Propaganda Wars - Vol. 007, Pt. 1

Not even three days into the new year and already there's a media shitstorm raging across the western world!

Have you seen the Saddam hanging video? Cause I have some questions about this:
1. Were people searched before they came in to watch the hanging?
2. Did security know that mobile phones sometimes have cameras in them?
3. Why were people allowed in with electronic devices of any kind?
4. Do any models of mobile phone allow you to zoom in?
5. How do camera phones perform in low light?
6. Do they pick up clear audio in crowds?
7. Isn't it obvious when someone is holding a phone above their head?
8. What happened between 1:48 and 1:57?
9. Is that what happens to your neck when you're hung?
10. How did they get that closeup?


Dave Chappelle (one of my personal heroes) has this fantastic bit about scientists's best explanation for the start of HIV. Somewhere I picked this up along the way, but in case you don't know, they say it came from humans having sex with monkeys.
And, as Dave says, with a look of skeptical incredulity on his face, "Word?"
It's not that humans having sex with monkeys is too hard to believe, he continues, even though there are certainly some obstacles ("Do you know how long it took me to train my monkey to suck my dick... without peeling it?"). It's that the likelihood that humans would have sex with monkeys and humans is so unrealistic as to make the entire explanation...well, questionable.

So, regarding this whole explanation of where the Saddam hanging mobile phone expose came from, in the spirit of Dave, I say, "Word?"

I'm not saying this is a conspiracy. Based on my observation of human competence, especially in government, that is beyond our abilities. But I do think that a wildly-elaborated, widely-reported media shitstorm is better at distracting us from the utter collapse of US policy in Iraq than more intricate investigative pieces about the current state of politics there.

Alexander Cockburn proves this point quite eloquently: Occam's Razor postulates that the most obvious conclusion is usually correct. In this case, I hypothesize that no one cared about unofficial footage, and the Bush administration is doing an excellent job of doing whatever they want without anyone paying attention. They don't even need to hide.