Tuesday, July 3, 2007

A clarification.

There's a reason I am so punctilious about language and lying. Lying leads to dying.

Here in America, a lid has been kept on the outrage over the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. One way that lid has been kept on is that our captive press reports only American deaths--running about 3,500 as I type. Most people, I think, say, '3,500. That's not so many.' And they swill another brewski and ogle another Britney story. However, if we honestly reported (ie told the truth) about our invasions, the death count would total nearly 700,000 (oddly, I consider Iraqis and Afghanis people, too, and therefore worthy of a death count.) Reporting that nearly three-quarters of a million Iraqis have died since we invaded their sovereign country on a pretext, or 1/30th of their country--equivalent to seven million American deaths, begins to put the power of language and lies into context. (You can read more about carnage and language here:) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001442.html

Do your part. Speak the truth when you create work. And demand it of others.

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