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and other short critiques of rampant, mindless patriotism in contemporary
America.
Written 10/4/2015
American Exceptionalism?
A Shining City on a Hill? I want to cringe whenever I hear this
nonsense.
This is one of several trite, too often repeated cliché's;
the belief of which keeps Americans from achieving true greatness
and social justice, domestically and abroad.
American Exceptionalism?
I don't know where to begin to debunk this myth. Should I start
with over 300 years of slaughter of native American peoples and
their continuing mistreatment and marginalization? Or perhaps the
89+ years of African slavery (only counting from 1776 to 1865) and
the continued racism and racial inequality of African Americans?
Or perhaps we should discuss the colonization and occupation of
sovereign island nations like Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico and the
brutal subjugation of their people? Maybe we should talk about the
internment of Japanese during WWII, or the mistreatment of non-white
and non-Christian peoples from the beginning of America to the present
day. Of course, no discussion of American Exceptionalism would be
complete without even mentioning the United State's continuing
military and covert actions in the middle east to protect it's
oil interests, and the human misery that results from these endeavors.
What about United State's activities in Latin America, especially
through the United Fruit Company?
Certainly we must include
domestic issues like the blaring wealth inequality and lack of Universal
National Healthcare that certainly make America exceptional in the
developed world.
If you study American history objectively
(this essentially means outside of American public schools and the
other institutions it influences) you will see that 'American Exceptionalism'
actually pertains to these two things:
1. The United State's
spending on it's military compared to the rest of the world
and It's subsequent
use of military force both overtly and covertly to take what
it wants from smaller, weaker countries.
2. It's dominance
in propaganda, especially
Hollywood movies that make their way abroad and promote the
American way of life and the supposed superiority of American culture
and ideals; both to Americans who largely have no basis for comparison,
and to peoples in the developing world who are unable to discern
these glossy images, as slick marketing for a specific product:
The concept of American Exceptionalism.
America after WWII
Written 1/11/2012
War is such a big part
of our economy; I'm not sure we would be able to have become
the super power we are today without it. I'm not just talking about
the obvious defense contractors making money during war.
Think about our manufacturing sector, especially cars. In 1945
at the end of WWII, Europe and Japan's industrial infrastructure
was a pile of rubble, literally. We manufactured and exported everything
to the rest of the world and our economy grew by leaps and bounds.
Fast forward 50 years later, and Europe and Japan have totally
rebuilt their manufacturing sectors (not to mention china) and are
competing with us head on to manufacture everything. We no longer
have that advantage of being the only major factory nation still
standing after the great war. America's modern day prosperity is
directly related to WWII, and it is wearing away fast as we lose
our dominance in manufacturing.
America's collapse has already
started and the oddly authoritarian legislation (for a nation that
talks so much about freedom and democracy) like
NDAA 2012 and
SOPA
are just the death throws of a government that is losing power and
control both in the world community, and domestically as people
discover that our brand of capitalism is not sustainable; as is
our 'American Dream'.
Not everyone in the world wants to
emigrate to America
Written 3/20/2012
Americans still think they live in the greatest country on earth
because many of them have never been outside of America and don't
know about the governments or peoples of other countries.
We are all told as children that people from all over the world
are trying to get into America, but that is not entirely true anymore.
Maybe people from 3 rd world countries are trying to get in America,
by any means; but how many Australian, or French, or German, or
Norwegian or Swedish, or Japanese illegal immigrants have you heard
about?
Bottom line: America is better than Mexico, Guatemala,
Columbia and the other places where illegal immigrants tend to come
from, but not better than most of Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada
and other countries where America hasn't seen large numbers of immigrants
from since the 1930's.
Pawns in a game of Billionaire's club
chess
Written 2/13/2012
As much as we want to believe in freedom and democracy and all
that crap they filled our heads with about America being the greatest
country on earth when we were in grade school; We are all just pawns
in a huge game of billionaire’s club chess.
The average American
is too stupid or too brainwashed to understand a fraction of what
we are discussing here. Sometimes I envy them, in their blissful
ignorance; believing in 'absolutes' like truth, justice, the American
way of life; and all the other ideology that comforts them in their
dreamy, consumer driven, air conditioned, suburban lives.
