After all this death and destruction, do you really think our actions advocate freedom?
Call me a bleeding heart liberal if you want. Call me a pussy who's afraid of a fight. Call me whatever you want. Our country is doing a terrible thing right now.
Today we woke to find that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed by a U.S. air strike yesterday in Iraq. A terrorist who lived by the sword and died by it. An evil man with no conscience. A religious extremist. I'm sure there were a million people around the world who cheered when they heard the news. I can't help but feel sorry for the man. Sure I disagree with the way he chose to express his beliefs and no one can condone actions like beheading an innocent man on tape, but I can understand why he was pissed off enough to choose his course of action.
Put yourself in his place because if you don't you're only above his level by the pull of a trigger. Try to imagine what a man in his position must be feeling and thinking. (He wasn't crazy either, so don't use that cop out.) He was a person with emotions just like you and a system of beliefs that had been created by the sum total of all of his experiences. Just like you. Perhaps the fact that there are so many people just like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is a sign our country is missing. If the sum total of the experiences of so many people have led them to the conclusion that violence is their only option, what does that say about the quality of life for a staggering amount of people?
This is what infuriates me most about Western society. I see it everywhere, including in myself. We and our fellow citizens lack empathy. We don't understand anyone but ourselves. We want nothing but happiness for ourselves. I see it everyday in people who exploit the Medicare system at the pharmacy where I work. I see it in people like my dad who vote Republican because "they don't want as much of my hard earned money." Fuck you dad. You drive an Infinity and have a pool in your backyard You can afford a few extra tax dollars for the benefit of the rest of the country. Congressman being driven by chauffeurs. Stock options for CEOs worth more than I'll make before I'm forty. Christian Fundamentalist in $600 suits. (What about the fundamentals of giving to the poor you self righteous hypocritical fuck?) American Fucking Idol. MTV DOESN'T EVEN PLAY VIDEOS FOR CHRIST SAKE!
I guess I shouldn't be so angry or surprised that we can't understand the "enemy combatants" we're fighting now. How can a country with all of the things I just mentioned understand living in a mud hut and walking a mile for a couple glasses of water from a dirty well? Oh well. They're just niggers and towel heads anyway. Let 'em rot, right? (Boy that line of reasoning sounds familiar. Who else lumps entire continents of people into groups undeserving of life? It sounds so similar to someone else's reasoning, but I just can't seem to put my finger on who...)
The best bumper sticker I ever did see read "It will be a great day indeed when schools get all the money they need and the military has to hold a bake sale to build bombs." I don't care how idyllic and naive that sounds or how awesome it is to watch the explosion of 500 lbs. bomb dropped from and F-16 take out a hut full of terrorists. Violence sucks.
Maybe in a hundred years people will be able to look back and say "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Donald Rumsfeld were equally evil people, but their confused power struggle is a constant reminder of why we gave up wars forever."
Today we woke to find that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed by a U.S. air strike yesterday in Iraq. A terrorist who lived by the sword and died by it. An evil man with no conscience. A religious extremist. I'm sure there were a million people around the world who cheered when they heard the news. I can't help but feel sorry for the man. Sure I disagree with the way he chose to express his beliefs and no one can condone actions like beheading an innocent man on tape, but I can understand why he was pissed off enough to choose his course of action.
Put yourself in his place because if you don't you're only above his level by the pull of a trigger. Try to imagine what a man in his position must be feeling and thinking. (He wasn't crazy either, so don't use that cop out.) He was a person with emotions just like you and a system of beliefs that had been created by the sum total of all of his experiences. Just like you. Perhaps the fact that there are so many people just like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is a sign our country is missing. If the sum total of the experiences of so many people have led them to the conclusion that violence is their only option, what does that say about the quality of life for a staggering amount of people?
This is what infuriates me most about Western society. I see it everywhere, including in myself. We and our fellow citizens lack empathy. We don't understand anyone but ourselves. We want nothing but happiness for ourselves. I see it everyday in people who exploit the Medicare system at the pharmacy where I work. I see it in people like my dad who vote Republican because "they don't want as much of my hard earned money." Fuck you dad. You drive an Infinity and have a pool in your backyard You can afford a few extra tax dollars for the benefit of the rest of the country. Congressman being driven by chauffeurs. Stock options for CEOs worth more than I'll make before I'm forty. Christian Fundamentalist in $600 suits. (What about the fundamentals of giving to the poor you self righteous hypocritical fuck?) American Fucking Idol. MTV DOESN'T EVEN PLAY VIDEOS FOR CHRIST SAKE!
I guess I shouldn't be so angry or surprised that we can't understand the "enemy combatants" we're fighting now. How can a country with all of the things I just mentioned understand living in a mud hut and walking a mile for a couple glasses of water from a dirty well? Oh well. They're just niggers and towel heads anyway. Let 'em rot, right? (Boy that line of reasoning sounds familiar. Who else lumps entire continents of people into groups undeserving of life? It sounds so similar to someone else's reasoning, but I just can't seem to put my finger on who...)
The best bumper sticker I ever did see read "It will be a great day indeed when schools get all the money they need and the military has to hold a bake sale to build bombs." I don't care how idyllic and naive that sounds or how awesome it is to watch the explosion of 500 lbs. bomb dropped from and F-16 take out a hut full of terrorists. Violence sucks.
Maybe in a hundred years people will be able to look back and say "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Donald Rumsfeld were equally evil people, but their confused power struggle is a constant reminder of why we gave up wars forever."