U.S. Media Tirelessly Creating Evil Dictators

Majdanek: Where corporate efficiency and bigotry meet

Here is a typically pro-war corporate news article, brought to you by the beautiful people at CNN (no single author takes responsibility for the piece). The title is patently absurd and irresponsible. It is designed to scare Americans and get them to hate Chavez by making them think that Chavez hates them; when, in fact, his comments were obviously directed at particular corporate-controlled U.S. critics of his government. The beginning of the article is meant to solidify in the mind of Joe and Jane Public the image of Chavez as a dictator. Did he speak of Marxism? Ooh, scary! Does he like Castro? That's evil! However, nowhere in the article is it mentioned that Chavez is the most popular leader among his citizens in all of South and Central America. Nowhere in the article are readers reminded that, far from hating Americans, Chavez has made serious efforts to provide cheap heating oil or reduced gas prices to impoverished communities in the U.S.

Despite its propagandistic tone, the article is not air-tight. It lets in two inconvenient details concerning life in Chavez's Venezuela.

One: the price of gas is 12 cents a gallon in that terrible socialist country. Oh my, socialism sounds terrible, doesn't it? 12 cents a gallon! Where is God in that country? Is this some kind of mind control? Gas should be at least 2 dollars, with 1 dollar and 88 cents of profit going to a couple of oil corporations who occasionally lease their executives into the halls of government. That's the free American way, right? Just as God meant it?

Two: the final line squeaks out a little inconvenient truth: Chavez was reelected in a landslide victory. Gee, I wonder why the leftist dictator is so popular? Didn't he say that gringos should go to hell? Doesn't that mean that he is evil? Since, you know, the U.S. is God's country, and all the company men who come from it necessarily carry out the intentions of God wherever they spread criticism of foreign governments?

Or is there something missing in CNN's comic-strip portrayal of Chavez?