Independence Day
In honor of the 4th of July—a day when we celebrate freedom from tyranny—I thought I’d share a war story—something that reminds me what freedom really means.
During the first Gulf War, I remember sitting in the desert, listening to Iraqi propaganda on the radio. It stunned me how easily someone could broadcast outright lies—and how quickly those lies could become “truth,” especially when repeated often enough. When it’s all you hear, it’s all you know.
A beautiful female voice from Baghdad warned us of the “mother of all battles” (the war only lasted five days). She claimed our leaders were misleading us (I trusted Bush, Powell, and Schwarzkopf completely). She promised we’d die in chemical attacks (there were no effective WMDs). The rest was malarkey—and they didn’t even play good music like in the Vietnam movies.
I even wrote home about it in 1991:
“It makes me laugh, but at the same time it makes me wonder about Iraqi society and what lies he [Saddam] is telling his people. It’s weird being exposed to a society without freedom of the press. It makes me more aware of how much we take these freedoms for granted in the U.S.”
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At 23, I thought it was all kind of cool—like living in a black-and-white WWII film. Now I’m 58, and I’m not smiling anymore—because I feel like it’s happening here at home.
Today, you pick a side—Republican or Democrat—and the other side’s information becomes the enemy. Cable news fuels it. Internet garbage accelerates it. They don’t even pretend to be unbiased anymore. They joke about it (see clip below—with my wife’s piano students in the background for ambiance 😊).
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If all you ever hear is one voice, one angle—you’re not learning. You’re being trained. And that’s just propaganda by another name.
So here are a few small things you could do—for yourself, and for a veteran:
• ALWAYS seek the truth—it rarely comes from a single source
• AVOID pure propaganda—especially cable news and internet outrage machines
• USE multiple sources—national, international, left, right, and center
Personal truth keeps us honest—and shared truth keeps us united as the greatest nation in the world.
—Mike
P.S. Additional ideas to consider:
→ Take a clean break from cable news—stop cold turkey for six months
→ Watch national broadcast news (CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox Broadcast Stations)
→ Skip algorithm-driven internet outrage and opinion
→ Read real newspapers or go directly to original source material online
→ Get basic information about complex topics at https://basicstudyguides.com/
The Basics is a always and forever free. I created it as an unbiased website with simple summaries of complex topics like Jan 6th, World Philosophy, War in Ukraine, Pregnancy and Abortion, Saving & Investing, War in Afghanistan, U.S. Immigration, Arab-Israeli, World Religion, Leadership, etc.
