As the proxy-war of the USA continues in Lebanon, I continue to be amused by the stream of propaganda flowing down the tubes of the internet – and especially by the people that buy into it. Just yesterday I ran into (or was stuck with, really) a man that was very accurately able to regurgitate about 75% of the mass of the entire propaganda effort of the USA on behalf of Israel.

After I threw up a little bit in my mouth, I tried to pretend everything was ok – I politely listened and realized “man, propaganda works!“. Does it work on just “mentally sluggish” individuals (or perhaps “mentally lazy”), or does everyone fall prey to it?

It seems some people will believe anything if it sounds “good enough”; the US media (and administration) are master workers at packaging the latest US-backed horrific acts (whatever they happen to be at the time) into a white-washed box of reasoning that some people genuinely believe. Not only believe, but often profess to have known all along. These are the same people that are quick to regurgitate the latest neologism released by the White House and pass it around in normal conversation like remembering a good old story from church camp. The point is: listening to the media (US or Israeli) will make you feel good about who your country is killing, because you know in the end that you are right. Of course, your country is just trying to make the world a better place, it doesn’t hate anybody, and this has nothing to do with oil, strategic positioning, preparing to attack Iran – it has everything to do with saving those two… or was it three.. soldiers that were kidnapped. Wait, is that this bloodbath is all about – a couple of kidnapped soldiers? Even if you believe your trusty Fox News, and strain your brain for a little bit of logical connection here, you can only come to one sane conclusion: After each side kidnapped a couple of guys from the opposite side (both did it), things got pretty god damn bloody pretty god damn quick.

Nevermind what the professed reason for this war is; just as long as people keep believing the five myths that sanction Israels’ war crimes, you should still be able to sleep well at night. And perhaps you won’t throw up a little bit in your mouth like I did when I met such a pearl of propaganda, as I did yesterday.

We’ve all seen the massacred bodies at the Qana II cleansing (and perhaps some remember the 106 civilians that were murdered there 10 years ago as well, the “Qana I” massacre) – gory pictures of children, unbelievable acts committed by the IDF (or should I say, “they sure got those terrorists”?). Well, those aren’t my favorite pictures. And photos of the complete and wanton destruction of parts of Lebanon? Those, while good ones, also aren’t my favorites. Although there are so very many to choose from, my favorites are below:

Sometimes pictures are worth a thousand words. This is pretty difficult to take “out of context”: you see some Israeli children sending messages of love on the bombs to be used to kill their neighbors. I’d say thats somewhat… extreme? Hateful? Makes it easier to understand how the early the superiority complex is engrained in children there : making a joke out of killing your neighbors, as if they were merely animals (or not even that), is sickening.

But have no fear: certainly the destruction of Lebanon is necessary. The USA says so (this had been planned much further in advance than the date of any soldier being kidnapped), and don’t expect the destruction to end very soon. In a short few weeks we will begin hearing the multitude of connections between Lebanon and Iran (and Syria), and the US will be “forced into action”.

“Disgustingly predictable” – there should be a word for that. Maybe I’ll invent one.