Is 'Why We Fight' just a waste?
Like a lot of other people I bet, after I see this movie I think: This is great! The way it shows so explicitly and compellingly (I believe) how the Military Industrial Complex works. Every American should see this.
But in this thread, let's not argue about the merits of the movie. Let's just take it at face value, that everything as stated is totally backed up with solid facts. That the conclusion this film leads you to draw is valid.
What I wonder is, what if somehow, on some night, every American was FORCED to watch this. What would happen? Would it make any difference? The people who support this war would make excuses. They would say, oh, this is just propaganda. Or they would say, this is a bunch of BS. They would have to throw up this shield in their mind. But what if somehow you could shove it in their face: LOOK AT THIS!! And they HAD to accept it as real and legitimate! They had to accept that we fight wars just to feed the MIC and imperialism. Not to protect our country or to take down a dictator or to liberate a people. Just to make bucks. Would it make any difference? I believe that to many many people they could NOT accept the full implications of the truth that this movie is trying to bring out. That their beloved country is a mass murderer. That the U.S. government murders woman and children to make bucks (ok, ok its not that simple). They would do the equivalent of what happens when trying to give a little child a spoonful of very, very ugly tasting medicine. But what if somehow you could FORCE them to take the medicine. I think they would have a freaking nervous breakdown. I am reminded of that scene in East of Eden (although I am not sure of the details its been a long while since I saw it). Doesn't the brother of the character played by James Dean stick his head right through the (closed) window of a train he is on, because he found out his mother is a whore? But that is just a dramatic representation of what they would go through. Could you actually argue that you were committing some kind of torture if you forced people to take this medicine? Because you know, as much as we might criticize people who don't see this truth, you got to acknowledge that at least they are human enough to be so outraged by this that they can't accept it. What you would really have to worry about would be people who, knowing what is going on, just think ok fine. I want to be able to continue living like I am living and if it means we gotta murder innocent men, women and children in other countries and all that, so be it. Could you even argue that people like me, who apparently can accept this truth, are less of a human being than those who can't accept it? Because you know, it really IS unacceptable. Because you know, the people who don't accept the truth of this are DOING EXACTLY WHAT THEY SHOULD BE DOING. Because it is TOTALLY, TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!
But what i am wondering is, are the words uttered by William Rivers Pitt in one of the best speeches I have ever heard (http://truthout.org/docs_03/081003A.shtml, http://www.truthout.org/mm_01/4.WRPitt.VeteransForPeace.mp3 <- listen to this, it's awesome!) true, that: "If the American people fully knew what this war in Iraq was really about, if they fully knew what it means today to be a soldier in that part of the world, they would tear the White House apart brick by brick." Is that really true? Or, is it true that documentaries like "Why We Fight" by people like Eugene Jarecki are nothing but a waste of time.