Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Cynicism is the pits

Every time I listen to a news bulletin today I feel like crying. Its the "friendly fire" incedent that killed L/CoH Matty Hull . Read it on the BBC here.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not anti-war - I just don't think we should do war in cases like the last (or current) Iraq war. It was always wrong - and some British politicians are still in denial.

My big problem here is the way in which the west cynically manipulates its so called "citizens of democracy". I have worked with military secrets (I worked in defence), I know they fulfil a function - but that function is not to provide the correct "spin" in order to dupe the very people that the military claim to protect. That I believe is a cynical manipulation of power.

Within hours of a "good news" event gunsight camera tapes are released to the media. But when they get it wrong (as is sadly almost inevitable in war) they "bury" the bad news. As in this case. Were it not for a leak (which will make the american security services even more keen to control "bad news") we would probably never have heard that tape of the pilots who slowly realise they have just killed a soldier on their own side.

Good news - it's not secret.

Bad news - it is.

And some think our society is worth exporting.

The worst thing is that there are a whole bunch of people who think that this is a "Christian" way to behave - some of them are American & British, some of them are Muslims - in my view all of them are wrong.

I can understand why many Muslims don't think much of Christianity - if that is all they see.

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