How simple and blissful their lives must be, to go to sleep
every night believing in all the American fairy tales; firmly believing
that their children will be better off than they were: if America
just continues fighting the good fight; with
Sarah Palin leading the
cheer 'All we need is our Guns,
our God and our Constitution!'
On Domestic Surveillance and Terrorism
Written 1/19/2015
New from the NSA - Internal Patriot Discovery
Apparently this
mass surveillance did nothing to stop the
attacks
in Paris or Boston, however the surveillance was successfully
used to
track, infiltrate and counter
Occupy
Wall Street and other
legitimate and peaceful social movements.
Apparently
legitimate social movements that advocate a more fair and equitable
society, shine a harsh light on the limitless greed of the 1% this
is the real threat to our corporate overlords; who virtually 'own'
our government. I would venture to say that the real target of this
surveillance is in fact
preventing a popular uprising or social movement that would seek
to promote a more equitable society, that would result in a loss
of power and influence for the super rich and corporate interests.
'Terrorism' the stated target of
this mass surveillance scares a lot of people, but statistically
the facts are; you are more likely to be
killed by police in America if you are an African American male
between the ages of 12 and 45, than you are of being killed by some
radical Muslim Jihadi in a Boston or Paris style attack.
On first glance you may think this is an unrelated, non-relevant
statistic, but this statistic is extremely relevant and is a direct
consequence of this social and economic injustice, and the growing
income inequality in America. There is no question that we will
see more surveillance, more oppression and more violence perpetrated
by our own government against 'We the People' until the real problem
in America today is addressed: The rich getting richer, poor getting
poorer, and the middle class shrinking in terms of finances, and
more importantly in terms of political influence as a direct result
of the 'Citizens
United' ruling; which essentially rules that Money equals Free
Speech; and other legislation that increases the amount of money
that the rich and corporate entities can give to political candidates.
Additionally, regarding Islamic terrorism: do not forget that
that the most virulent and deadly Islamic radicals and terror organizations
all seem to come from regions that have large amounts of oil and/or
other natural resources (Lithium used for batteries); and that all
of these affected regions have a long history of being been brutally
colonized or otherwise brutally molested by western powers. Do we
want peace in the middle east and an end to radical Islamic terror?
Then we need to develop and deploy alternative energy that can displace
fossil fuels; the technology exists, research it!
You don't need Social Media in order
to communicate to others.
Written
1/3/2019
Shoshana Zuboff on surveillance capitalism | VPRO Documentary
Ignore the intro that describes Ms. Zuboff as 'the Karl
Marx of our time'.
To be wary of 'Surveillance Capitalism'
and 'Big Brother' is not a Marxist principle, it should be considered
common sense to any rational person.
This documentary
outlines a good reason why you need to stop carrying a mobile
phone / internet connected device all the time, and why you
need to stop using social media to communicate with family and
friends.
Another public health issue that the community should
concern itself with is Internet / Social Media Addiction and
Overuse. I think there are quite enough of recent news stories
and credible studies of how addictive and damaging social media
is, especially for children; and how these platforms were designed
by psychologists to exploit the human need for group approval
and such.
I'm no expert on community, but it would seem
that it is pretty difficult to have a community that is healthy
and vibrant without a large amount of communication and sharing
of ideas, and I'm not suggesting that people should go back
to the 'dark ages' of 'snail mail' and pen & ink.
The goal of this is not necessarily related, or limited
to privacy concerns, it's more about piece of mind, freedom
from being marketed to or enticed to buy stuff you don't really
want or need, and the resulting financial stress associated
with these corporate entities exploiting our weaknesses as human
beings.
Social media platforms, especially Facebook are
information gathering platforms for marketers (among other entities)
that not only gather massive amounts of our personal data, that
we so willing provide to them; but more importantly; they also
meticulously catalog and organize that information to build
a detailed profile of us all, that can be used very effectively;
both overtly, and covertly to make us buy things that we would
not normally buy, or think the way they want us to think.
The power of information today, does not lay alone in the
collection of that information; but in the cataloging and organization
of that information into a certain format whereby context, shades
of meaning, and human emotion can be easily parsed and gauged
by automated artificial intelligence programs.
