I was poking about Slate this morning because, well, I can and they often amuse me with their liberal slant snarkiness. In crusing the Today’s Pictures feature (um…pretty leaves) I scrolled down to see what was on the page and got an advertisement in Flash to purchase the DVD of Reds. It went something like this:
Words draw on the screen the white over black: What do you think this war is about?
Pause to let the viewer read + Fade Out
Words draw on the screen red over black: Profits
Pause to let the viewer read + Fade Out
Fade in, red over black: Reds, more relevant than ever.
Buy it on DVD blah, blah, blah.
Truthfully, I was impressed by the assumption of stupidity of the audience by the creators of this ad: is there anyone out there who really believes that any war ever fought on a national scale has ever been about anything but money?
True, they may not have been as baldly about money as the current U.S. cluster in Iraq is (can we say no-bid contracts? I bet we can.) but land, the ability to tax a conquered people, access to crops for trading purposes…it’s all just money in disguise.
It makes me wonder how, for a species that is supposedly at the top of the global food chain, we are so easily duped.
Uh-oh – I have to say it. I do believe wars are fought over things other than money. I even think that the Iraq mess is about, if not other than, then at least more than, money. A lot more than money.
The money part is just what some really slimy folks near those in power see as their own main focus, and what they get out of the whole deal.