As even high-school composition students
will tell you, the most important character in any script is the Dastardly
Villain. Without one, the script fails and the show flops.
None the less, this appears to be one area
where Uncle Sam is cutting the budget. Either that or he’s hiring teen
scripters with soap-opera aspirations. Or it could be these scripts are written
for folks with the attention-span of the average voter.
To begin with, it seems Uncle likes to
reuse old scripts. “Scary Muslims” for
example. And lately his scripters have been attempting to resurrect
the “Scary Russian” meme from the latter half of the 20th Century, now starring Vladimir Putin instead of Stalin
or Khrushchev.
And of course, the International
Communities in on it. No, I’m not invoking another Conspiracy Theory. As
Prof. Chomsky points out, Uncle Sam’s version of “International Community”
is tiny, shrinking, and only marginally International. But, none the
less, doesn’t that meme sound great?
In case you aren’t up on the rules for
scripting, in creating a villain, dastardly or otherwise, the first step is “demonization,”
which is just what it sounds like. This ploy is also used by the U.S. “Justice” System.
While they don’t like to talk about it in
public, every once in awhile the process gets attention anyway. Sometimes even
an insider will inadvertently “drop the D-bomb.” Like this for example –
– –
“Well Jim, it is very important in a
democracy that you have the support of the people. One of the reasons why [U.S.
President] George Bush [Sr.] had to demonize [Iraq’s President] Saddam
Hussein was to get the support of the people, and [U.S. President] Bill Clinton
has done the same thing, Vice President Gore has done the same thing with
respect to [Serbian President] Milosevic.” –Raymond Tanter, Fmr. Natl.
Security Council Staffer, WATCH IT!, 2 Apr 1999, ~11:56:45 AM EST
And, apparently, this works. While we
average voters were worried about WMD Saddam didn’t have, Saddam was, instead, seriously absorbed in writing a
novel.
Because the machine is good at keeping us in the dark,
missing knowledge is the rule, not the exception. For example, did you know
that despite the Korean “War,” the Vietnam “War,” the Afghanistan “War,” and
the two Iraq “Wars,” etc. the United States (Government) hasn’t been legally at war since September 12, 1945,
when the Japanese surrendered to Allied Commander Louis Mountbatten in
Singapore, ending World War II?
You didn’t? That’s likely the result of
chronic use of the Goebbels Gambit, “Don’t tell them then
it will not exist,” named for chief NAZI “information officer,”
Joseph Paul Goebbels.
So it’s clear: Whatever your opinion of his
scripters, Uncle’s pretty effective at keeping us in the dark using the Goebbels
Gambit, fake news, and other ploys.
Thus, in “getting” demonized Saddam
— and Milosevich, Gadaffi, etc. — your scripters studiously ignore that you
completely destroy the infrastructure, kill, maim, un-house and displace
hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of the innocent men, women and
children the script swears you’re saving. Perfect Goebbels!
This is of course, completely acceptable.
As Uncle learned in Vietnam, destroying villages to save them can be easily
sold to The International Community and, apparently, to most Americans,
at least for awhile. The practice has even been up-sized from villages to destroying mid-sized cities like Fallujah and
sometimes even large cities like Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Not to mention — in
addition to North Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq — whole countries like Libya,
Afghanistan, and now Syria etc.
So, when the U.S. scripters — and their
M.S.M. propaganda bullhorns — start demonizing your leaders, whether you like
them or not, you might want to stock up on food and water. And make sure your
vehicle — if you have one — is gassed up. And be sure you have really
good friends out in the countryside somewhere, well away from population centers.
Given this chronic behavior, it’s no
surprise that Uncle Sam is regularly cast as a Dastardly Villain himself
— everything from “The Colossus of the North” (by most of South America)
to “The Great Satan” (by Iran, etc.)
And, naturally, there’s blow-back.
It’s also worth noting that with the invention of ISIS, while “dastardly” is
still essential, “villain” (singular) is now optional.
Now maybe I’m being too harsh on Uncle’s
scripting teams, but I hope not. Otherwise, something much more ominous,
dangerous, and really stupid is indicated. Maybe they’re not knowingly
creating and/or resurrecting Dastardly Villains, maybe they actually
believe their own fake news and other
lies.
Because particularly when trying to script
the Russian Bear as your essential villain — and poking him repeatedly in the nose with a sharp stick
— you should at very least remember he’s a nuclear bear.
Here for updates, additions, comments, and
corrections.
AND, “Like,” “Tweet,” and
otherwise, pass this along!
L. Reichard White [send him
mail] taught physics, designed and built a house, ran for Nevada
State Senate, served two terms on the Libertarian National Committee, managed a
theater company, etc. For the last few decades, he's supported his writing
habit by beating casinos at their own games. His hobby, though, is explaining
things he wishes someone had explained to him. You can find a few of his other
explanations listed here.
