So what exactly is spin? The word it’s self has many different meanings, but
there is only one meaning that will concern us today. That meaning is; “twist
and turn so as to give an intended interpretationâ€ÂÂ.
Now you hear the term spin used to describe news and press statements on a
daily basis. The fact is “spin†is probably one of the most common adjectives
describing such things as; news stories, political speeches, and legislation,
should be of great concern to any citizen of this country. The ugly truth is
that “spin†has become an invaluable tool of deception for the Bush administration on such
items as his legislation and the war in Iraq.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well I believe that real life
examples are a close second to that, so instead of telling you the nitty-gritty
of how they are using spin, I would like to point out some real life examples of
how they are spinning legislation and news stories, and how it affects all of
us. I will start off with some recent legislation that has passed, or is in
current debate in Congress.
Clear Skies Initiative
This is a very scandalous form of spin. The environment is something that is
non-partisan. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, political
party, age, or sex. It is not something that we can also just turn our heads to.
The environment is the key essential to supporting life. If our environment
goes, so do we.
So Clear Skies Initiative has the sound of something that is meant to protect
our environment. It gives you a sense of security that our administration knows
that the environment is of great concern and that they have all intentions of
keeping it healthy. In a sense you get a feeling of “aww†when you hear the
phrase. Just listen to how nice it sounds and how it rolls of the tongue.
Everyone say it with me. Clear Skies Initiative.
Now let me be the bad person to remove that great feeling, because it is our
life sustaining environment we are talking about and we must face the truth.
The Clear Skies Initiative actually increases the amount of mercury that will
be dumped into our environment. Studies have proven that mercury is a dangerous
material that can be passed from a mother to her unborn child, which could
result in birth defects such as mental retardation. That’s not the only
polluting agent that gets increased though.
Sulfur dioxide is the number one contributed to acid rain. Under the old
Clean Air Act, this would have been reduced to 2 million tons by 2012. The Clear
Skies Initiative does the opposite. It allows for 4.5 million tons of this
pollutant to be dumped into our environment by 2010. An increase of 225%.
Now one of the biggest destroyers of our environment is the power industry.
Ironically enough the Clear Skies Initiative provides a loophole exempting the
power industry from what standards there are. In fact, they are now allowed to
dump more pollution into our environment than they were allowed under the Clean
Air Act.
These are just a few examples of how “spin†has twisted the actual affects
the Clear Skies Initiative will have on the environment. It makes you feel good
about the air we breath when in fact it should scare the hell out of you. For
more information, please visit the
Sierra Club’s
website.
No Child Left Behind
Wow this is a great act. My child, no matter how poor or in what area we live
is going to be afforded the same quality education as the rest. We must protect
our children and make sure they get the best education they can. Also this
legislation put an anchor on the members of Congress who opposed it. Can you
imagine the turmoil if your representative voted against this act and how his
opponent would use it? “This man wanted children left behindâ€ÂÂ. The very name
alone corners in members of Congress so that they have to support it, or end up
committing political suicide.
Well let me wake you up to some facts about how this act has been “spun†into
a fictional piece of legislation. This piece of finely tuned legislation, or
perhaps I should say finely spun legislation does not provide the funding needed
to schools. In fact it takes away funding. If children don’t show improvements,
then the government will remove funding provided under the act.
Now you might even think that sounds good, that accountability needs to be
held to our school districts. Well that is true but there is a catch. School
funding has been drastically reduced on the state level since 9/11. States have
to worry about protecting their homeland and can’t worry about such things as
education. This causes a greater overcrowding of classes and puts a heavier
burden upon teachers and schools. It sets the teachers up to fail the
requirements set forth under No Child Left Behind.
So you might think by the title alone that No Child Left Behind is an
excellent act and that George Bush really cares, but in fact it does not. It
provides a greater chance of children in poorer communities to get left further
behind while the richer communities that can afford good schools get more
federal funding. In other words it is a discriminatory law written to aide those
in the already rich communities with our tax dollars. But don’t take my word for
it, instead read this
excellent
page highlighting the problems with the act.
The Patriot Act
How could any red-blooded American congressman vote against this? The very
name alone implies your love for our country and desire to support or freedoms.
Remember Bin Laden attacked because they hate our freedoms.
Well in fact the Patriot Act, which is up for renewal this year, strips away
a lot of rights we are afforded under our Constitution. It gives agencies such
as the FBI the right to enter your house and search it without a warrant being
issued by a judge, or without you being notified. You can also be jailed
indefinitely under this act, thereby eliminating due process.
Now if that doesn’t scare you enough surely this will. The government can
also retrieve such information as; what websites you visit, what books you check
out of the library, or who you call. In fact if it were to be renamed to what it
is, then we would call it the “Unpatriot Actâ€ÂÂ. It takes our freedoms and what
makes our country great and turns it into a soviet style of government.
Pat Tillman Killed By Enemy Fire
Oh what a great American hero he was. He gave up a 3+ million dollar a year
professional football contract to go fight for our country. If there ever was a
hero, then Pat Tillman was definitely it.
The sad part is when Pat Tillman died, the government did more than spin this
story, they totally altered it. They told us how our favorite hero died while
storming a hill in Afghanistan. He was shot by our enemy, Al Queda in a fierce
gun battle and our country held a national memorial service for this fallen
hero.
The fact is Pat Tillman died of friendly gunfire. The Pentagon only released
this after questions kept popping up surround his death. But friendly gun fire
is not a story we want to hear when it describes how our hero fell. No we little
narrow minded Americans need to be reassured that this would not happen and that
our hero would only die at the hands of our enemies. The fact is friendly fire
accidents are a sad occurrence in any military battle. They happen and though it
is tragic, there is not much that can be done about it. But Donald Rumsfeld
could not let the people of this country see the fallible mistakes our troops
could make. Instead they must lie about it and further disgrace the demise of
one of our favorite heroes.
Jessica Lynch.
The troops stormed into the hotel where she was being held. Gun fire blazing,
and enemy getting killed. It was a Hollywood style rescue mission if there was
ever one, and we saw it all on their night vision cameras. It involved the most
elite forces from every branch of our armed services and was a perfect reminder
of how brave our troops are.
Later we realize this too was spun into a total fictional story. Even Jessica
herself refuted the facts surrounding her rescue. The Pentagon could not let us
hear though that she was found in an enemy hospital, and had been well taken
care of. At least they couldn’t until people who were caring for her started
telling their side of the story and then Jessica even reaffirmed it.
Yes our government once again spun a story into something they thought we
would want to hear, and not the facts we should hear.
So now I have given you few of the better known examples of spin and how our
government uses it. Truth is if you were in court giving testimony, and tried to
spin it, then you would become a perjurer – a felony in all 50 states. If your
President and commit perjury it is grounds for impeachment, and proof of that
lies in the Bill Clinton years.
So next time you hear something good and promising by our government, don’t
just accept it is being that. Take a few minutes and research it so that you to
can find out what the underlying facts truly are. Do not continue to be a puppet
of spin and instead become an American of truth and justice!