The Other Side of the Coin in American Politics
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.
November 11, 2003
There are various ways that may be used to mislead, manipulate, and deceive people. Some of these ways fall under the generic element known as falsehood, which may be viewed as blatant lies. Other ways are usually classified as half-truths, which are meant to make people believe that the other side of the coin is identically the same when, in reality, it happens to be quite different to the point of being diametrically opposite very often.
Half-Truths in Perspective
In this article we are certainly concentrating on half-truths in American politics, which are commonly known as the other side of the coin. These half-truths are deliberately expressed as to mislead, manipulate, and deceive people with greater ease and more successfully. Hence, we need to examine the words and phraseologies that are being used to this end by leading American politicians, the Republicans in particular.
In the first place, US Government officials, while they refer to American people that die in the hands of the enemy as victims, as it was the case with the New York incident of September 11, 2001, they refer to the thousands of people killed innocently by American weapons, like with the case of Afghanistan and Iraq, as collateral damage. This is outrageous to say the least. Also, these same US Government officials refer to the weapons of mass destruction that are constantly being manufactured in the United States as means of national safety.
To turn insult into injury, US government officials in Washington, DC refer to the militarization of space as self-defense. Some two million Americans are incurring cancer every year because of the tremendous amount of air and water pollution that comes from big industries, the weapons industry in particular. Hence, the weapons industry has become the leading cause of suffering and death not only in the USA but also around the world.
The United States foreign policy is obviously founded on the culture of war. Hence, this American nation is not suitable to conduct, far less bring about, a permanent world peace. While the United States promotes with determination and vigor a culture of war, this same nation has developed the habit to refer to anything negative and destructive it does as peace. The US invasion of Iraq was presented to the American people as the liberation of Iraq! The legitimate question here is this: Liberation of the Iraqi people from what? This question needs an answer now and not the next time when we sit down to look at the stars.
Belligerent Policies in Operation
Needless to say, this was not liberation from the thousands of Iraqis that were massacred uselessly by Americans weapons of mass destruction. As a matter of fact, thousands in Iraq lost their beloved spouse or their adorable child, their wonderful relative or indispensable friend. Besides, thousands got disabled for life. Again, the US foreign policy has proved itself to be brutal from any view one may look at it. This explains why this American nation is encountering so much opposition from across every continent in the world at large.
The present Republican administration has made it clear that any nation that is not with us must be against us! That means that everything is viewed in black and white! When the USA was about to invade Iraq, independently of the United Nations, France intervened and insisted that the United Nations' inspection team in Iraq must be given just one month more. The fact that France was merely trying to have the Iraqi problem solved diplomatically and peacefully, was not much of a concern for the United States. Germany and other nations shared France's effort to delay war. As a result, the US President, along with the US Secretary of Defense, labeled France and Germany as unfriendly nations.
The motto of both President George W. Bush and his Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has now become: Be reasonable! Do it our way! This motto does not allow for any positive and constructive dialogue. It does not even permit Americans to think of alternative remedies that stem from a genuine culture of peace. The Romans used to say: Aliud est theoria, aliud est practica one thing is theory, another thing is practice. The Italians have a similar dictum: Chiama pane, pane e vino, vino Call wine, wine and bread, bread. While the Americans express the same concept with the words: Call it as it is. All of this reveals people's interest in learning about the other side of the coin in American politics. What is really uplifting lies in the fact that truth will always surface sooner or later.
The writer is President of International Association of Educators for World Peace NGO, United Nations (ECOSOC), UNDPI, UNICEF, UNCED & UNESCO
Professor Emeritus - Alabama A&M University
