austin-murphy-the-triumph-of-evil

20 THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL
and anti-capitalist facts and reports, and so capitalism naturally censors
such information (Johnstone, 2000).
Although the USA media often report some evil actions of the USA
and its politicians, most of the attention is focused on relatively minor
issues, such as sex scandals, which are said to represent exceptions that
can be corrected with better human morals (Zion, 1995). The worst
excesses are either ignored or distorted as a great triumph for the USA
(Foerstel, 2000). However, as a result of the criticism on minor issues,
the USA press is widely perceived as being objective and perhaps even
overly critical (Herman and Chomsky, 1988). In fact, the USA media
covers politicians' personal lives and sexual behavior so extensively
that attention is deflected from the terrible atrocities American political
leaders have allowed the USA to commit (Foerstel, 2000).
The possibility exists that even the USA leaders have been brainwashed
by the media propaganda, which itself is so powerful that it
often convinces even the propagandists themselves (Smith, 2000). The
result is a classic case of denial, whereby people do not want to hear,
investigate, or believe facts contrary to the "good" image created. For
instance, within the context of comments about a "rediscovery of our
values," the very popular President Ronald Reagan stated in January
1989 (a few years before he himself was afflicted with Alzheimer's
related memory loss), "If we forget what we did, we won't know who
we are" (Greene, 1999). This statement was either incredibly naive
(demonstrating extraordinary ignorance of how terrible we Americans
really have been as a people), extremely cynical (in terms of deliberately
attempting to help dupe us Americans into a false sense of pride
in the terrorism committed by the USA), or subconsciously factual (that
we won't even realize that we represent a mass murdering nation of
zombies, unless we wake up to the historical facts and cure our nation's
sickness).
Even those who recognize that the USA has committed many crimes
against humanity typically try to justify the USA's atrocities by asserting
that the USA has not been as terrible as other countries. For instance,
the USA media is often so successful in vilifying the USA's enemies
(like the Serbs) that even many left-wing critics of the USA and its
policies are fooled into supporting some atrocities such as the USA's
deliberate bombings of civilian targets in Yugoslavia in 1999 (Foerstel,
]NTRODUCT/ON
2000). Despite the propaganda barrage against the enemies of the USA,
an investigation of the facts indicates that it is the USA which has been
acting imperialistically and immorally, engaging in actions that are little
different from the very evil policies employed by Adolf Hitler who also
vilified and slaughtered masses of innocent people (Johnstone, 2000).
In fact, a careful analysis of history and current affairs indicates that
the USA has committed the worst atrocities in world history. A mere
listing of the crimes committed by the USA in its history provides educational
perspective on this issue, but an objective measure of atrocities
is required in order to establish unbiased evidence on the subject.
For this purpose, the estimated body count of unarmed innocent civilians
deliberately killed by a country can be used to keep score. According
to that numeric measure, the USA is indeed number 1, although it
may be only slightly ahead ofNazi Germany and Spain. Other countries
in the top ten are listed to provide perspective, as are a few other countries
with a reputation for infamous atrocities.
EVIDENCE ON USA ATROCITIES
The USA has killed over ll million unarmed civilians in a long continuous
history of engaging in massive extermination campaigns, terrorism,
imperialism, and other atrocities. This history ranges from the
genocide of native American Indians (and stealing of their land) to the
enslavement of African blacks; from the imperialist invasion of Mexico
in the first half of the 1800s (enabling the USA to seize more land
from the Indians) to the War of 1898 that was launched to permit the
USA to seize Spain's colonies; from the Monroe Doctrine (which effectively
solidified the USA policy of controlling or colonizing the Western
Hemisphere) to the frequent invasions of Latin American countries
that have continued throughout the 1900s to ensure governments there
remain largely under the control of the USA; from the terrorist aerial
bombings of civilian targets that have killed millions of unarmed innocent
civilians over the last 50+ years in places like Korea, Vietnam,
Laos, Cambodia, Iraq, etc. (and maimed millions more) to the murder
of millions of unarmed civilians by CIA-imposed dictators such as in
Indonesia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Chile, etc. (Zion, 1995). A more
exact breakdown of the body count follows:
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