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CounterPunch
February
7, 2003
The New McCarthyism
Bush's America:
For Better or Worse
by JOHNNY BOYD
"People have to watch what they
say, watch what they do."
White House Press Secretary
Ari Fleischer
In the 1950s, a junior senator named Joseph McCarthy
made a speech accusing thousands of government employees of being
communists. He moved from that target to Hollywood and smeared
the names of dozens of artists including Charlie Chaplin, Orson
Welles, and Arthur Miller. No one dared stand up to McCarthy
out of fear that he would mount a smear campaign against them.
These tactics were given a name--McCarthyism--and put into the
files of the darkest archives of American history.
A few days ago, former Chief U.N. weapons
inspector, Scott Ritter, was accused of trying to lure a teenage
girl to a Burger King restaurant presumably for motives less
than honorable. Actually, he was accused of this alleged crime
in June 2001. He went to court and the case was dismissed and
sealed. Usually a dismissal in a criminal case implies innocence
of that crime. Usually having a case sealed means that it would
never haunt that person again.
Of course, that would be the usual case
as long as the person in question isn't a credible and well-known
critic of the Bush Administration's lust for blood in Iraq. If
Ritter had only kept his mouth shut instead of trying to shake
some sense into an American public being fed a line of manipulative
horse hockey, I'm quite sure his misdemeanor police record would
have remained sealed, and his credibility intact.
Then there's Rush Limbaugh, who went
on a shrill rant to expose as communists the housewives and grandmothers
that marched for peace in Washington D.C. Rush was immediately
followed by his very own "Mini-me," Sean Hannity, who
parroted every line Rush had spouted. Whether these men understand
democracy is questionable, and whether their estimated 20 million
listeners agree with them is frightening. But I won't deny them
the right to smear as long as they don't deny me the right to
dissent.
The fact that the protestors have the
ability to dissent in a democracy should be welcomed by these
so-called patriotic talk show hosts, and the idea of smearing
anyone who might harbor an alternative point of view as a communist
is unbelievable. Healthy debate and alternative views should
be aired before we start turning the streets of Baghdad red with
the blood of innocents. Next thing you know they'll be branding
protestors with even worse epithets like "people-gassers."
Americans don't like commies very much, but we hate people-gassers.
I'm quite sure that some of the protestors
are communist sympathizers, but communists (and dictatorships)
are divided into two groups these days. Those that cooperate
and trade with the United States and those that don't. Put into
the black and white terms that Americans have come to require
in order to understand any given situation: China good commies,
Cuba bad commies. I would venture to guess that the alleged communists
that marched on Washington probably practice some form of Capitalism
thereby making them good commies. Especially the "Soccer
Mom" commies that don't want their soccer players killed
protecting us from driving smaller cars. People often hear about
the corporate media controlling the content of what we are allowed
to hear, but they never actually catch it in action. After his
remarks on "Politically Incorrect," ABC fired Bill
Maher. His ratings had remained the same throughout the tenure
of the program, but the network cancelled him anyway. Maher's
words were considered unpatriotic and no one doubts that this
controversy was the reason he was cancelled. Can't have controversy
at ABC.
It was just after Maher uttered the infamous
remark that Ari Fleischer gave us his take on democracy that
I quoted above. One has to wonder what pressure the White House
applied to ABC. I'd venture to guess it probably wasn't much
more than a carrot. A communications bill that benefits the corporate
networks can be very effective in making sure "people watch
what they say." If you expect to hear anything more than
the government line after the hostilities begin, I'd buy a satellite
dish.
The French and the Germans are ruffling
the Bush Administration's peacock tailfeathers over it's latest
line that time is running out on Iraq. Donald Rumsfeld has labeled
these peacemongers "old Europe". He'd rather think
of Europe as Poland and the Czech Republic because these countries
whole-heartedly support any idea that America comes up with.
Of course, France and Germany have economies large enough to
support themselves (and therefore think for themselves) while
Poland is expecting aid from the U.S. in exchange for its advocacy
of American policies. Most of us learn at an early age that we
can't buy our friends and you may recall that the federal government
has bought more than a few friends over the years. Too many have
returned as enemies. As long as the administration allows North
Korea to sell SCUD missiles to our "ally" Yemen, I
have a feeling more will follow in their footsteps.
Out of nowhere a tape made during the
Kennedy Administration conveniently surfaced this week. On it
JFK is heard complaining about the French being a bunch of whiners
for not supporting American engagement in Vietnam. Whether the
French were right is immaterial, but I1m sure this tape gave
insight to many Americans on what to think of the nervous Europeans.
Now when our allies in Europe start trying to avert our hostile
intentions we'll just say, "Those silly French. They're
always kidding around. Go ahead, Mr. President, ignore them."
Then we can march off to war with our newly-bought friends in
tow and leave our true friends and long-time allies to whine
about their insignificance. Hopefully we won't need them. It
wasn't until a few columnists stood up to McCarthy and exposed
his lies that McCarthyism was laid to rest in the late 1950s.
Newspapers branded him "evil," but Americans retained
their fear of communists until the cold war ended. If you sense
a pattern to these events I've just mentioned, you are waking
up to the new age of McCarthyism being pulled from that dark
archive and dusted off. Get used to living in fear of terrorism
forever, and get used to smear campaigns being waged against
anyone in the way of the government's agenda. This is Bush's
America for better or worse. And if you're sensing those patterns
don't mention it to anyone, or I'll see you at the IRS audit.
Johnny Boyd
is a columnist living in Aspen, Colorado. He can be reached at:
snomasokist@mindspring.com
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