Black and White
February 28th, 2006 | by Dr. Forbush |Do you remember when George W Bush uttered those famous words, “If you aren’t with us you are against us?” This is taking an issue and eliminating any middle ground. You can’t decide to support the USA in diplomatic efforts, but continue to maintain support of your people with ambiguity. Sometimes politicians use ambiguity to advantage. For example, Alan Greenspan used ambiguity in an effort to keep the stock market stable. And, everyone wants a stable stock market, bond market or any other business market that exists.
But, the Bush administration has turned the world into “good” and “evil” or Black and White.
The good thing about a black and white world is that you have direction, and that makes it easy to lead. You just point, and no one needs to question what to do. The bad thing about a black and white world is that everyone already knows what they have to do, so you don’t have to lead.
This is what happened to George W Bush after crafting his black and white view of the world. As we all know George W Bush used terrorism to frighten Americans into voting for him. Now that we have him, he doesn’t need to lead, because everyone already knows that Arab terrorists are the evil we are fighting. So, is it any surprise that when the country of the United Arab Emirates wanted to take over control of 6 of our major ports someone would be frightened into asking, “Is this safe?” George W Bush the originator of this fear should have known, because he planted the seeds. Or was it Karl Rove? Well, someone should have anticipated the fear of the American people.
But the fear of terrorism isn’t the only seeds that George W Bush planted. He planted fear all around the world when he invaded Iraq. Every small defenseless country began to ask themselves if George W Bush and the USA could be trusted. Even the large nuclear powers like India don’t care for the “invade first ask questions later policy of this administration. And why should they, because actions speak louder than words.
The disadvantage of living in America is that one doesn’t really know how the rest of the world views us. However, occasionally I do stumble over something that gives me pause. And, every American should read this piece out of “The Hindu.” Reading the thoughts and feelings of someone who views the crazy policy of the Bush administration from the outside should help Americans understand how we effect the world.
When Bush goes to India there will be many people in that country that feel this way. And what Bush does in this country will effect how these people perceive America and Americans for years to come. If you never travel outside the country you most likely wouldn’t know this except for the miracle of the Internet.
Black and White! The people of India now see America in Black and White. The leaders like George W Bush certainly fall into the “black” category.
But the Black and White idea doesn’t stop there. In Iraq, the country we set out to save has also begun to adopt the Black and White strategy. The Shia and the Sunni are beginning to view each other in these same terms. “You are either with us or against us,” can be heard echoing in Arabic through out Iraq.
Cross Posted @ Bring It On, tblog, Blogger and BlogSpirit
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