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“Was nothing real?”--Truman

Was Truman’s reality real?

In what ways is our reality like the reality of Seahaven?

Do the following quotes from the film relate in any way to our reality?

• “As Truman grew up, we were forced to manufacture ways to keep him on the island.”

• “If he was absolutely determined to discover the truth, there is no way we could prevent him. …Ultimately, Truman prefers his ‘cell.’”

Let us talk more about our reality:

Deaths in 2001

• 9/11/01 Attacks = 3,063

• Deaths at Work = 5,915

• Pedestrian Accidents = 6,071

• Homicides = 15,517

• Passenger Accidents = 18,675

• Tobacco = 450,000

--Source: Dr. Richard Sullivan, Sociology professor, ISU

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Dominant Reality

• “America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world.”

• “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.”

• --George Bush, Address to the Nation, 9/11/01

Dominant Reality

• “This is going to be the kind of work that will probably take years because the focus has to be not just on any one individual, the problem here is terrorism.” –Dick Cheney, Meet the Press, 9/16/01– MR. RUSSERT: …If we determine that Saddam Hussein is also

harboring terrorists, and there's a track record there, would we have any reluctance of going after Saddam Hussein?

– VICE PRES. CHENEY: No.– MR. RUSSERT: Do we have evidence that he's harboring terrorists?– VICE PRES. CHENEY: There is--in the past, there have been some

activities related to terrorism by Saddam Hussein. But at this stage, you know, the focus is over here on al-Qaida and the most recent events in New York. Saddam Hussein's bottled up, at this point, but clearly, we continue to have a fairly tough policy where the Iraqis are concerned.

• --Vice President Dick Cheney and Tim Russert on Meet the Press, 9/16/01

Dominant Reality

• “Americans are asking, why do they hate us? …They hate our freedoms. …They want to overthrow existing governments….”

• --White House News Release, 9/20/01

U.S. “Regime Changes:”Successful* and Attempted

• Costa Rica 1970-71

• Bolivia 1971 *

• Chile 1973 *

• Australia 1973-75 *

• Angola 1975, 1980s

• Zaire 1975

• Portugal 1974-76 *

• Jamaica 1976-80 *

• Seychelles 1979-81

• El Salvador 1979-92

• Chad 1981-82 *

• Grenada 1983 *

• South Yemen 1982-84

• Suriname 1982-84

• Fiji 1987 *

• Libya 1980s

• Nicaragua 1981-90 *

• Panama 1989 *

• Bulgaria 1990 *

• Albania 1991 *

• Iraq 1991

• Afghanistan 1980s *

• Somalia 1993

• Yugoslavia 1999-2000 *

• Ecuador 2000 *

• Afghanistan 2001 *

• Venezuela 2002 *

• Iraq 2003 *

• Haiti 2004 *

• Somalia 2007 to present

• Libya 2011*

• Syria 2012

• Ukraine 2014*

https://www.globalresearch.ca/overthrowing-other-peoples-governments-the-master-lis

Dominant Reality

• “Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax and nerve gas and nuclear weapons for over a decade. This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens, leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children. This is a regime that agreed to international inspections, then kicked out the inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world.”

• --George Bush, State of the Union Address, 1/29/02

Dominant Reality

• “Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax and nerve gas and nuclear weapons for over a decade. This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens, leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children. This is a regime that agreed to international inspections, then kicked out the inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world.”

• --George Bush, State of the Union Address, 1/29/02

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Dominant Reality

• In Secretary of State Colin Powell’s speech to the United Nations, 2/5/03, he used the phrase, “weapons of mass destruction,” in association with Iraq 10 times.

• “Ladies and gentlemen, these are not assertions. These are facts, corroborated by many sources, some of them sources of the intelligence services of other countries.”

• —Colin Powell, UN Speech, 2/5/03

Dominant Reality as of March, 2003

• “Terrorists” are an existential threat to the United States because we are free and they hate freedom

• Iraq is harboring “terrorists,” has “weapons of mass destruction,” and is connected to 9/11 in some way

• This “war on terror” will be long-term and far-reaching

We re-invaded Iraq, 3/20/03

Implications of Dominant Reality

• Cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11 = over 1.6 trillion dollars (conservative estimate)

– Between 4 and 6 trillion if you count “long-term medical care and disability compensation for service members, veterans and families, military replenishment and social and economic costs,”

--Harvard economist, Linda Bilmes

Implications of Dominant Reality

• Over 6,800 US service members and over 6,900 contractors have died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

• An unusually high percentage of young veterans have died since returning home, many as a result of drug overdoses, vehicle crashes, or suicide.

• Coalition partners have died in large numbers: approximately 43,000 uniformed Afghans, Iraqis and other allies have died as of May 2014.

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Implications of Dominant Reality

• Afghan civilians killed = over 26,000

• Pakistan civilians killed = over 21,000

• Iraqi civilians killed = ?

– Deaths Data from Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies, May 2015

Implications of Dominant Reality

• The Nobel Prize-winning International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and other groups examined the toll from the so-called war on terror in three countries — Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The investigators found "the war has, directly or indirectly, killed around one million people in Iraq, 220,000 in Afghanistan and 80,000 in Pakistan (i.e. a total of around 1.3 million). Not included in this figure are further war zones such as Yemen. The figure is approximately 10 times greater than that of which the public, experts and decision makers are aware. ..."

• Democracy Now!, March 25, 2015

Let me tell you a little story…The Iranian people democratically elected Dr. Mohammed Mossadeqto be Iran’s Prime Minister, who’s administration nationalized the

AIOC in 1953.

Everyone, meet Dr. Mossadeq:

the British government wasnone too pleased about this.

And neither was the government of the United States.

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the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) engineered a coup to oust Dr. Mossadeq and overthrow

Iran’s nationalist government.

