Better Them Killing Us Over There Than Killing Us Here at Home

[Leopolds Ghost]

That is the Republican argument. Pass it on! Tell all your "Republican" neighbots.

-- NEW MEME FOR MAY, 2006 --

"Better Them Killing us Over There than Killing Us Here at Home."

"Right?? I'm no expert but it seems to me that's Bush's argument."

"In fact, he said that! You can look it up!" <-- Old Reagan Tactic

That is the new MEME we need to be spreading. I've been thinking about how to counter the false but appealing "over there" rhetoric since 2004 and then a lightbulb went on.

Progressives need to learn to re-word Republican arguments and turn it against them if we ever plan to win anything.

Republican Culture of Corruption.

Put The Christ Back in Christianity.

Casting Americans Adrift in the Global Economy. (Katrina Allusion)

Better Them Killing us Over There than Killing Us Here at Home...

right?

I didn't think so! But why did Bush say this? (Let them answer.)

If they reply, "that's not what Bush said,"
and quote chapter and verse at you, say:

"Not only did he say that, he also said he was not concerned about
Bin Laden! He joked that the W.M.D. would turn up under his desk!
And he encouraged Al Quaeda to kill American soldiers in Iraq, saying
it would 'strengthen our resolve'. How Irresponsible Is That?"

Upon that, many Republicans -- if you're conciliatory enough in your
tone of voice - will be inclined to make nice and say, "well, you're
right that Bush is a problem. The whole thing is a mess." Then they
will rethink their own position, if they're at all thoughtful. (Just
like most liberals do every time NPR tells them the Republicans have
a point (which is every day now.) that's how the country get's moved
to the right. Because we all like to think we're thoughtful individuals.

And remember, the less educated they (Republicans) are, the less likely
they are statistically to share Bush's beliefs (once you overcome the
pro-globalization, pro-Armageddon, neo-con propaganda by countering
all the infectious, pernicious memes, such as "better to fight them
over there than fight them over here.")

Remember, the purpose of this meme is to illustrate how Bush has NOT reduced terrorism, nor merely diverted it -- he has created new opprtunities
for "them" to kill us.

[ShortnFiery]

1. I'm sure the ...

average Iraqi (you know, the ones who can't afford to immigrate) really appreciates being the "host country" for *'s ill conceived War on Terrorism?

[Leopolds Ghost]

3. That's why Bush's rhetoric is so pernicious.

The unaltered, original version "Fight them over there" not only:

* Not only causes average people (including not a few Democrats) to
unthinkingly associate the Bush-engendered Al Quaeda in Iraq with the
pre-existing terrorist threat;

* It also appeals to the average American's aloof attitude towards
other countries. "Frankly I care more about my family and after that,
if I have time, our hometown boys over there in Iraq. They signed up
for that. I honor that. I just can't be concerned with the problems
of the world." This is what you will hear from many Americans
(moderate and conservative alike) if you try and argue against the
"Bush made us safer" argument by pointing out that Iraqis are dying
because of Bush. It's a no-win argument because of peoples' natural
(and worse, socially acceptable) xenophobia. If they are thoughtful
they will turn the argument back on you by pointing out that people
are dying in Darfur because of our inaction, etc.

The new, revised meme "Is it really better for them to Kill us over there"

highlights the weaknesses in Bush's argument, from the perspective of a reformed Republican or fence-setting Democrat, neither of whom can be counted on to know anything about Iraq. It highlights stuff anyone can understand, even if they don't empathize with non-Americans:

* The preposterous illogic of Bush's claim that it is somehow a good thing
that soldiers are dying in Iraq, as if continual human sacrifice
to the god Halliburton (hey, another meme!) will somehow make us
safer here at home.

* The new meme also ighlights the false equation between warfare and domestic terrorism
that Bush makes when he suggests that "terrorist" and other attacks in Iraq are
acceptable levels of violence due to their geographic location in a war zone.

If Al Quaeda had bombed US military bases over the past
5 years and killed 3000 soldiers (and an equivalent proportion of
American civilians to Iraqis) due to mistakes made by the Bush
administration, the situatuion would not be qualitatively different,
only the location. Even the most xenophobic American hast to think
about that (and believe me, they are.)

[izzie]

2. and another answer if you point out the deaths in this war is this

Well we kill more each year on the roads, or killing in some city or some illness and I have even heard people say and that is only in a year and we have been over in Iraq for years. Now is that a non-squirtur? I hear this on TV not around here.

[Leopolds Ghost]

4. What's sad is, people are so "addicted to oil" that they tolerate

and even blame "ignorant immigrants and vagrants" (i.e. the dead victims, most of whom are neither ignorant nor vagrants)

for pedestrian fatalities that exceed the death toll in Iraq.

They then go on to assert that if those deaths are accepable then so is Iraq, is outrageous.

In my very "liberal" (coastal yuppie) hometown, they don't consider either acceptable.

But they sure as hell blame the pedestrian, propose to build fences to keep "jaywalkers" from crossing the road "with their children in tow, most of whom don't even speak English, let alone know how to operate a car" and then complain that there's not enough parking in their pre-1920s railroad subdivision for the two cars they moved here with. Then they blame Bush for Iraq and high gas prices, as if everything would be OK if the oil in Iraq were only flowing. We should count our blessings that Cheney's oil policy didn't work. You don't teach a dog by rewarding him (with cheap oil). Once he gets a taste for chicken, he'll just go out and kill another one...

[Leopolds Ghost]

5. The counter to this is "if pedestrian fatalities exceed Iraq, then

...that means they also exceed the deaths on 9-11. Tell me again how that is acceptable?"

[izzie]

6. I guess these are the same people who understand Bush

I am always in the dark when Bush explains things as he always sort of answers the question with the question. I am not sure what that is called in logic but to say a tree is a tree because it is a tree is not something I could get away with in High School or college but then I did not go to a ritzy Prep school or two world class Univ. Bush does this over and over. Then every one claps and yells like he said some thing.

[Stevepol]

7. Why should they kill us here, when they can kill us easier there?

In fact, that's the very argument that was found in some correspondence of al Quaida that was captured or obtained by the military. I saw this reported on C-Span,a book discussion of some kind.

Once we get out of Iraq, I'm sure they will focus more on us over here, but it's not as if we're choosing the killing grounds. They've lured us over there to make it easier. Once we get out, it will be harder for them but they'll be able to use their forces over here now and will try harder to get us over here naturally, since they won't have us surrounded with bull's eyes on our backs, easy targets, over there.

Makes sense. In a way it's a good argument, just that it's adopting Al Quaida's own argument. Like saying, "I smashed my chin into his fist, then I rammed my gut into his swinging foot and hammered my skull into his lug wrench." All a matter of perspective I guess.

[Leopolds Ghost]

8. Meme Kick

Because Bush keeps saying it's Better to kill us over there than kill us here at home.