Eat the State: 2002 Media Follies : SF Indymedia

The Most Overrated Stories of the Year

1 Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction: Nobody -- except the Bush Administration and Tony Blair -- believes they exist. Seldom have so many words been wasted on weapons that, if they did exist, would be few in number, poorly made, and impossible to deliver more than a couple hundred miles. Instead, Bush's obsession becomes our obsession. Worse, constant repetition of "Iraq = Saddam = Terrorist" has successfully shifted post 9/11 focus -- and blame -- away from the very real threat posed by Islamic terrorists, most of whom seem to come from countries we consider allies.

2 Axis of Evil: News Flash!! Iraq, Iran, and North Korea are three different countries. Iraq and Iran's governments loathe each other, and neither has any connection with North Korea. They are radically different in politics, history, religion, and culture, linked only by the rhetorical flourishes of George Bush's marketers -- er, speechwriters. Apparently that's enough.

The Economic Recovery
John Walker Lindh
Catholic Sex Scandals: media coverage routinely failed to distinguish between the recent priestly crimes and coverups and the ones that happened two or three decades ago.
Code Yellow
9/11 Conspiracies
The Smallpox Threat
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The Most Important Underreported Stories of 2002

Majority of Americans Are Not Fooled: Surveys have showed, time and again, that U.S. citizens think that war with Iraq will increase our chances of being attacked by terrorists, yet the U.S. media continues to call it The War on Terrorism. Go figure. And the "broad public support" consistently reported in polls is only under the conditions of international support for war and few American casualties -- both highly unlikely.
Revitalized U.S. and World Peace Movement
Afghanistan
Palestine
Colombia
Indonesia
Military Corporate Welfare
The Rest of the Corporate Scandals ... and What Happened to Corporate Reform?
White House Power Grab
Incumbents Forever: Why aren't Democrats rocking the boat?
Bush's Foxes, Our Henhouses
Bush Flunks the Economy Test
High Consumer Debt Drags Down the Economy
Environmental Catastrophe
The Rest of The World Goes Ahead with Kyoto
Privatizing Water
The Collapse of the Neoliberal Consensus: Mexico's much-vaunted maquiladoras are shutting their doors, as companies flee for China and other still cheaper labor markets. The rich get richer, the poor get more desperate, and around the world, the free market model now presented as inevitable in this country is anything but.
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