Despicable Neo-Con propaganda

I've been busy today, so I've not read lots of people blogs, and I imagine this has been commented on at length, but the lengths that the Bush regime will go to to get re-elected are shocking. This article from BBC news has the details, but it's the not-particularly hidden subtext that I'd like to talk about. John Ashcroft, who should basically be wanted for crimes against humanity, but is actually the US attorney general, has said that there's a specific al-Qaeda attack threat to be all spooked about. Now, they've been doing this kind of thing on and off since 9/11 but the lovely, right-wing, terrifying sting in the tail this time is that they are drawing comparisons with the Madrid bombings, and suggesting that the terrorists might feel that they were effective in helping to contribute towards the socialist victory in Spain. Now, let's be clear about the facts first. The Madrid bombings may have contributed to the election results, in that the government completely botched the immediate aftermath, blaming the bombings on ETA and, of course, the election result may have had a little something to do with the fact that the vast majority of the Spanish people were against their President's choices in terms of the war in Iraq and his support for Bush.

But for the neo-cons to basically say, "hey, just 'cos they bomb us, or wanna bomb us, or we're making you nice and scared that they're gonna bomb us, don't, whatever you do, vote for the other guy. 'Cos that would mean the terrorists have won!"

It's propaganda of the most dangerous and damaging kind, it's clinging to political and economic power by any means necessary, and it's playing right into the hands of the people in proports to oppose. The war is apparrently on "terror" but the actions of the regime are geared towards creating the exact emotion they are supposed to be at war with. Fear is an incredibly destructive force, and those who seek to use it to control the masses are playing a dangerous game. Sadly it's a game which has the power to affect humanity very widely indeed, and I suppose what I'm really saying is don't give in to the fear!!! If you'll permit me to quote Yoda for a moment "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." The thing about the quote is, despite it's origins in a work of science fiction, I'm absolutely convinced that it hits upon a very deep truth about the human condition...

Maybe we could sit Dubbya down in front of the tube for a few hours in front of the star wars trilogy, see if any of it sinks in...