Patriotism is the Virtue of the Vicious
Sunday night Osama Bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces. The past two days since have been a frightening experience for me. Seeing the true nature of people around me and just how disgusting human beings in general can be. And as much as I'd love to call all these people out on their hypocrisy and evil, it's not worth it and not my place. Even if I want it to be my place.
Even more hilarious are the amount of "christians" I've seen cheering the death. People who are obviously not too informed about their beliefs, since Jesus himself would not be seen in the streets cheering someone's death or post a Facebook status update about it. Yet, these people in their minds really believe they are justified in their joy.
Possibly for the most frightening reason of all; something that both offends and terrifies me. These people really believe God is behind and fully supports the U.S. Even my own father believes that. It is as ridiculous notion as anything the Al Qaeda believed in when it executed the attacks on September 11th. But there's no talking to people that believe this notion because it is so engrained into their sense of patriotism and belief system that to tell them otherwise is to shake their very foundations.
The new guy at work is a Marine. And the Boss and his partner are both gun-toting NRA members. The three of them were cheering the events here yesterday. The new guy had even been out drinking all night in "celebration" the night before. It made me afraid that at anytime one of them would walk in here with a gun and blow my fucking head off. If the day came when they rounded up all the fags to put them into the gas chambers, I have no doubt one of these three would be the one to hand me over. That is how deep I believe the blinding roots of patriotism grow... that a person would turn on their own family, friends or coworkers and send them to their death.
I have said it long ago and reiterate it again; I do not believe in the self-righteous, superior stance of the United States. I do not salute and worship a flag. I do not consider us the best civilization has to offer or better than anyone else on the planet... not even better than some tribe still living in tents in the Amazon. Patriotism is brainwashing. And once these people are under its spell they become the mob. It truly scares me down to my soul.
We are not the "greatest" country on Earth. If any of these people read a history book they would know all of this has happened before. That kingdoms have risen and fallen for thousands of years. And every system of government has emerged and faltered. Words like "freedom" are tossed around and people have no idea of the real meaning of it. We are programmed from the minute we are born through our schooling and more so now by the Internet and television.
It could truly be possible that people simply cannot think for themselves now. They cannot see the bigger picture. They do not know any better. The cannot contemplate or conceptualize anything other than what their programming allows them to. People like that are deadly.
So as these events unfolded I read about celebrations. I saw countless status updates on Facebook from people I know cheering about the death. Some of these people are ones who would give me shit about my negative attitude over the years. And here they were ready to dance around a pile of burning Koran's with Bin Laden's body on top of it.
They believe Bin Laden was more than just a man but some kind of embodiment of evil. In the same way Hitler has become the poster child for past evil. Someone that cannot be humanized because the simplistic mind of most people cannot come to grips with the fact he was just a man. That in some form we all have the capacity for evil. And if events in our lives went a certain way, we may be the ones ending someone else's life and feeling it was justified. Certainly cheering someone's death is close to it on the scale.
And this is something people are teaching their children; this hatred. Few people I've talked to seem to have any conscience on the matter. Perhaps they really have no conscience at all. They're cheering for blood like the Roman mob. And they feel completely justified in doing it. Which I have to say over and over again frightens the crap out of me because it shocks me so much.
Bin Laden was only a man. He orchestrated an awful event. But, plenty of Americans have orchestrated equally as awful events in history. Only difference is, we were programmed to worship those people as heroes. And we have been programmed to think of Bin Laden as a monster.
His death is sad because it solves nothing. It fixes nothing. It returns nothing. It only appeases awful, bloodthirsty people who should really take some time to do some soul searching and see what kind of people they are.
As for myself; at least I know who I am. At least I understand my hate. I know why I lash out. I see where the feelings come from. I am no saint. But I have a conscience somewhere in me. And it feels sour about everything I've seen.
Even more hilarious are the amount of "christians" I've seen cheering the death. People who are obviously not too informed about their beliefs, since Jesus himself would not be seen in the streets cheering someone's death or post a Facebook status update about it. Yet, these people in their minds really believe they are justified in their joy.
Possibly for the most frightening reason of all; something that both offends and terrifies me. These people really believe God is behind and fully supports the U.S. Even my own father believes that. It is as ridiculous notion as anything the Al Qaeda believed in when it executed the attacks on September 11th. But there's no talking to people that believe this notion because it is so engrained into their sense of patriotism and belief system that to tell them otherwise is to shake their very foundations.
The new guy at work is a Marine. And the Boss and his partner are both gun-toting NRA members. The three of them were cheering the events here yesterday. The new guy had even been out drinking all night in "celebration" the night before. It made me afraid that at anytime one of them would walk in here with a gun and blow my fucking head off. If the day came when they rounded up all the fags to put them into the gas chambers, I have no doubt one of these three would be the one to hand me over. That is how deep I believe the blinding roots of patriotism grow... that a person would turn on their own family, friends or coworkers and send them to their death.
I have said it long ago and reiterate it again; I do not believe in the self-righteous, superior stance of the United States. I do not salute and worship a flag. I do not consider us the best civilization has to offer or better than anyone else on the planet... not even better than some tribe still living in tents in the Amazon. Patriotism is brainwashing. And once these people are under its spell they become the mob. It truly scares me down to my soul.
We are not the "greatest" country on Earth. If any of these people read a history book they would know all of this has happened before. That kingdoms have risen and fallen for thousands of years. And every system of government has emerged and faltered. Words like "freedom" are tossed around and people have no idea of the real meaning of it. We are programmed from the minute we are born through our schooling and more so now by the Internet and television.
It could truly be possible that people simply cannot think for themselves now. They cannot see the bigger picture. They do not know any better. The cannot contemplate or conceptualize anything other than what their programming allows them to. People like that are deadly.
So as these events unfolded I read about celebrations. I saw countless status updates on Facebook from people I know cheering about the death. Some of these people are ones who would give me shit about my negative attitude over the years. And here they were ready to dance around a pile of burning Koran's with Bin Laden's body on top of it.
They believe Bin Laden was more than just a man but some kind of embodiment of evil. In the same way Hitler has become the poster child for past evil. Someone that cannot be humanized because the simplistic mind of most people cannot come to grips with the fact he was just a man. That in some form we all have the capacity for evil. And if events in our lives went a certain way, we may be the ones ending someone else's life and feeling it was justified. Certainly cheering someone's death is close to it on the scale.
And this is something people are teaching their children; this hatred. Few people I've talked to seem to have any conscience on the matter. Perhaps they really have no conscience at all. They're cheering for blood like the Roman mob. And they feel completely justified in doing it. Which I have to say over and over again frightens the crap out of me because it shocks me so much.
Bin Laden was only a man. He orchestrated an awful event. But, plenty of Americans have orchestrated equally as awful events in history. Only difference is, we were programmed to worship those people as heroes. And we have been programmed to think of Bin Laden as a monster.
His death is sad because it solves nothing. It fixes nothing. It returns nothing. It only appeases awful, bloodthirsty people who should really take some time to do some soul searching and see what kind of people they are.
As for myself; at least I know who I am. At least I understand my hate. I know why I lash out. I see where the feelings come from. I am no saint. But I have a conscience somewhere in me. And it feels sour about everything I've seen.