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Media Propaganda Hides American Terrorism Essay

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Media Propaganda Hides American Terrorism

An article in this month's "Stuff" magazine for men, titled "Die American Scum" tells us that the world sucks. It sucks because while Americans have given other countries "Mickey Mouse, burgers and gum, won wars for them, kept the peace and disposed of dictators," all we have gotten in return is terrorism. The article, by John Parrish, goes on to discourage Americans from traveling to 10 "terrorist" countries including Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Colombia and Mexico.

While the article attempts to further the notion that evil terrorists in the rest of the world are out to get innocent Americans, like many other sources of contorted propaganda, it fails to look at why. Through the news, …show more content…

Yet, we had full knowledge of Saddam's use of chemical weapons in his war on Iran from 1980-1988. In fact, the United States fueled Saddam's war because Iran, at the time, was itself hateful of America. This demonstrates two things.

First, the United States labels countries as "terrorist" only when it is in our own best interests. The American government was promoting Saddam right up until the Gulf War. Second, people in other countries hate the United States for a reason. For Iraqis, it is the strangulation of their economy because of sanctions. For Iran in the 1980s, it was that the America backed a coup in 1953 to re-install Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, a repressive dictator with a record teeming with brutal suppression of political dissent.

The United States' support for the Iranian dictator is not an isolated incident. We live under the false impression that America fights dictatorships everywhere and aims to spread democracy. In fact, America has often promoted the harshest of dictators. According to David Lowe of "The Progressive" (September 1998), Emmanuel "Toto" Constant was the Haitian leader of a death squad that killed thousands during military rule from 1991-1994. While today, America refers to Constant's group as "terrorist," he was once on the Central Intelligence Agency's payroll.

If we look beyond

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