I was going to write a post with this exact title and topic (maybe without the Kim Jong Il references), but Slate beat me to it with The Propaganda President.
If "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il of North Korea and George W. Bush ever meet, I suspect the two will bond like long-lost brothers. Both men are first-born sons of powerful fathers who partied like adolescents well into their adult lives, after which they submitted to their dynastic fates as heads of state. Both avoid critical thought, preferring to surround themselves with yes men and apply propagandistic slogans to the onrushing complexities of justice, culture, economics, and foreign policy.
Bush's willingness to use propaganda and its corollaries regularly astounds me. Consider:
- On his current social security roadtrip, he's still using the campaign trick of carefully screening the crowd so only rabid supporters and volunteers are in the room to cheer him on. He's afraid of dissent.
- He fabricates a crisis in social security, saying it will go "broke" or "bust", when experts on both sides and non-partisans in the middle say nothing of the sort will happen.
- His administration paid off at least 3 reporters, who are supposed to be neutral, to push his message on certain programs. There are probably lots more of these arrangements that haven't been found.
We're supposed to admire our President. This guy's just an asshole. |
You are right on target about Bush being an asshole thanks for your candor.