artspolitics

I’ve been on Al Gore’s side since he was cheated in 2000. If he says something is true, I believe it because he believes in something the last “president” didn’t- science. When he said global warming is real, I believed him and bought reusable grocery bags because he had Powerpoint presentations full of scientific facts. In this book, Assault on Reason, Gore says that democracy is crumbling because of lies built on fear. He doesn’t need a Powerpoint presentation to tell me that-the last 8 years is enough proof to know that’s true.

Gore is pretty much telling me what I already know- Bush lied to sell an illegal war.  He used peoples’ genuine fear after 9/11 and manipulated it to start the war in Iraq without a shred of real evidence. The surprises in the book came, however, when Gore notes how much the media helped him sell that lie. It wasn’t just Fox News, either. Because of the belief in TV news that ” if it bleeds, it leads”, reputable TV shows and newspapers helped contribute to the climate of fear after 9/11 that helped Bush sell the Iraq War. Because TV is such a dominant force and where most people get their news, it’s disturbing that a potential war could be treated as a sweeps stunt, like a Dancing With the Stars episode.Of course, science can’t explain everything and fear can be a healthy defense against dangers. However, politicians, news networks, newspapers, and now health insurance companies, shouldn’t prey on peoples’ fears for selfish gains.