Us vs. Them

In An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire, Roy discusses the ways in which crises are used to control the masses. When a crisis occurs, like for instance on 9/11, the government and media can use the images and stories about the deaths and bravery during this time to manipulate the way in which Americans view other countries. During 9/11, former President Bush used the attacks on the World Trade Center to help gain acceptance for the war in the Middle East. One way in which he did this, as Roy points out, is through polarization. Bush used the term good versus evil quite often and continued to remind Americans that we are the good guys, and Sadaam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, and their followers are the bad guys. Furthermore, the people in the Middle East are being bullied by these evil doers, and it is our job to save them.

So, what did the Americans do to save the Middle East? Ambushed these countries and murdered their people. However, this is not the way it was portrayed in the media. We were liberating the Iraqis and a few people were accidentally killed. This manipulation of Americans through the government and media is a biased and misleading tactic used to garner support for our illegal actions. The following video is very similar to the tactics used by these groups to make Americans feel that we're doing the right thing.