[makeitdouble]

While I get the sentiment, the US led a 7 year invasion war in Iraq based on pure bullshit allegations.

It wasn't the same bullshit, and it might not have been so in your face in day to day life, but I'd argue it was just as bad.

[lovich]

Yea but that could be traced to specific individuals just lying(where that blame lands depends on your political preference)

There’s definitely an increase in just basic disconnect from reality type discourse.

[makeitdouble]

A few individuals lying wouldn't fly if the general public didn't buy/turn a blind eye on it.

Apart from the few who still straight believed the bullshit while every other country involved publicly called it, I think many in the US just believed it would benefit them in the long run (cheaper oil) or just didn't care that much about war (the Gulf War didn't cause that much political trauma after all)

[lovich]

> A few individuals lying wouldn't fly if the general public didn't buy/turn a blind eye on it.

It wasn’t a blind eye for years. The public was more trusting of institutions back then and it took a while of failed answers and excuses and then finally investigations and leaks for people to finally believe that their government lied to them.

It was a lot easier to believe that either you didn’t have all the facts or that was a mistake had been made vs believing that the institutions were actively, maliciously, telling falsehoods

[noosphr]

And 60 years ago the US got into Vietnam on a completely fabricated incident.

People reading many books doesn't help when a few entities control all the information people get.

This is why the internet is so important and why people who want to save us from disinformation have more blood on their hands than every false news peddler outside the government.

[ethbr1]

If we want to be precise, the US got into Vietnam because the French left Vietnam (and someone made the argument that it couldn't possibly be left to the USSR and China).

[Telemakhos]

Remember the Maine!