Insanity
Ask any of my close friends and they'll tell you I long ago accepted the paradigm that we live in a world framed with insanity: shoot someone in the face and the target should apologize, Jesus wants people to hate, the US can invade other countries because 'we can,' news about missing cute single white-girls trumps the deaths of hundreds or thousands, illegal immigrants are ruining our economy and taking the rest of the single white-girls, while corporations are clearly the guardians of the American working class, etc.. However, this past week, I have finally been pushed over the edge, where my comforting belief in the absurd world hit a new strained and surreal high. Our country has entered into a very serious and open discussion about the merits of torture as an instrument of our government. What the fuck?
It has been quite obvious our national character has been eroding for sometime; 9/11 allowed the Hounds of Demagoguery to run free and taint the national discussion with the spittle of hatred and fanaticism cloaked in the flag. If you did not blindly support the views of the Hounds, you were branded a traitor; if you asked questions, you were identified as someone who hated America. This was not a country suitable for rational thought. We have reached a cultural stage where we no longer question the morality of our own political actions.
I can remember growing up and believing my country was the "best country in the world." I realize, even at the time, I was somewhat naïve; no country functions as a purely moral and ethical entity. However, I and the rest of the world knew what my country stood for, the ideals of Superman: Truth, Justice, and the American Way. To most of the world, the US was the country that wore the white hat. We no longer stand for any of those things. Oddly enough, if you ask an American on the street, he or she will readily agree we still have all those qualities and more. This is a result of a very cleverly crafted manipulation of language and the inherent change in thought processes brought about by individuals like Frank Luntz and groups like the Heritage Foundation. If a US citizen can be arrested without cause and held indefinitely without charges, is that Justice? When the President and his administration can tell bold face lies to the nation and these lies result in thousands of deaths, is that Truth? The American Way now consists of waging perpetual war against anyone who dares hold their own interests above the interest of the United States (errrr... corporations), is that what we want the world to know us as? If we were to build a time machine and ferry someone from twenty years ago to the present, I'll wager they'd believe our country had been taken over by some Central American dictator's junta. They certainly wouldn't recognize what we've allowed ourselves to become.
Can you imagine the people of the United States openly discussing the merits of torture as a national policy twenty years ago? Or any other time in American history, for that matter? Americans need a reality check: our current situation isn't so scary and horrific that we need to totally reinvent ourselves as an amoral society. Think about it, do we really need to change who we are because an enemy numbering in the thousands wants to do us harm? It's time (errr, actually, it's way past due) to stop listening to the fear and hate mongers and realize that we are AMERICANS.
It has been quite obvious our national character has been eroding for sometime; 9/11 allowed the Hounds of Demagoguery to run free and taint the national discussion with the spittle of hatred and fanaticism cloaked in the flag. If you did not blindly support the views of the Hounds, you were branded a traitor; if you asked questions, you were identified as someone who hated America. This was not a country suitable for rational thought. We have reached a cultural stage where we no longer question the morality of our own political actions.
I can remember growing up and believing my country was the "best country in the world." I realize, even at the time, I was somewhat naïve; no country functions as a purely moral and ethical entity. However, I and the rest of the world knew what my country stood for, the ideals of Superman: Truth, Justice, and the American Way. To most of the world, the US was the country that wore the white hat. We no longer stand for any of those things. Oddly enough, if you ask an American on the street, he or she will readily agree we still have all those qualities and more. This is a result of a very cleverly crafted manipulation of language and the inherent change in thought processes brought about by individuals like Frank Luntz and groups like the Heritage Foundation. If a US citizen can be arrested without cause and held indefinitely without charges, is that Justice? When the President and his administration can tell bold face lies to the nation and these lies result in thousands of deaths, is that Truth? The American Way now consists of waging perpetual war against anyone who dares hold their own interests above the interest of the United States (errrr... corporations), is that what we want the world to know us as? If we were to build a time machine and ferry someone from twenty years ago to the present, I'll wager they'd believe our country had been taken over by some Central American dictator's junta. They certainly wouldn't recognize what we've allowed ourselves to become.
Can you imagine the people of the United States openly discussing the merits of torture as a national policy twenty years ago? Or any other time in American history, for that matter? Americans need a reality check: our current situation isn't so scary and horrific that we need to totally reinvent ourselves as an amoral society. Think about it, do we really need to change who we are because an enemy numbering in the thousands wants to do us harm? It's time (errr, actually, it's way past due) to stop listening to the fear and hate mongers and realize that we are AMERICANS.