War Made Easy Screening - Wednesday, August 8, 6:30 p.m.

Written by: Nancy Jacobson on Aug 6, 2007 1:26 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Central Florida for Democracy

WAR MADE EASY
How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.

War Made Easy reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq.   Narrated by actor and activist Sean Penn, the film exhumes remarkable archival footage of official distortion and exaggeration from LBJ to George W. Bush, revealing in stunning detail how the American news media have uncritically disseminated the pro-war messages of successive presidential administrations.

War Made Easy gives special attention to parallels between the Vietnam war and the war in Iraq. Guided by media critic Norman Solomon's meticulous research and tough-minded analysis, the film presents disturbing examples of propaganda and media complicity from the present alongside rare footage of political leaders and leading journalists from the past, including Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, dissident Senator Wayne Morse, and news correspondents Walter Cronkite and Morley Safer.

Norman Solomon's work has been praised by the Los Angeles Times as "brutally persuasive" and essential "for those who would like greater context with their bitter morning coffee." This film now offers a chance to see that context on the screen.  (Some of you will recall that Norman Solomon was interviewed in the Bill Moyer's Special on the Media's role leading up to the War in Iraq)   Approx. 72 minutes

LOCATION & DIRECTIONS:  The meeting will be held at the Classroom Teachers' Association Headquarters (CTA) at 1020 Webster Avenue, Orlando, FL  32804 at 6:30 P.M.  Webster intersects with Edgewater Drive opposite Blodgett's Nursery, just south of the entrance to Bishop Moore High School.  The CTA Headquarters will be on your left about a block or so in.  It is set back from the road, but there is a sign and plenty of surface parking.

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Location: Orlando, FL 32801