>>>They show that all the time in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Lebanon, etc.
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>>What do you mean? Do you trust the TV cameras where the camera crew get people to do whatever they want just get attention? How many times have you seen "live pictures" from Bagdad where people shoot into the air? Do you think they intentionally waste their bullets, or do you think they want to give the the viewers the wrong impression? I refuse to believe that you are that naive.
>
>A recent New Yorker article documented how one of the most striking moments of our adventure in Iraq, the toppling of a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad, was almost completely manufactured. There was a crowd of a few hundred Iraqis trying to knock it down and they weren't getting anywhere. They couldn't pull it down and they couldn't knock it over with sledgehammers. Some American tanks happened by. The tank pulled it over. Footage went out over CNN, Fox and other news outlets, shot to make the crowd look much bigger than it was. This was exactly the image of Iraqi insurrection our government wanted to promote and it went uncorrected for years. It's hard to believe it's been almost 8 years since that day.

Was this a surprise for you ? This was something I was certain of first time I saw it, but I also believe that manufacturing the public opinion is/was an art linked to ruling - only the means change. In WW2 it was radio, Columbus tweaked the numbers he dayly told his sailors and in Alexanders time news on how far/big the treasures were was often modified.

regards

thomas