u.s. insecurity

why should the united states' taxpayers fund propaganda against the castro regime? we allow dissenting voices here, within our borders, but we deem spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to vilify the government (and economic system,) of a tiny, neighboring, island nation worthwhile?

please click on the header, (title of this post,) and read the news story about "journalists," who have been paid by our government to write stories slanted against castro and the cuban government.

the most important aspect to consider about this story is the effect of these articles and op-ed pieces. as americans, we tend to discount propaganda. individually we think ourselves above it. we think we are too smart or too canny to be swayed by untruth of any variety.

an apt parallel for this is how we tend to think money does not affect elections, despite how often the candidate who spends more wins and the fact that only candidates with access to large amounts of cash, (usually supplied by corporations which dole it out to would be friendly lawmakers,) can even be considered.

the truth is, we are influenced. most people do not have the time to sift through the mass of information they may process in a given time frame or cross check facts. furthermore, this is not the fault of the individual. instead, we rely on ethics. in this case, journalistic ethics. schools teach them. news outlets should teach and enforce them. individual journalists should hold them as sacred.

by and large, most journalists likely do adhere to them as best they can and consider these ethics hugely important in executing their job, (their role in our free society as watchdog.) those who do not, should be frowned upon by the public and certainly fired by their employers.

in the known cases cited in the referenced article, those journalists were fired or cut off by their superficial employers.

the next question to consider is why our government considers these payouts a worthwhile expenditure for american taxpayers. the obvious, (and again superficial,) reasons are because of cuba's proximity to our border and because of the stark contrast of their values.

the cuban government is socialist. castro led a successful revolution against a corrupt, (though friendly to the interests of the united states,) dictatorship some 47 years ago. in the time since, the people of cuba have seen great accomplishments in the face of even greater odds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_Cuba
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outposts_of_tyranny
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Cuba
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_of_Cuba

these four links to wikipedia articles outline the treatment cuba has been subjected to by the u.s. the first one details the origins of trade embargos that were put into place shortly after castro assumed power and continue to date. the second cites language from u.s. secretary of state condoleeza rice depicting cuba as an outpost of tyrrany. the third outlines cuba's accomplishments in education and the fourth does the same for their efforts in the field of modern medicine.

ultimately, cuba represents a nation and a people who have chosen a different tack than our own as americans. (that tack being socialism.) as a socialist nation, and despite the odds they face in the form of embargos opposed by every nation in the united nations except for four, (the u.s., the marshall islands, palau and israel,) cuba has succeeded. (it should be noted the reasons the other three nations oppose cuba are strictly a means to cotton to the u.s. and the marshall islands in particular, has recently been a hotbed of human rights violations linked to the corruption scandal of jack abramoff and several republican lawmakers.)

as a capitalist nation, the u.s. has an obscene amount of poverty and infant mortality. we have created an industry of imprisoning our citizens and rank as the leader in the western world, incarcerating at a rate three to eight times higher than that of western europe or canada. currently nearly 1.4 million americans are incarcerated. the move to privatize and thereby create the prison industry is a poignant example of class division wrought by capitalism. (in our society we glorify the winners of capitalism but we hide away the losers, in prisons, homeless shelters, mental institutions and the like.)

despite the fact much of the wealth of the united states has been built on the backs of populations who were taken advantage of, (i.e. the slave trade, native americans, migrant farm workers, etc.) pointing out the worst parts of our system is not meant to be a diatribe against capitalism. rather, it is important to realize there is more than one viable way to build a fruitful society.

cuba has chosen a way different from our own. it should not be seen as a threat to us. the embargos we have in place against that country should be halted immediately. we should see the people of cuba like we see the family down the street who has a different skin color than our own or who adheres to a different religion. and we should not finance propaganda meant to color them as evil or a blight just because they have chosen a different path.