The CIA was successful.

A government friendly to Western interests was re-installed under the control of the Shah, who became

increasingly autocratic.

Many Iranians were none too pleased about this,

as you might be able to imagine.

The continued economic and cultural influence of the West and the repressive nature of the Shah's

regime led to the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

What started as popular revolution against the Shah by people from all

walks of life, including everyone from communists to islamists,

eventually became co-opted by the islamists, culminating in the

establishment of an“Islamic Republic.”

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The Shah was overthrown and exiled, and the new Islamic Republic of Iran was established, led by the

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Everyone, meetAyatollah Ruhollah Khomeini:

Then, starting in 1980 CE, Iran fought a war with Iraq that lasted until 1988 CE.

The US openly supported Iraq throughout the war, supplying Saddam Hussein with several

billion dollars worth of economic aid, technology, weaponry, intelligence and training.

But…

(and this is kind of a big “but”)

the US not-so-openly supported Iran in some ways too.

(it is weird and complicated –

let me try to explain)

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Before the Shah was overthrown, the US had been supplying Iran with

weaponry and intelligence.In fact, in 1979, before the Shah was ousted, the US warned Iran that Iraq

was about to invade.

Also…

(and this is the weirdest part)

the Reagan administration covertly sold arms to Iran during the war and

then secretly used that money to fund militias in Nicaragua – the Contras.

But that’s a whole other story known as the Iran-Contra Affair.

Meanwhile…

Here’s, yet, another part of the story:

The US government and the Saudi royal family have been kickin’ it since about 1933 CE. The

two are still on relatively good terms today.

They want our money;we want their oil.

And as long as that oil is flowing…

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we turn a blind eye to Saudi Arabia’s repressive government.

But there is hope, as many women are

fighting for equal rights in Saudi Arabia.

Suffice it to say, the US and Saudi Arabia have had a relatively stable

relationship.

(built entirely around oil)

So when our old buddy, Saddam, invaded Kuwait in 1990, the Saudi

royal family welcomed the US troops we stationed their to fight our old

buddy.

(A few Saudi’s were none to pleased about US troops being stationed in the holy land. We’ll come back to this later

on in the story.)

1990 – 1991 CE, the First Gulf WarIraq wanted to annex Kuwait

(for their oil)

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The US wanted to defend Kuwait(for their oil)

and also to stop Iraq so that Saddam(who used to be our buddy)

wouldn’t endanger our allies in Saudi Arabia(again, oil).

We haven’t even talked about these guys yet – Afghanistan’s mujahideen:

A pro-soviet government took power in Afghanistan in the late

1970s CE.

Many Afghans were none to pleased about this. So they organized a

resistance movement.

At this point, the Soviets attempted to quash the resistance.

Which is when the US CIA began funding, arming, and training the

mujahideen.

We HAD to!

I mean, come on!

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This war in Afghanistan lasted through the 1980s CE, and was

followed by a civil war in the 90s.

1961

1962

2019

2019

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1980s

I bet you can’t guess who was funded, armed, and trained – in part by the US CIA – during this conflict…

Yep! This dude: Osama bin Laden was from a wealthy Saudi family.

After fighting with the mujahideenhe founded Al-Qaeda.

He was a religious fellow with very extreme views.

Remember this, the First Gulf War?

bin Laden was none too pleased when the US stationed troops in Saudi Arabia – the holy land – to

fight Saddam.

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This was a formative event in his life that helped to inspire his contempt

for the West in generaland the US specifically.

So he came at us.

February 1993 truck bomb attack on World Trade Center, killed 6, injured over 1,000

August 7, 1998, US Embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya

August 20, 1998, Bill Clinton ordered cruise missile strikes on Al Qaeda bases in Afghanistanand a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan—in response to the embassy bombings

October 12, 2000, bombing of USS Cole while refueling at a harbor in Aden, Yemen.

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Iraq had nothingto do with this

And, of course, after that we invaded Afghanistan.

US War in Afghanistan,2001 CE – present.

But we didn’t stop there!

Oh no.

We also invaded Iraq.

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The US openly supported Iraq throughout the war, supplying Saddam Hussein with several

billion dollars worth of economic aid, technology, weaponry, intelligence and training.

Dick Cheney

• Chief of Staff for Ford

• In House of Reps. from 1978-1989

• Secretary of Defense for George H. W. Bush

• CEO of Halliburton from 1995-2000 (Halliburton is an oil field services company)

Dick Cheney

• Chief of Staff for Ford

• In House of Reps. from 1978-1989

• Secretary of Defense for George H. W. Bush

• CEO of Halliburton from 1995-2000

• Vice President under George W. Bush from January 2001-2009

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US War with Iraq (Second Gulf War)2003 CE- ?

The war with Iraq is now over(supposedly)

yet we are maintaining a force of some troops and

“private contractors”that numbers in the thousands…

plus the largest embassy in the world:

Why?

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“Unocal was one of the key players in the CentGas consortium, which attempted to

build the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline to run from the Caspian area, through Afghanistan,

to the Indian Ocean, at a time after the recent Taliban siege of Kabul in 1996.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unocal_Corporation

Implications of Dominant Reality

• Equipped with a sociological imagination we can discover and highlight processes through which reality is constructed, how it is maintained, and how it effects people’s lives.

• With a sociological imagination we can:

– Face up to “inconvenient facts”

– Challenge official explanations

– Overcome incorrigible propositions

• Beliefs held despite evidence to the contrary

Social Construction of Reality: Summary

• Reality is a social construct, not an immutable fact

• Some individuals and groups have more power to define reality than others

• Constructed realities have real consequences for people

• Reality is constructed by humans, therefore people are able to change it!

• The sociological imagination helps us see the processes through which reality is constructed and how it effects the conditions in which people live