Photo credit: Mickey Z.
Mickey Z. -- World News Trust
March 10, 2014
“Here lies the yellow man, killed by a black man, fighting for the white man, who killed all the red men.”
- Malcolm X, summing up the Vietnam War
For the United States to perpetually cast itself in the role of good guy, it obviously needs an endless supply of bad guys to stand in contrast. One of the most effective and enduring targets of such spin has been the all-purpose Red Menace.
Whether it’s peasants seeking land reform in the Third World or union organizers right here at home, dissidents and rabble-rousers have been painted Red since the United States and its allies sent an invasion force of 300,000 soldiers into the newly formed USSR in November 1917.
From that unofficial start of the Cold War right up to this day, as William Blum explains, “the United States convinced much of the world that there was an international conspiracy out there.”
Such relentless propaganda and conditioning helped bring the hatred of communists -- particularly Russian communists -- to the point where the Home of the Brave™ actually hired surrendering Nazis to fight them after World War II.
“When tied to the threat of Communism and the Evil Empire, the cry of National Security stills criticism, rationality, and decency,” says author Edward S. Herman.
Case in point: In 1970, when advocating for the removal of Chile’s democratically-elected president, Henry Kissinger bellowed, “The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves … I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people.”
Thousands of people were murdered and tens of thousands were tortured or disappeared, but the Nobel Peace Prize winner got his wish.
Mind the Gap
A potent element of red-baiting and anti-Russian spin involved the myth of Soviet supremacy. Surely, if the godless communists, hell bent on world domination, were allowed to surpass U.S. military might… well, you get the picture.
Edward Herman defines the “Soviet threat” as “a large and formidable beat of prey, the size of whose claws and fangs varied with the demands of the Military-Industrial Complex.”
“It’s now virtually undisputed that the menace once attributed to the Red Army was greatly overrated,” says journalist Ken Silverstein.
“Military history is full of trumped-up threats,” Business Week columnist Stan Crock wrote in late 2002. “Time and again in military preparations, fears are raised that later prove unfounded.” Crock calls this gap-ology. A gap, according to Herman, is “a frightening but mythical deficiency relative to some foreign power.”
First there was the 1955 bomber gap. “The Soviets flew Bison bombers repeatedly in a loop over visitors at an air show, giving an exaggerated notion of their numbers,” says Crock. “A worried U.S. military proceeded to build up its air-defense system.”
Five years later, John F. Kennedy gave America the infamous “missile gap” when he claimed the U.S. nuclear arsenal had fallen behind the Soviet stockpile. Upon his election, JFK revealed that a gap indeed existed but it turned out that it was the United Stats that had the advantage, but that didn’t stop the liberal hero from launching a dangerous nuclear-arms buildup.
Presidents Carter and Reagan combined to make a late 70s/early 80s contribution to the Soviet threat: the “window of vulnerability.” Based on the conveniently faulty assessment of a group of conservative defense analysts, Reagan announced that the Soviets had the ability to knock out America's land-based nukes in a first strike.
U.S. Secretary of Defense (sic) from 1981 to 1987, unrepentant Cold Warrior, and master of spin, Caspar Weinberger remained unfazed by any evidence of U.S. Deception, explaining: “In the end, we won the Cold War and if we won by too much, if it was overkill, so be it.”
Reminder: Corporate spin only works if we remain passive, uninformed, and isolated.
#shifthappens
Note: To continue conversations like this, come see Mickey Z. in person on March 15 at Bluestockings Bookstore in NYC.
Order Occupy this Book: Mickey Z. on Activism here.
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Mickey Z. is the author of 11 books, most recently the novel Darker Shade of Green. Until the laws are changed or the power runs out, he can be found on a couple of obscure websites called Facebook and Twitter. Anyone wishing to support his activist efforts can do so by making a donation here
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