Sunday, August 05, 2007

War Made Easy, How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning us to Death: Sean Penn, Norman Solomon on the media and war; Minicine Sat, Aug 11, 8 pm

War Made Easy examines a 50-year pattern of government and media spin that has dragged the US into wars from Vietnam to Iraq, says Norman Solomon. Narrated by actor and activist Sean Penn, the film presents archival footage of presidents from LBJ to George W. Bush. The American news media have uncritically disseminated the pro-war messages of successive presidential administrations, asserts Solomon.

War Made Easy follows parallels between the Vietnam war and the war in Iraq. Guided by media critic Norman Solomon’s research and analysis, the film presents examples of propaganda and media complicity from the present alongside leading journalists from the past, including Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, dissident Senator Wayne Morse, and news correspondents Walter Cronkite and Morley Safer.

Approx. 72 minutes
846 Texas
8 pm
No charge

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