In China, people would laugh wryly at the articles in the paper, or crack jokes at the cheerful newscasters on their TVs.
In America, we assume what we're reading and hearing is the truth, and we are cheered by the news.
How else to explain the apparent public demand for cuts in government spending to create jobs at a time of record joblessness and hardship that are running at levels not seen since the 1930s?
DAVE LINDORFF is a founding member of ThisCantBeHappening!, the new independent, collectively-owned, journalist-run online alternative newspaper. His work, and that of colleagues John Grant, Linn Washington and Charles Young, can be found at: ThisCantBeHappening!
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