Wednesday, June 20, 2007
misconception
i think that there is a misconception here in america about good versus evil and right and wrong. it is not lost on me that most of us have been brainwashed into thinking that america is always right in what we do- and that it is perfectly alright for the rest of the world to have to suck it up. whether it be forcing the rest of the world to do business in dollars to shore up our sinking economy or pre-emptive war in the middle east, we are supposed to be able to do what we want with impunity- and then whine when the rest of the world complains. we are also taught that jews and christians are good- and everyone else is bad. we are right and they are wrong. they worship false idols and america and israel worship the one true god. yeah. i won't go into religion per se today. so- america and israel can do no wrong and should never ever be criticized because hey- we are democracies. yeah. well. here's a news flash folks- we are capable of doing bad things and we are capable of being wrong. that doesn't give the rest of the world a free pass but i think that it is helpful to remember that both countries are made up of people- and i think few would argue that human beings of any stripe are susceptible to greed, corruption, etc. i think that if we take an objective look at foreign policies over the last decade or so- to keep it simple- that it hasn't been only muslims making poor decisions. it hasn't been just arabs who have terrorized and tortured people. it hasn't been just muslims using civilians as human shields. it hasn't been muslims at the heart of corruption scandals and adultery; rape and graft. no- it has been americans and israelis as well. i am not saying one is better than the other. i am saying that it isn't simply a game of blaming one over another. the current situation in the world was not created in a vacuum and it wasn't any one player to blame. it is important to criticize and object to america's policies and israel's policies as we criticize the islamic countries- because as we have seen recently- we are not above torture. we are not above treating people as less than. we are no better nor any worse than any other extremists out there. period.
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9 comments:
Good post. Frankly the world now hates us, because those rambo leaders think they can do no wrong, and the world is tired of it.
Bush claims to be against abortion, yet he orders the slaughter of thousands of Iraqi's, men, women and children.
Is there a difference?
I could not agree more. This is an excellent post.
excellent post.....thank you for your kind words and thoughts over at WS.....
You said it again, betmo. What exactly is human nature, I sometimes wonder?
We have a history of arming factions and countries....then letting our soldiers die from the guns and ammo we gave away, as that faction or country becomes our "enemy." That's all changing rapidly, as another poster noted. The world now hates our ass...and we no longer have the wherewithall to back up our brags. Pam has an excellent post somewhat along these lines as well.
Hey, Betmo, seems as though I'm back in the scene again. Closing my blog down impacted badly on me.
I've lowered my expectations for myself but I still care.
Hi Betmo,
You know something... if you had written this ten years ago, you would have been critized by many of your own.
The learning curve regarding the nature of the israel+u.s. political relationship has been steep.
It doesn`t take much to see that invasion, murder and theft are the foundations of both nations.
Not to say that the Brits were never warlike and larcenous, of course we were.
Eventually, the poor people tired of serving the rich, in their never ending attempt to rule the world.
Religion and war are what the rich give to the poor, both help to control and terrorise the masses.
America is waking up, that is certain. What happens next is actually up to the poor, as the government appears to have lost the support and trust of its people.
As a nation, we are very presumptuous. Perhaps this is the devolving factor when theocratic thinking (which believes that one's own path is the one true path) takes over government. But we presume to be right, without debate. And with that presumption, we are blind to the contradictory nature of our nation's actions.
And this, my friends, is what breeds apathy. Good post, Betmo.
very true, very good post.
when i lived in japan as a kid, it never occurred to me these people had every right to hate me for being an american. They were gracious and that allowed me to go on in my fantasy of what america was.
one day i woke up and thought "well jesus h. christ! was the a-bomb really necessary"?
as my 13-yr-old japanese american nephew said recently "how dare americans do that to japan!"
Dwight Eisenhower, concerned with world opinion said "...the Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing."
Yet we were taught in school to be proud of america's actions during WWII... we're always the heroes.
so lets go bomb iran for "developing nuclear weapons".
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