Don’t Consume History, Make it

March 9, 2008

This what filmmaker Norman Solomon told the audience last night after a screening of his film, War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep
Spinning Us to Death. The film is based on his book of the same name.According to Solomon, Americans have been consuming media that turns war into a product.

Wars have theme songs, state-of the art graphics, and news anchors who indulge in technophilia over weapons of war. We get briefed by the pentagon from rooms designed by Hollywood set designers. The media tries to convince us that we have more humanity if we target our bombs from 30k feet above than burn villages with their Bic lighters.

The film shows how news coverage identifies with the bombers, but not the bombed. There are not embedded troops with the scared and mourning families. Since World War I civilian casualties have increased steadily from 10% in WWI to 90% in Iraq.

We watch LBJ, Nixon, and Bush Jr. tell us to “stay the course” and not to “cut and run” or “surrender”. Then we see the courage of a Wayne Morse, a U.S. Senator from Oregon who was one of only two Senators who voted against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. We also see the courage of Barbara Lee (U.S. Representative of Albany, Ashland, Berkeley, Castro Valley, Emeryville, Fairview, Oakland, and Piedmont) who was the only “No” vote on the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists.

This movies leaves the words of Martin Luther King ringing in one’s ears, “The Initiative to stop this war must be ours.” 
At the end of this screening we got to ask questions of Norman Solomon. This screening was a part of an event of Obama supporters, “Moving Ahead with Obama”.
 
Norman Solomon thinks that while Obama isn’t perfect, he is the best choice among the last three candidates standing. “The Contempt of Conscience” represented by the Clinton campaign can very well carry over to her presidency.
 
Obama willingness to meet with our enemies is certainly a good sign that he is willing to think outside the box. Solomon says that talking to one’s enemies does those enemies no favors. Often, words are more powerful than munitions.
 
It takes grassroots action that Obama has been able to inspire to change the American mindset to realize that War is a failure. It is a failure of diplomacy and negotiation. A strong military and defense is essential, but we also need to use our power with a sense of responsibility and intellect. We have shown the world how powerful we are, but we also must use our intelligence.
 
We also need to help legislators develop backbone and courage to fight for us by being fully engaged in the process. Looking at all the money and resources devoted to shaping our opinion. It makes one think that we may be more powerful than we give ourselves credit for.
 
We need to fight for an energy policy and think of it a part of our national defense. We keep dragging our troops into wars about resources, rather than spending our resources so we can be self-sufficient. Our way of living also brings about global warming which can also threaten our national security.
 
Solomon recommended Tom Hayden’s book, Ending the War in Iraq, as a great book to start thinking about how to get out of Iraq.

We truly have to stop consuming history and start making it.