Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Why Write a Good Story Twice?
Echo, echo, echo… anybody else hear an echo echo echo?
Why do I feel like I’m living the sixties all over again, but having much less fun this time around?
On September 4 1967 the New York Times published an upbeat story on presidential elections held by the South Vietnamese puppet regime at the height of the Vietnam war. Under the heading "US encouraged by Vietnam vote: Officials cite 83% turnout despite Vietcong terror", the paper reported that the Americans had been "surprised and heartened" by the size of the turnout "despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting". A successful election, it went on, "has long been seen as the keystone in President Johnson's policy of encouraging the growth of constitutional processes in South Vietnam". The echoes of this weekend's propaganda about Iraq's elections are so close as to be uncanny.
Sami Ramadani in the Guardian
Why do I feel like I’m living the sixties all over again, but having much less fun this time around?