Letters from Our Readers

Jahan Choudhry BAR Comments Editor

25 Sep 2019

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This week you wrote back about Hollywood imperial propaganda and the firing of John Bolton. We share your comments on “Freedom Rider: Hollywood Propaganda Attack on Venezuela” and “What Does Bolton’s Ouster Mean to Victims of US Imperial Aggression?”

“Freedom Rider: Hollywood Propaganda Attack on Venezuela” by Margaret Kimberley examines Hollywood’s latest pro-imperialist fiction: the Jack Ryan spy series on Amazon Prime in which the government of Venezuela plays the villain.

Harold Dyck writes:

“I still remember one of the worst examples of this kind of insane Hollywood propaganda, from back during the Reagan regime and the campaign to destroy the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua -- the movie Red Dawn.”

Chuck Winkle writes:

“And beyond that show being propaganda, it's a turd of a show. A real stinker. But being a sh*t show won't dampen its effectiveness as propaganda. Just look at all the NCIS This and NCIS That variations. And all the various CSIs. Navy Seals. This is awful television folks. Melodramatic performances, plotlines that essentially repeat themselves week after week for fucking years. And it all does great service in promoting and propping up these sociopathic institutions known as law enforcement and the military.”

In “What Does Bolton’s Ouster Mean to Victims of US Imperial Aggression?” Glen Ford analyzes the firing of Bolton in the context of Russia-gate and the pro-imperialist resistance. The article is cross-posted on Op Ed News from where we also share reader comments.

Kweli Ngumu writes:

“Bolton's absence would be no more than a mere blip in the ongoing imperial worship of war, starvation and destruction. This has been imprinted in the American DNA since the nation's founding. It is only a matter of time before another warmonger replaces Bolton as the US is awash with racist war lovers and regime changers. Meanwhile, the convicted felon Eliott Abrams remains in charge of the ongoing starvation of Venezuela. Trump simply wants to ensure his style of aggressive foreign policy prevails in place of his appointees putting their own stamps of identity on it. Any change would largely be one of style rather than substance.”

David William Pear writes:

“The country is so addicted to war that its economy would collapse without it. The American people have lost whatever morality they ever had and care nothing about their victims. It is all coming back to haunt them. They refuse to take responsibility for all the countries they have destroyed and millions of dead.”

Lois Gagnon writes:

“The entire Western imperialist structure is a global criminal racket. I agree that at this point, the population of the US and its vassals bear enormous responsibility for the ongoing death and destruction used to keep the rest of the planet subservient to this death cult. We have become totally self-indulgent and morally bankrupt in order to avoid making hard choices and taking risks in order to stop the hoard of mass murderers lording over the planet. We will reap what we sow.”

War remains an eternal stain on the nation’s conscience. The way ahead for anti-imperialists will require us to find a vision that speaks to America’s soul in this time of crisis.

Jahan Choudhry is Comments Editor for Black Agenda Report. He is an organizer with the Saturday Free School based in Philadelphia, PA.

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