1:57 p.m. - 2001-09-21
Rant.
My partner at work says that tollerance in the U.S. is what allowed this attack to happen. That the red tape created by the ACLU and other civil rights advocates has tied the hands of the government agentcies that should have protected us. That our loose immigration policies and concern with the rights of non-Americans led us to a place where we are vunerable to attack from foriegn enemies.

My sister says that the U.S. foriegn pollicy of might makes right is our downfall. That the U.S. has no buisness in the affairs of the middle east and we have created these enemies through putting our own desires above the respect for other people world wide.

They come from very different political ideals, but a common thread is that they both think the U.S. has no business concerning ourselves with the middle east, either as humanitarian peace officers, or billy club wielding supercops, respectivly.

The way I see it, the U.S. has yet to give two fucks about the people outside of our borders unless it was in our best interests. We knew about Hilter and the Nazis, but we were not moved to action until Pearl Harbor. Was there a hell of alot of good gained by the U.S. ending WW II and stopping the Germans from reaching their goal? Fuck yes. Was that our purpose in entering that war? Well, it makes me feel pretty proud to pretend that, how 'bout you?

There have been reports of active genocide constantly in the media. I like it better when they call it ethnic cleansing. It is much easier for me to skim those stories in the paper when I am not forced to liken it to what happened to my own people in Europe at the hands of the Nazis.

I have read, in recent months, stories about the huge surgance in suicide rates among women in Afghanistan since the Taliban began imposing extreme Muslim rule there. That all these women who had been allowed education and careers until very recently, now were being stoned to death if a breeze blew up their sleeve and exposed their arm. Then I read my horoscope.

Two weeks ago, the president was talking about a fourteen year old pretending to be two years younger so he could cheat at baseball. Bin Laden existed then.

Two weeks ago we were all mourning because Aaliah died in a plane wreck. China has been executing upwards of 185 people a day, over 3000 since April. I bet some of those poor bastards could sing.

We live in a fucking dream world. It is not our fault that we were born into this life anymore than it is a Somalian's fault for their lot. Do we have a resposibility that comes with our luck? That's a personal choice. You are not allowing yourself to make that choice cleanly, whether it's fuck the world, or devoting your every last breath to helping others, if you are willing to grasp on to somthing to make that decision easy for you.

It's never black and white. The U.S. is not some evil empire. The U.S. is also a far cry from a freedom loving superhero. If you are here, you have benifitted from every single piece of dirt the U.S. has dumped on the heads of the world. Whether you agreed with it or not, you defacto supported it. Unless you can truly say that you act without your self interest in mind in every decicion you ever make, stop fooling youself. You are America. If you want to keep eating your hotdogs, drinking your cocktails, dancing in clubs, driving your car, going to college, buying your toys, and as cliche as it is, speaking your fucking mind, The U.S. has to retaliate.

We can hide it behind a mask of fighting for freedom the world round. We can say it is to help the poor victims of the Taliban in Afghanistan. We can scream an eye for an eye and avenge the people of NYC. We can even be disgusted and protest the whole thing to make ourselves feel removed from it, but if the Taliban takes over the middle east, they will have control of the atom bomb. Then it will be a real moot point as to who is the rightest.

I am sick of kidding myself. It's all bullshit. I have directly supported the exploitation of people, the destruction of the environment and the development of a media state with my lifstyle, whether it jibes with my personal philosophy or not. So have you, you bastards. You're not better than anyone you point your finger at. Things are not the way you wish they are, and no matter how hard you wish, they never will be. So go ahead and enjoy your dream, but realize it is a dream, or continue to be shocked when someone sees fit to pull you out of it because it interferes with theirs.

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