(something to ponder...)
Or maybe it's questionS. Could probably be a poll, but I don't like restricting to only a few SET answers.
Is Osama Bin Laden (someone we had never heard of before 9-11-2001) REAL?
He could be a totally made up "person" (like BETTY CROCKER, AUNT JEMIMA, THE PILLSBURY DOUGHBOY, MAX HEADROOM, etc) to be "the symbol of terrorism". To be THE ENEMY!
He could be a real person, picked as the scapegoat to be "the enemy". People need an enemy, someone to focus their anger, hate, fear on. And someone for the US President to threaten (I wonder how brave he'd be one on one with Bin Laden and nobody else in it- like the USA armed forces and the U.N.?) (okay I know it's Saddam Hussain-however it's spelled, he's now threatening in order to inspect for weapons. But he's threatening and standing up to AN ENEMY)
Is there really an Osama Bin Laden?
If so, is he really all he's made out to be?
If Bin Laden (or Saddam) and Bush Jr were face to face- out in a desert, with nobody else stepping in (but news cameras on them) what would the President do?
I remember the book "1984" where the futuristic world had built in t.v. screens they couldn't turn off, that were two way (my father used to think getting everyone hooked up to cable was the start of this) and the "news" telling what was going on. What countries were at war, and who was winning, etc. The main character in the book had brief thoughts about this maybe not being real and true? Just war films shown and them being told it was going on. His job was to go through the archives of the newspaper and take out any and all mention of anyone who had been "done away with" by BIG BROTHER. Maybe them non-persons.
Seems like the USA (anyway) is kind of ruled by the media. We're told who are the good guys and bad guys, and what is "going on" somewhere in the world, most of us probably never will ever go to and find out for sure. And just automatically believe it.
I remember once in a chat room (late at night) someone writing about how he had to go offline by 10 PM because it was a law where he lived, and there was bombing and fighting going on all around him. Not sure where (thinking back) somewhere in Africa, I think. But it was nothing I had ever heard about "on the news".
I guess along with my Bin Laden, etc. question there is the one about "the news/media" and how much is really true? Even if they start out with true facts, they can slant it in subtle ways to get people thinking one way or another.
And, who is behind "the news"? It's not the people we see on the t.v. screens and reporters in the papers.
Just for possible discussion...
~ Carrie
Or maybe it's questionS. Could probably be a poll, but I don't like restricting to only a few SET answers.
Is Osama Bin Laden (someone we had never heard of before 9-11-2001) REAL?
He could be a totally made up "person" (like BETTY CROCKER, AUNT JEMIMA, THE PILLSBURY DOUGHBOY, MAX HEADROOM, etc) to be "the symbol of terrorism". To be THE ENEMY!
He could be a real person, picked as the scapegoat to be "the enemy". People need an enemy, someone to focus their anger, hate, fear on. And someone for the US President to threaten (I wonder how brave he'd be one on one with Bin Laden and nobody else in it- like the USA armed forces and the U.N.?) (okay I know it's Saddam Hussain-however it's spelled, he's now threatening in order to inspect for weapons. But he's threatening and standing up to AN ENEMY)
Is there really an Osama Bin Laden?
If so, is he really all he's made out to be?
If Bin Laden (or Saddam) and Bush Jr were face to face- out in a desert, with nobody else stepping in (but news cameras on them) what would the President do?
I remember the book "1984" where the futuristic world had built in t.v. screens they couldn't turn off, that were two way (my father used to think getting everyone hooked up to cable was the start of this) and the "news" telling what was going on. What countries were at war, and who was winning, etc. The main character in the book had brief thoughts about this maybe not being real and true? Just war films shown and them being told it was going on. His job was to go through the archives of the newspaper and take out any and all mention of anyone who had been "done away with" by BIG BROTHER. Maybe them non-persons.
Seems like the USA (anyway) is kind of ruled by the media. We're told who are the good guys and bad guys, and what is "going on" somewhere in the world, most of us probably never will ever go to and find out for sure. And just automatically believe it.
I remember once in a chat room (late at night) someone writing about how he had to go offline by 10 PM because it was a law where he lived, and there was bombing and fighting going on all around him. Not sure where (thinking back) somewhere in Africa, I think. But it was nothing I had ever heard about "on the news".
I guess along with my Bin Laden, etc. question there is the one about "the news/media" and how much is really true? Even if they start out with true facts, they can slant it in subtle ways to get people thinking one way or another.
And, who is behind "the news"? It's not the people we see on the t.v. screens and reporters in the papers.
Just for possible discussion...
~ Carrie