ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses two topics that envision the future: first, people must acknowledge the manipulative nature of the dominant culture; and second, people should question the tenability of their bystander's position vis-a-vis it. The effect of cultural violence on perception is simple and straightforward: reality is made "opaque", so people don't see the violent nature of an act or a process. The full implications of cultural violence are not limited to its significance for those who are involved in violent actions. Cultural violence concerns, as well, all those who are not directly involved in violence, that is, the category to which most people belong. The author's testimony apparently had a minimum effect on the severity of the sentence, as did the eloquent plea of his attorney, Gary Myers. All of the situational and systemic factors that author detailed were worth little on the international public relations stage that had been established by the military and Bush administration chains of command.
