Daniel’s blog reveals an important point: having a good image is what war has always been about. From “liberating the holy lands from the infidels,” to “ending slavery,” to “making the world safe for democracy,” to “remember Pearl Harbor,” the war system could not survive without good PR. How else are you going to get millions of people to suppress what intelligence they have to go participate in organized lunacy?
Gustave LeBon saw the state’s need for imagery: “The masses have never thirsted after truth. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim.” Nowhere was this proposition better shown than in the now-famous exchange between Ron Paul and Rudy Giuliani on the subject of “blowback.”
So, if the RAND Corporation is searching for a “new-and-improved” image for a “new-and-improved” war, how about going back to the Vietnam War for an example? The bumper stickers then read: “War is Good Business: Invest Your Son.” That should appeal to the neocons, the “bottom-line” conservatives, and even the nit-witted Sean Hannity! And it didn’t take a government grant of $400,000 to come up with it.
10:59 am on July 21, 2007
