middle above) to clean his awful record, which
includes the biggest war crimes. The method is based on a classic
technique through which the fading of the collective memory through
the years, is reinforced by a peculiar brainwash in which the
corporate media play a critical role.
Whitney
Webb thoroughly describes
part of the process:
Over
the course of the past year, something remarkable has happened to
George W. Bush. The former president, once detested by many Americans
for the numerous debacles that marked his presidency, seems to have
shed most of his infamy – becoming reborn, as one paper put it, as
the “internet’s favorite grandpa.”
Bush
has made several media appearances over the past year, first to
promote his paintings of wounded veterans, maimed in wars he began,
with appearances on programs like the Ellen DeGeneres show, the Today
show, and Jimmy Kimmel Tonight. Media coverage of these appearances
sought to immortalize the “funniest moments” from his media tour.
Publications, once critical of Bush, sang his praises for his
portraits of “astonishingly high” quality and his evolution into
“an evocative and surprisingly adept” artist. Peter Schjeldahl of
The New Yorker called the paintings an “exercise of Bush’s
never-doubted sincerity and humility,” despite his having
“obliviously made murderous errors” for which the former
president now “atones.”
The
media blitz was instrumental in changing long-standing attitudes
regarding the former president. Reagan Wright, a college student
in Arizona, explained to the New Statesman that, though her opinion
of Bush “was almost always negative” and she long considered him
to be “less than smart,” she now finds his antics “so cute”
and says her opinion of him totally changed upon watching his
appearance earlier this year on the Ellen DeGeneres show. A
YouTube clip from his “Ellen” appearance now boasts over 2.6
million views.
Then,
several months later, Bush again garnered significant amounts of
positive media coverage after he gave a speech last week critical of
President Donald Trump — though without naming Trump at any point.
The former president was widely praised for the “genius of his
words,” largely because he had joined mainstream political
discourse in criticizing the current president — not for his
warmongering or myriad conflicts of interests — but for his
“nationalism” and vulnerability to “conspiracy theories.”
Don
Sipple, a former political ad maker who worked with Bush, told the LA
Times that the speech came as a result of Trump’s behavior, which
“has stretched the bounds of decency to a point where Bush is
highly offended on part of the nation.” Bush the “compassionate
conservative” has now replaced Bush the war criminal.
The
media’s rehabilitation of Bush has had a dramatic effect,
particularly on the American left. A poll released last week
revealed that, while 85% of Democrats viewed Bush negatively in 2009,
51% of them — a majority — now view him positively.
In
the following video, The Young Turks nearly shocked by the fact that
"while 85% of Democrats viewed Bush negatively in 2009, 51%
of them — a majority — now view him positively.", as
described by Webb:
In
other words, Whitney Webb describes a part of an operation through
which the establishment mechanisms are using the image of the
"monster" Trump to make even war criminals appear as a much
preferable option to run the country. The big irony here is that
Trump not only didn't reach a comparable time in presidency to draw
someone a safe conclusion (although first indications are the worst,
indeed), but also that the same establishment praised him as being
'presidential', only when he bombed Syria! Do you get now the
enormous hypocrisy of this system?
Such
brainwash operations exploit factors like:
-
The collective memory of the society fades progressively, even
concerning completely disastrous policies like those of George W.
Bush. Only a sample of this policy is the absolutely devastating
invasion in Iraq (based on big lies) that opened Pandora's box with
the appearance of ISIS and other extremists, and, the fact that his
administration saved the Wall Street mafia, responsible for the 2008
big mess, with a lot of taxpayers' money.
-
Younger generations have no direct memory from such awful
presidencies. The response by the college student in Arizona, as
described above is characteristic: though her opinion of Bush “was
almost always negative” and she long considered him to be “less
than smart,” she now finds his antics “so cute” and says her
opinion of him totally changed upon watching his appearance earlier
this year on the Ellen DeGeneres show.
However,
because our memory is not fading (at least not yet), we would like to
give you just a small sample of the 'wonderful three' in the picture
above that we 'should miss' according to WaPo. So, for a start:
Bill
Clinton era: marks the complete transformation of the Democratic
Party into a component of the neoliberal regime. Under his
presidency, the Democrats will continue what Ronald Reagan left
unfinished in favor of the Wall Street parasites and the big
corporations. By the way, under Clinton the US army bombed,
blood-bathed and finally destroyed a European nation at the heart of
Europe, called Yugoslavia.
George
W. Bush era: the US invaded in Iraq and Afghanistan, spreading
absolute chaos, especially in the Middle East. The invasion in Iraq
has been proven that was based on big lies, while left one million
dead with numerous war crimes. Pandora's box was opened for extremist
groups like ISIS. Iraq still struggles to become a normal state. Bush
bailed-out the banking parasites of Wall Street with at least 700
billion dollars instead of throwing them in jail for the chaos of
2007-08 financial crisis, where millions of Americans lost their
homes, and the US middle class still struggles to survive.
Barack
Obama era: despite all promises nothing changed. Wall Street
continued to enjoy the most privileged position in the US economy.
Not a single banker went in jail. Abroad, the US contacted proxy wars
destroying Libya and bringing chaos in Syria. Indirect help was given
to Saudi Arabia to bombard civilians in Yemen. Drone strikes reached
record level with most of the victims not being the primary target.
Whistleblowers have been hunted fiercely. Police state and brutality
have been reinforced.
See
also:
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