Editorial

The New McCarthyism

The most important casualty of America's new "war on terrorism" has been the right to conscience. From U.S. President George Bush's initial threat that "you are either with us or with the terrorists", to his most recent demonization of Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an "axis of evil", to the vilification of anyone who dares to dissent as an enemy of democracy, the current atmosphere bears all of the hallmarks of the Cold War at its worst - the McCarthy era.

The demand that people must suspend reason and embrace irrationality and jingoism in the name of defending "truth", "democracy" and "American values" was precisely the demand made by Joseph McCarthy and his cohorts. Then the threat to civilization supposedly came from communism; now it supposedly comes from Islamic terrorists. However, the aim is the same, to deflect any opposition to the aggressive, imperialist policies of the United States and line up the American people behind wars to extend the American empire, to justify that which is unjustifiable.

The new McCarthyism has been eagerly embraced by Hollywood and the major American television networks, which are feverishly churning out propaganda portraying America as a victim, while the real victims of American gangsterism are portrayed as soulless demons. This McCarthyite propaganda is even imposed on the Winter Olympics, with the opening ceremonies including the presentation of the tattered U.S. flag from the World Trade Center. The imagery is clear: America as victim and the American flag predominant over the international arena. The picture is completed with the images of U.S. stormtroopers surrounding the arena and Blackhawk helicopters circling overhead. Not since the 1936 Munich Olympics has the world witnessed such militarization and propagandization of the Olympics, which are supposed to rise above politics and stress athletic excellence.

The world has witnessed many times before the tragedies that result from the suspension of reason and the violation of the right to conscience. In the last century, alone, more than 50 million people perished because of such irrationality and hundreds of millions more were brutalized and stripped of their humanity.