Monday, January 06, 2020

When considering the Iranian/Iraqi conflict, think about this... (article)

Important lessons for fighting US imperialism:
- Things are not true just because a government says they are (See the long history of the US government lying about war for reference).
- Do not be bullied into accepting simple-minded sloganeering (you do not "support terrorists" because you oppose war).
-Scrutinize the arguments (even if you find the statements by the US to be true- look into the why, usually you'll find whatever the US is accusing someone of was done because of prior US aggression).
- Keep the focus on what matters (we need to be clearly anti- war, not worried about correct war strategy or justifying previous American led war).
-Emphasis matters (focus on the lives lost if a war takes place, bogging that argument down with a lot of "both sides" jargon just gives the US war machine rhetorical energy)
-Imagine how everything would sound if the other side said it (If Iraq invaded the US and we fought back would we be terrorists?)
- Watch out for euphemisms (when the US commits murder it does not say it was committing murder, don't use their terms, use the ones that apply)
- Remember what people were talking about five minutes ago (do not focus on the most recent act but on the whole history)
-Listen to Chomsky on your shoulder ( "Listen to the dissidents. They will not appear on television. They will be smeared and treated as lunatics. But you need them if you are going to be able to resist the absolute barrage of misinformation, or to hear yourself think over the pounding war drums. Times of War Fever can be wearying, because there is just so much aggression against dissent that your resistance wears down")

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