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Global Perception of the US Election:

By Noam Chomsky at Sep 20, 2004

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I doubt that most people abroad care whether Bush is an idiot, a trained actor, or a genius who is pulling all the strings. They care about the policies of his administration. That is what has led to the astonishing increase in fear and dislike of the US government around most of the world. What surprises people, at least judging by the information we have, is that Americans are split 50-50 (among those who bother to vote). People elsewhere are astonished that George Bush is protecting them from destruction. That so many Americans believe that Iraq threatened them, and still believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and was linked to 9-11. That apparently includes Congress, which voted almost unanimously on the anniversary of 9-11 for a resolution that basically repeated the propaganda line on the Iraq-9/11 linkage, including Powell's outlandish fabrications at his Feb. 03 UN testimony, all totally discredited and lacking any credibility even before. There is also a great deal of wonder, and distress, over the apparent lack of concern for murdering and torturing Iraqis, out of "revenge" -- They did it to us (9-11), so we'll do it to them ("all ragheads are alike"). Or Fallujah for example, conceded to be a revenge massacre. Those who think are also likely to be struck by the farcical character of the elections: the PR extravaganzas, the principled evasion of issues, the focus on IBM electric typewriters in 1970 and swift boat charges, particularly dramatic alongside the complete incapacity to see that every significant question about the Vietnam war has been sent so deep down into the memory hole. And on, and on.

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Re: Global Perception of the US Election:

By Maahaadave, Gurudave at Sep 22, 2004 23:36 PM
Most people around the world are clueless, no different then, and in fact more clueless then most americans. Most of the worlds population lives in ignorance, poverty, and subject to feudal overlords. The American political lansdcape is hardly their concern, their next meal and the coming rains are their focus. The world's educated and semi educated people are mostly gullible and suffer from long and short term memory loss. Propaganda in their home countries condition their thinking, just like in america. Was the world up in arms over Clinton? How different from BushFed was he? Not much by my calculations. Propagandized sheeple make up the mass of humanity. The free thinkers are a small slice in any society. If the mass media abroad, was pro Bush, the people would foollow, and be pro Bush as well. It's all about advertising, presentation of a package you want to sell, it's not the product it's the shiny package it comes in. BushFed are total failures at it, Clintonites were expert. Bush is as religious as a ham sandwich, ever hear him speak on his religious views? Totally scripted and fake. It's a culmination of a 30 year plan: a priest king for gullible believers.

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Re: Global Perception of the US Election:

By Whitworth, Colin at Sep 21, 2004 17:12 PM
Ignorance, religion and racism are fueling US nationalism, which enables so many Americans to believe these lies. It is difficult to debate real issues when so many people just want to believe Bush, no matter what anyone else says. His past does not matter because Bush has been saved, born again. His war in Iraq is OK because we are killing our enemies on their soil not fighting them on ours. It is all about religious superiority to Bush's supporters.

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By Murphy2, Ajbmurphy at Sep 21, 2004 16:56 PM
The global perception of the US also includes some surprise at the huge influence of religion, particularly Evangelical Christianity on US political culture. This seems to push people into believing the rhetoric of 'good' and 'evil'. Another aspect of the contemporary situation is just how little experience of terrorism and war ordinary Americans have actually had. In most other parts of the world, including affluent Europe, there has been first hand experiences of atrocities and protracted warfare against civilians.

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