[ExI] riots again

[Charlie Stross]

On 27 Sep 2012, at 15:03, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:

> 
>> ...It is hell on earth out there.  BillK
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 
> Ja, so where's the photographic evidence?  Should not we send them cell
> phones, cameras and laptop computers to upload the video to YouTube?  

You're talking about one of the poorest regions on the planet.

Forget cellphones: running water would be a good start. Ditto electricity. And roads.

Also ...

>   Rather I am making the point that
> publication of these things would be a far more effective means of stopping
> it than burning the local US embassy, which will likely make the problem
> worse.

Ever since the Vietnam war, the US military has prioritized psychological warfare operations aimed at generating support and discrediting opposition on the home front. The USA doesn't have actual censorship, but it *does* have an immensely powerful pro-military lobby ... supported and funded by the military itself. (Try to imagine what reaction you'd get for "criticizing the troops" and then ask yourself whether that's a natural American response, or something that's been aggressively programmed into the cultural zeitgeist for the past couple of decades.)

Which is by way of saying that if you could show that footage to a jury, in a courtroom scenario, it might work; but the general public are not a jury and they don't have to pay attention and -- LOOK OVER THERE! SHINY!


-- Charlie