Readers were duped by TGI poll
I am sorry to say that TGI’s opinion poll about RIMPAC was not fair and the readers were subjected to a textbook case of manufacturing consent taught by the Father of American Propaganda, Edward Barneys.
The three questions probing the readers’ objection looked quite innocent, however the question to generate “no objection” responses was given priority and it focused on the preparedness of our military which represented a generally accepted doctrine that all militaries must carry out exercises to remain sharp and ready for action.
The “Yes” question focused on war games that are harmful to marine life, which is true but not generally associated with RIMPAC. In this form, these two different subjects imply exclusion, diverting the attention from the following issues: Even if military exercises are needed they don’t have to be carried out for 25 years always in our waters especially when it has been proven that they are harmful to our oceans here.
It is not enough that during the biennial RIMPAC war games the bombs, torpedoes, sonars and amphibious vehicles kill whales, monk seals, turtles, fish and living coral in our backyard, causing irreparable damage in a whale-frequented area during the birthing and nursing time of whales, the American organizers bring here additional foreign military contingencies from 25 more countries who also use torpedoes, bombs and other ordnances in our ocean in the same area adding to and grossly magnifying the destruction of marine life there.
How come they have never tried doing these naval exercises on a rotating basis in the waters of the invited participating countries? Oh, well perhaps because their laws would not even permit it. And finally, if the purpose of RIMPAC is to increase the preparedness of the US Navy to defend Hawaii in case of an attack, which no doubt would be a missile attack as we have been led to believe by the US military strategists, does anyone in his right mind believe that any of these RIMPAC participant navies would rush here into the impact area of missiles, to do what?
You see how easily you can be manipulated by an innocent looking opinion poll that turns out to be a tool of perception management a.k.a. propaganda to get consent for RIMPAC from the public.
János Keoni Samu, Kalaheo
Yada, Yada, Yada!
Well said János Keoni Samu. In the age of destruction by nukes, we ruin our ocean and it’s inhabitants for what?
Good letter Mr Samu. The only thing I was in disagreement about was the idea that these destructive military maneuvers could be rotated into one of the other 25 nation participants’ oceans for a change. No oceans deserve this. Will we ever learn? These countries aren’t going to dispatch their navies to our waters if the threat is from a nuclear missile. And that’s what we face here in the middle of the Pacific.
Just about every Garden Island poll I’ve seen has been clearly biased in the way the questions are worded. Here’s a hypothetical example:
“What do you think of George Washington?
1) He was pretty good as a president despite being a slave-owning white male.
2) He was terrible because he was a slave-owning white male.
3) Time will tell. The jury is still out on this slave-owning white male.
If you answered (2) then you chose correctly in terms of what the Garden Island’s leading questions were hoping you would answer.