That use of the Canadian Niagara Falls shot in the Bushies' promotional video is perfect ...

[Lisa]

The news story has been circulating here on DU for a couple of days. To sum up -- the Bushies have made a propaganda (I mean, promotional) video to tout all that is great about the USA. The video is going to be shown at airports and embassies, to impress visitors, and inspire them to see the country. Among the famous American landmarks showcased is ... the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. I grew up near there, so I recognized both the falls and the vantage point from where the footage was shot, as being in Canada. And I'm pretty sure that there are millions of other North Americans in the Great Lakes basin, and even further afield, who would also know that the Horseshoe Falls are on the Canadian side of the border.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x7083367

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2007/10/28/4612542-ap.html


Last night the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation weighed in ... supposedly the video is going to be re-edited. Actually I am a bit dismayed, because for one thing, whenever I get homesick, it'll be a lot cheaper for me to go to SeaTac Airport and view the video, rather than flying home across country to see the real thing.

I am gratified by how many Americans have apologized about this, and protested on Canada's behalf. The thing is -- this video is a wonderful example of just how the Bush Administration operates. A while back, they announced that they were going to mount a worldwide publicity campaign to shore up America's sagging international popularity, led by none other than Bush's friend and helper (some would say "enabler"), Karen Hughes. The problem, as they saw it, was not that their decisions are causing death and destruction ... it's that people just don't seem to know what a great job Bush is doing, and so they do not appreciate him properly. Hence the public relations juggernaut.

So the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security commission this Disney production. (No kidding -- it really is made by them. So I guess I can't call it a "Mickey Mouse" effort without getting sued for libel. I'd better go lawyer up -- or at least put my attorney cousin in Toronto on speed-dial.)

Basically they passed the task along to a contractor ... the government agencies give it a cursory glance and sign off on it ... and when things go wrong, they wriggle out of taking any responsibility. If this sounds familiar, it's exactly the strategy they've been using, to explain away everything from the "Mission Accomplished" banner on the USS Lincoln, to the fiascos by Halliburton and Blackwater in Iraq.

In this case, the claim is that Disney donated this as a freebie -- perhaps confirming that old cliche that "you get what you pay for". But we all know that, in the broader context, the American taxpayer has been fleeced out of billions -- and ultimately even trillions -- of dollars by the Bush administration's careless outsourcing to its corporate cronies. They dispensed with the "revolving door" between government and business, and people walk back and forth unimpeded, between high-level government jobs and boards of directors. Sometimes they serve in both capacities at the same time.

I've seen how hard my friends in the States work for their wages. No task too big or too small -- they will take on overtime, night shifts, and even move to a different part of the country, away from their families, for a job. People I know are out there waiting tables, lifting heavy boxes, doing surgery on livestock, teaching ever-expanding classes, managing farms, driving tractor trailers thousands of miles, mopping floors, comforting the dying, writing everything from screenplays to technical manuals -- even juggling flaming torches or swinging 10-lb broadswords.

I'm sorry that the people you elected to serve you are behaving like this. It's bad enough that they are doing questionable things with your hard-earned money, and refusing to tell you the truth -- but to act as if you aren't capable of understanding, so they aren't even going to bother with an explanation, is an added insult. They seem completely oblivious to what several Americans have already pointed out to me -- that this video implies that the United States will merrily seize on whatever it desires, not knowing or caring which country it happens to be in. Why stop with Niagara Falls? Why not show the Taj Mahal or the Great Wall of China?

We've already seen that these folks don't do apologies. The State Department offered up a spokesman who blurted out that Niagara Falls "is a shared natural wonder, a gateway for both our countries and anyone looking at the video will understand how proud America is to share it with Canada." (Too bad Disney didn't have footage of a meeting of the International Joint Commission that manages our boundary waters -- showing Americans and Canadians smiling happily, arm in arm.)

I hope people keep an eye out for this lavish production -- coming soon to an airport near you! In recognition of their devotion to their warped vision of America, perhaps each member of the Bush Administration could be presented with a copy on DVD, as they're forced out of their jobs after the next election?

[Bucky]

1. Everyone shoots Niagara Falls from the Canadian side. It's more photogenic.

Is this a Bush propaganda film or just a generic advertising campaign to promote tourism?

[Lisa]

2. I think it's supposed to go beyond the tourism thing ...

She was supposedly picked for this job because Bush wanted her to be in charge of "improving America's image abroad".

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0316/p03s01-usfp.html


"Through exchange programs, foreign language media and other initiatives, the public diplomacy campaign aims to promote American values of democracy, tolerance and pluralism abroad while combating negative images propagated in many parts of the world."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25347-2005Mar10.html



I thought it was interesting that even Business Week criticized her appointment.

"Karen Hughes, a longtime adviser to President George W. Bush has reportedly accepted a key post at the State Department, leading efforts to promote US values and improve America's image abroad. It's tough to call this move surprising. And it seems destined to advance the decline of America's image abroad.

Hughes job, in a nutshell, is to market the image of America abroad, especially in the Arab world. Yikes. Hughes has been George Bush's ideological "buddy" for years now. One of the reasons America and George Bush's image is so damaged abroad is that the Administration's policy and rhetoric is so devoid of truth and historical perspective. Hughes is a Bush cheerleader, not a strategist with an independent mind or opinion about how we might seriously affect the silent majority of Muslims who probably want to live with more freedom than a theocracy would allow, but don't trust America to deliver it to them."
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/brandnewday/archives/2005/03/karen_hughes_a.html

[Generic Other]

3. maybe it's part of the plan for world domination

Niagara Falls today, Ottawa tomorrow!!

:shrug:

[glarius]

4. Those of us living in the Niagara Peninsula recognized Horseshoe Falls immediately, of course.

We are getting sort of used to this side of the Falls being used in American productions of one kind or another, pretending to be the U.S.A. We have often noted, with amusement, how they have featured our Falls in commercials etc. This is the first time, Horseshoe Falls has been officially declared as the American side by the government, though. LOL

[marmar]

5. Well you know, those dry states in the South and Southwest do want your water....

.... Or our water rather, since I'm a resident of your Great Lakes neighbor, Michigan.

[Lisa]

6. an update! Karen Hughes is leaving her job!

I don't think that the Falls gaffe was the cause -- but still, the timing is pretty funny.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3048890&mesg_id=3048890



Glarius -- I've got that old Niagara Falls "Marineland and Game Farm" jingle they used on the TV ads back when I was growing up, stuck in my head right now.

[glarius]

7. I know the one you mean......my granddaughter used to sing it every time

it came on!