How Misdirection Works

This afternoon, I was surprised at first to read that half of all Americans believe that Iraq had chemical weapons when we invaded them (I refuse to use the over-used and inaccurate "weapons of mass destruction" when general officers have stated they'd rather be hit with a chemical round than a "conventional" high-explosive round because when a chemical round goes off, you have a chance). Are we as a people that thick, I thought, then I remembered some reports touted by such reliable outlets as Fox News that we'd found the mother lode, WMDs in Iraq.

Never mind that they were degraded shells, fifteen years old found in ones and twos in locations where they could have easily been overlooked and that the contents were about as dangerous as the Drano under your sink, Rick Santorem trumpeted the news. We were being deceived by the Pentagon (under whose control?), he bloviated, a cry readily taken up by Faux News and Radio Wingnut. We had justification (finally) for the invasion!

Some of it may just be true believers trying to find a reason to believe that the Values President, the darling of the Christian Right didn't just flat-out lie to us. Most of it is the fact that we get a lot of our news from suspect sources. The end result is Jefferson's dream of an informed public, despite our inundation with media at all times, just isn't happening. Fox asking "ARE SADDAM HUSSEIN'S WMDS NOW IN HEZBOLLAH'S HANDS" does little to dispel the misinformation, in fact, it only favors Fox's partisan cause.

We are uninformed. How else could the Bush Team not only be elected, but re-elected. I don't see things changing any time soon, unfortunately for our democracy and for our national policy.