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From Star Wars:
Obi-Wan: These are not the droids you’re looking for.
Trooper: These are not the droids we’re looking for.
Obi-Wan: He can go about his business.
Trooper: He can go about his business.
Obi-Wan: Move Along.
Trooper: Move Along. Move Along.
We see something similar in this interview given to the Chinese People’s Daily Online, by Washington Post Managing Editor Philip Bennet.
First, Bennett reveals his anti-American, anti-Bush views, in no uncertain terms:
Yong Tang: According to the opinion polls, the image of America has been becoming less and less popular in the world today since after the Iraq war. As a top leader of a major American newspaper, how do you think of this growing anti-American sentiment?
Bennett: In some ways the core of perception problems is centered on 911 terrorist attacks in 2001 in which the US government and Bush administration reacted by deciding that the country would make decisions in foreign affairs that respond only to US interests. They were not going to consult very widely, and not to compromise in making those decisions. That caused rift even among the US allies. So it is natural to see that the image of America is the lowest in public opinion.
Bennett: ...So I think it is true there are different standards applied to different places. In that case You could call that hypocrisy or whatever labels you thought fit most appropriately. But it is clear that the US government’s ideas of political development around the world is not applied equally in all places.
Bennett: ...No, I don’t think US should be the leader of the world. ...That is also a sort of colonial question. The world has gone through colonialism and imperialism. We have seen the danger and shortcomings of those systems. If we are heading into another period of imperialism where the US thinks itself as the leader of the area and its interest should prevail over all other interests of its neighbors and others, then I think the world will be in an unhappy period.
Okay, so Bennett dropped the mask, and declared in no uncertain terms that he believes the U.S. is imperialistic, “hypocritical,” and makes decisions in foreign affairs that correspond “only to US interests,” and that therefore it is “natural… that the image of America is the lowest in public opinion.”
Yet after slamming America and the Bush administration in all these different ways, he thinks he can still make everyone think he’s unbiased by just trying the good old Jedi mind trick:
Yong Tang: How do you think of the roles American mainstream media play in American foreign policy?
Bennett: We have a little bit different roles in newspapers compared with our counterparts in Europe and other countries. We don’t have any political point of view that we are trying to advance. We don’t represent any political parties. We are not tied to any political movement. On the news side of the paper we try not to give opinions.
Sure, he tries not to give opinions… not to give opinions that are pro-America, pro-Bush, or pro-Conservative. His anti-America, anti-Bush, and anti-Conservative opinions are the bulk of this interview.
Ramirez on Social Security:
