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It's time for another Mudville mini quiz on current events. (See our previous here.) Don't worry - it's easy. Most blog readers will do well on this test, I'm sure. But then, get a non-blog reading friend to take it too. Compare your results, and if they do poorly, ask them if they think it matters. Or at least, matters more than the upcoming trial of Michael Jackson. If nothing else, you might get an interesting water cooler or email discussion going.
Here are the questions. In each instance, simply provide the source of the quote. Answers will be found below, with links to full details:
1. Iraqis were forced to vote or else their food rations would be withheld!
"'Two of the food dealers I know told me personally that our food rations would be withheld if we did not vote,' said Saeed Jodhet, a 21-year-old Iraqi student who voted in the Hay al-Jihad district.
Several Iraqis said before the election day that they were afraid they could be denied their monthly food rations if they did not vote. Thus they decided to sign voter registration forms to be able to get their food supplies.
According to analysts, this raises concerns about tactics used by the U.S.-backed Iraqi interim government in an attempt to increase voter turnout."
2. Donald Rumsfeld: The mastermind behind 'terrorist attacks'
"The Bush administration has consistently stated that the United States of America is under a threat of attacks from "terrorists".
Washington could very well be right...But from who precisely?
If and when attacks that target the U.S. occur, they will be instigated under the orders of Donald H. Rumsfeld, the American Secretary of Defense."
3. US troops are targeting and killing journalists in Iraq
"Twelve journalists who had not only been killed by US troops in Iraq, but they had in fact been targeted. He repeated the assertion a few times, which seemed to win favor in parts of the audience (the anti-US crowd) and cause great strain on others. "
4. 9/11 Victims were "little Eichmanns" who deserved what they got:
"The [Pentagon] and those inside comprised military targets, pure and simple. As to those in the World Trade Center: Well, really. Let's get a grip here, shall we? True enough, they were civilians of a sort. But innocent? Gimme a break. They formed a technocratic corps at the very heart of America's global financial empire--the 'mighty engine of profit' to which the military dimension of U.S. policy has always been enslaved--and they did so both willingly and knowingly. If there was a better, more effective, or in fact any other way of visiting some penalty befitting their participation upon the little Eichmanns inhabiting the sterile sanctuary of the twin towers, I'd really be interested in hearing about it.""
5. Christians control congress and want to destroy the environment to hasten Christ's return:
"Remember James Watt, President Ronald Reagan's first secretary of the interior? My favorite online environmental journal, the ever-engaging Grist, reminded us recently of how James Watt told the U.S. Congress that protecting natural resources was unimportant in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. In public testimony he said, "after the last tree is felled, Christ will come back."
"...millions of Christian fundamentalists may believe that environmental destruction is not only to be disregarded but actually welcomed - even hastened - as a sign of the coming apocalypse.
"...we're not talking about a handful of fringe lawmakers who hold or are beholden to these beliefs. Nearly half the U.S. Congress before the recent election - 231 legislators in total and more since the election - are backed by the religious right."
Answers:
1. Iraqis were forced to vote or else their food rations would be withheld! - al Jazeera
2. Donald Rumsfeld is the mastermind behind 'terrorist attacks' - al Jazeera again!
3. US troops are targeting and killing journalists in Iraq - Eason Jordan, Chief News Executive of CNN.
4. 9/11 Victims were "little Eichmanns" who deserved what they go "Indian" activist Ward Churchill, professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder
5. Christians control congress and want to destroy the environment to hasten Christ's return: Former PBS "news" man Bill Moyers in his newspaper column.
How did you do? How did your non-blog reading friends do?
How do you think citizens of other countries would score?
These sorts of comments play well to an international audience - bear in mind that Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 was enormously popular overseas. In fact, some of these quotes were specifically "targeting" an "international" audience; in the pre-internet, pre-blog days they would have received very little stateside attention outside of a few select venues.
Recall the day immediately after 9/11, when many raised the loaded question of "why do they hate us?" The answer seems clearer with each passing day.
