WE COUNT FOR SOMETHING

Friday, December 21, 2012

SUICIDE BOMBERS or SUICIDE MASS KILLERS? WHICH IS BETTER?

No, I am not going to put up a picture.  If I did the great majority would fall into the scientific category of Caucasian, since we're talking about "white" people here, right?  Look it up.  You'll see.
In my lifetime we have gone from the Kamikaze to the Suicide Bomber  to the suicide by cop and to the mass murderer who takes as many as he/she can with the intent of not getting out alive.
Yes, I am writing this because of the Connecticut event.  The reason I am doing this is because it reflects upon our stability as a nation as compared to the stability of other first world nations in the world.  We are very violent as a population.  We are so fixated on fairness, that we find comfort in killing the killer; in jailing the recidivist for life; in overtaxing the retiree; in creating adversity between the employee and the employer.  On the other hand we have a complete disdain for fairness as we find comfort in underpaying immigrants, our own young people, women and the downtrodden.  We have no problem accepting bribes from big pharma, big oil, big finance, big comm, big construction and big Ag to the detriment of the general population.  We are the only first world country in the world where it is against the law to negotiate prescription drug prices as a country.
The United States is indeed a violent country.  It is a country where no one can be comfortable taking a stroll on city streets in the cool of the evening.  To make a point, I and my spouse have strolled the streets of Israel after 8 PM; in Rome after 9.  When I was younger I was unafraid of being out and about in Manila in the wee hours.  I was in a country where martial law had imposed a curfew, but never once was I shot at when out after curfew.  In this country (USA), if someone thinks you're up to no good, you're apt to be found face down in the gutter.
In this country it is dangerous to go to the theatre or even to school, at any level.
I have to admit that it is a challenge to live here in the USA with the level of cultural hatred that is the norm.  It seems that everyone hates more people that he/she loves.  I was in a situation just two days ago when I was in need of a long series of services from a lone clerk in a print shop.  I noticed a customer who was empty-handed and didn't seem like he needed much.  In front of him, I told the lone clerk to serve him since I knew that I was going to require more of her time.  She did.  He was quickly done with his transaction and left, passing in front of me without even grudgingly growling a "thank you."   I am a Caucasian.  But then again, is he?  I know one thing, he is an ass.  He is an image of our hatred - imbued, violent culture.
So,to all of you who are tempted to forward acrimonious, hatred-filled emails to me complaining about violent people from other parts of the globe stop and think of a couple of historical facts:  It is Christian Anglo-Saxons who forced the Cherokee to walk from Georgia to Oklahoma in the winter time; it is the Christian Caucasians who decimated the indigenous people from the midwest and the far west of what is now the United States; it is the Caucasians who separated the Japanese and took away all that they had only a few short 80 years ago.  I haven't even mentioned the horrendous effects of slavery; I haven't mentioned the cruelty visited upon women by denying them the right to vote for well over one century from the time of the ratification of the independence of this country.   The legacy of this thirst for imposing the will of the United States on the "other" populations is still with us.  We lead the world in mass murders.  We trail the world in the production of smart people.  We lead the world in the cost of education; we lead the world in the cost of health care but we are not competitive in life expectancy nor in educational achievement.
Before you call this the greatest country in the world in front of me, think twice.  I've seen a lot of happy people in many other countries.  One of the reasons why they are happy is because they don't have to worry about getting shot down on any given day.