Richard Spencer

October 01, 2009

In the words of Dubya’s first Chief of Staff, Andrew Card, “From a marketing point of view, you don’t introduce new products in August.” It was in September of 2002 that the push for the Iraq war began in earnest, and now that the new Fall War Season is upon us, Persian looks like it’s back in style. 

From Misc.

I was in Midtown when I snapped this photo, and around there, this “End the Oppression” advertisement bedecked probably one in every 10 taxicabs. The rest of the ad reads, “In Iran, You Are Killed For Opposing the Government.” The attractive woman pictured is one Neda Agha Soltan, who was shot by Iranian police back in June and ever since has been lionized, in maudlin and sickening fashion, by the media as the young, sexy Persian martyr of last summer’s Twitter Revolution. Such ads represent the populist arm of the bomb-Iran propaganda machine, whose goal is to have normal Americans shout “Remember Neda!” while they cheer on images of the aerial bombing of Tehran on cable news. What’s perhaps most remarkable about this ad is that no organization or sponsor is listed—no website address, no nothing. Who paid the hefty fee for a mass advertising campaign in New York City against “Iranian oppression”? Answering that question will reveal quite a bit about the kinds of forces that inform American foreign policy.