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Truth and Realness in Writing
There is no greater tragedy in America’s history
than that of the Native North American. Unable to comprehend the
American Native concept that no person could hold ownership over
land or resources, American financiers ran roughshod over the
countryside in a race to possess the wealth that was “there for
the taking”. Secure in their technological and moral
superiority, they made no effort to balance their actions against
Indian philosophy and indeed were genuinely puzzled by Native
inability to adapt to change. The result was the near genocide
of an entire race.
In those days, killing Indians helped one’s
career. George Custer, for example, believed that a major
victory over hostile Indians would greatly enhance his chance to
become President. Though the Battle of the Little Big Horn
(known to Native Americans as the Battle of the Greasy Grass) was
presented to the American public as an ambush by an overwhelming
force, it was ambition and arrogance that spelled Custer’s doom,
not numbers and treachery. News writers of the time, and later,
Hollywood scriptwriters, blissfully ignored the true facts of the
Little Big Horn, finding it more profitable to turn Custer into a
hero than paint him as the villain that he was.
Here are a few facts and fictions regarding that
battle:
Fiction – The only
survivor of the 7th Calvary was Comanche, the brave
horse.
Fact – Major Marcus
Reno, who first led the attack on the Indian village, was routed
by the great Chief Gall and escaped to a bluff not far from where
Custer fought his last battle. Later, Captain Benteen and his
men, who had been assigned a flank position by Custer, joined
Reno on the heights. Neither officer elected to go to Custer’s
aid. Reno, Benteen and the most of the men under their command,
numbering roughly 400 souls, survived.
Fiction – Sitting
Bull ambushed Custer.
Fact – It was Major
Reno who attacked first. As he advanced on the unsuspecting
village, he came upon a young boy who ran to sound the alarm.
The boy was shot in the back before he could warn his people.
Also, before joining the battle, Sitting Bull took his family to
safety, which was an indication that he had been surprised. If
he had been planning a battle, he certainly would not have had
his family with him.
Fiction – It was
Indian practice to mutilate the bodies of their dead enemies, but
Custer was spared because of his outstanding courage.
Fact – The Indians
did not mutilate Custer’s body because there was no honor in
mutilating a man who murdered women and children. The truth was,
the Indians believed that Custer didn’t merit mutilation. (Note:
the above was a native interpretation. The official story is
that nobody knows why he wasn’t carved up.)
The point to all of this is that truth matters.
Though people get tired of hearing it, it is a fact that
those who fail to learn from history’s mistakes are doomed to
repeat them. To illustrate this, consider the situation in
Iraq. According to White House statements, the war was
prosecuted to liberate the people of Iraq from the brutal
dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. While that’s certainly true, the
White House remains quite silent about how Saddam came to power
in the first place. Could it be that secure in their
technological and moral superiority, American financiers
repeatedly ignored Muslim customs and interests, thereby
indiscriminately supporting tyrants and promoting policies that
could only result in a war?
In August of 2002, freelance writer Jeremy Scahill
penned an article that was published by the political website
CommonDreams.org, titled The Saddam in Rumsfeld’s Closet.
Similar to the published events of the Little Big Horn, the truth
in Scahill’s article is at variance with the truth put forth by
the mainstream media.
Here’s a sampling:
Truth – America is
liberating the people of Iraq from a brutal dictator.
Greater truth –
America is liberating the people of Iraq from a brutal dictator
that they helped put into power.
Truth – Saddam is
killing his own people. Killing him will save thousands
of innocents from being tortured to death.
Greater truth –
Because a long war between Iran and Iraq could only weaken both
sides, and therefore was in American’s best interests, America
sold arms to both nations in an effort to keep either side from
winning. The result was that the Iranian army became so depleted
that they sent children into battle.
Truth –
America invaded Iraq because Iraq was developing weapons of mass
destruction.
Greater truth
– Congress, during the Reagan administration, having full
knowledge that Saddam was using mustard gas against Iran, voted
to remove sanctions against Iraq. They also removed Iraq from
the list of countries that promote terror.
Though it all sounds very sinister, Scahill did
not publish his article by stealing secret documents or by
uncovering a secret plot by American industrialists to conquer
the world. Rumsfield’s visit to Iran in 1983 is proof that
American policy was advanced quite openly. To be fair, America
wasn’t the only country catering to Saddam Hussein. Many other
democratic countries had no qualms about doing business with
Iraq. The tragedy is that the media did a bad job of reporting –
both then and now.
On October 20, 2003, the Seattle Times published a
study by the University of Maryland’s Program on International
Policy that demonstrated how badly television viewers were misled
about the war. Eighty percent of Fox viewers, for example,
believe one of three things:
Evidence of links
between al-Qaida and Iraq has been found.
Weapons of mass
destruction were found in Iraq.
World opinion
favored United States going to war against Iraq
If this despite the fact that the media was
imbedded with the advancing forces and had an unprecedented view
of the war. In light of recent events, it now becomes necessary
to ask this question: was the media there to report on the war,
or were they just in it for the ratings? We should try to get
the answer to that question, because truth matters.
Cormac McCarthy, one of America’s great, unknown
writers put forth the idea in his novel, All The Pretty Horses,
that the only way to stop a war is with another war. If that’s
true, then we must ignore those who choose to sanitize wars to
make them palatable for viewing audiences. Instead, we must pull
the covers off the beast and show its ugly face. We must stop
writing in shades of gray and paint the war with its true color –
blood red. We must show the pain and anguish and death that war
causes. Though Rambo-like pyrotechnics have a certain appeal,
audiences should see more than a pretty explosion – they should
also see the resultant corpses. They should see children in
Afghanistan hobbling about on the stumps of feet blown away by
hidden land mines – they should see reality TV. If we
tell the truth about war, then even the moneymakers who get rich
off international conflicts will think twice before prodding a
beast that will eventually take us all to perdition.
By Martin Beaulieu Author of The Bad Things
Published by American Book Publishing.
© 2005 American Book
Publishing™ *All other trademarks used by permission. All rights
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