“The greatest triumphs of propaganda have been accomplished, not by doing something, but by refraining from doing. Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth.”
When Aldous Huxley wrote these words decades ago, he aptly described the current condition of our present national media. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11th, there has been a deafening silence in the media: an absence of truth.We’ve seen pundit after pundit parade messages of anger, hatred, racism, and war. But there has been a glaring lack of actual analysis regarding American foreign policy and peaceful paths towards justice. Some journalists are even advocating military strategies that violate the laws of war and mirror the strategies of terrorists:

“This is no time to be precious about locating the exact individuals directly involved in this particular terrorist attack …. We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.” -Ann Coulter (National Review, 9/13/01)

“The response … should be as simple as it is swift— kill the bastards. A gunshot between the eyes, blow them to smithereens, poison them if you have to. As for cities or countries that host these worms, bomb them into basketball courts.” -Steve Dunleavy (New York Post, 9/12/01)

“States that have been supporting Osama bin Laden [or] people like him need to feel pain. If we flatten part of Damascus or Tehran or whatever it takes, that is part of the solution.” -Rich Lowry (Washington Post, 9/13/01)

Fear not my friends. However pervasive the pro-war propaganda may seem, it’s important for us to remember that there are in fact some voices of reason in mainstream media.

ABC’s Jim Wooten (World News Tonight, 9/12/01) attempted to elucidate what motivates anti-U.S. sentiment in the Middle East by reporting that “Arabs see the U.S. as an accomplice of Israel, a partner in … ruthless repression of Palestinian aspirations for land and independence. The most provocative issues: Israel’s control over Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem; the stationing of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia near some of Islam’s holiest sites; and economic sanctions against Iraq,” which have starved 500,000 children under five.

This kind of logical reasoning will contribute far more to public security than pundits calling for indiscriminate revenge. Until we start to analyze how our own foreign policy breeds hatred, we will never be fully safe from terrorism.