You can
send the same information to a small circle of friends by e-mail,
with almost the same convenience as posting it on Facebook,
but in sending the information by e-mail you deny much of the
context and meaning of your communiqué to the marketers. Additionally,
when you are face to face with your friends, you should make
up new words or word usages to use during your online communications,
to further frustrate the efforts of marketers who will undoubtedly
glean the contents of your e-mails to tailor the advertisements
they send you, especially if you use a free e-mail service like
yahoo, gmail, hotmail, etc.
Does anyone still have faith in
'our' Government?
Written 7/21/2018
Why do we trust that the United States Government will serve
'our' interests?
We are fooling ourselves if we think
the government is ours, as in 'We
the People'; it never was about 'We the people'. The concept
of 'We the people' still may have been reasonably plausible
before
Citizens United, but not today, several years after this
watershed supreme court ruling.
The Citizen's United
ruling did not cause America to be run by, and serve the
interests of the largest corporations and wealthiest individuals;
it just officially affirmed the legality of the blatant influence
peddling, and outright buying of elected officials in back room
deals that had been going on throughout this nation's history.
So you can rest assured that any action that the US Government
takes, both domestically and anywhere around the world; (usually
with the assistance of the CIA and others in the Intelligence
Community) is for the benefit of the largest corporations
and richest individuals that pay the most money 'for political
speech' that is able to successfully manufacture the consent
of the American people.
Nayirah testimony - was a false testimony given before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus on October 10, 1990 by a 15-year-old girl. This testimony was cited numerous times by United States senators and President George H. W. Bush in their rationale to back Kuwait in the Gulf War. In 1992
Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky The 5 Filters of the Mass Media Machine The propaganda model for the manufacture of public consent describes five editorially distorting filters, which are applied to the reporting of news in mass communications media
It's not just about the obvious wars of plunder that need
political support, or the modification or enactment of laws
that favor the rich and big business at the expense of everyone
else. Even when the government does something that appears to
help us
'Tax cattle'Tax Cattle –
that's us, the rank and file taxpayers and middle class
consumers who pay the bulk of the taxes in this country and
whom the government & our corporate overlords treat very
much like a rancher or farmer treats a herd of milking cows
or wool bearing sheep.
in some way, like bring down the barriers of racism &
xenophobia, or address the discriminatory treatment of some
minority or other; it is done with the ulterior motive of maximizing
profits for the corporation, not the actual improvement of the
conditions of our society for us tax cattle; any improvement
in society for us is merely incidental to their interests of
profit and maintaining political power.
Look at
Plessy
v. Ferguson; this landmark
court case didn't
come about because 1890's corporate America had an epiphany
that 'racism and racial segregation' was wrong an morally reprehensible
to a country who's founding documents speak of 'All men being
created equal'. NO, this court case was pushed all the way to
the US Supreme Court
because the railroad companies stood to maximize profits by
being able to run fewer passenger cars on their trains, instead
of 'separate but equal' cars for blacks and whites.
Same
thing with this contemporary issue of transgender bathrooms:
To our government this isn't some biblical question, or moral
question, or a question equality & discrimination, it's
a question of profit maximization for corporations who stand
to save money by constructing and maintaining fewer bathrooms
in all of their facilities and real properties; and it is on
that basis, that this issue will eventually become the law of
the land.
'Your' government doesn't give two shits about
you, or your issues unless those issues can be expressed in
terms of maximizing profits for the rich and powerful corporations
who own and rule this country.
9/21/2020 Clarification
on Gender:
There are only 2 (two) actual, real
Genders; Male and Female.
Any notion or personal belief, that puts forth the idea that
there are more than two biological genders; can not be supported
with empirical evidence, therefore it is not science, but
religious doctrine
. As per the 1st amendment of the United States Constitution,
we are all guaranteed religious freedom in this country. Accordingly
I am free to reject the religious doctrine you are attempting
to inject into the public and government spheres, therefore
I will not recognize your claims of non-binary gender and any
attempt to force those beliefs on me will be dismissed as unwanted
religious proselytizing. This is no different to Muslims trying
to institute sharia law as the law of the land, or Christians
trying to place the 10 commandments on government property,
or enforcing
prayer in public schools.
And in regard to the 'Cancelation'
of J.K. Rowling and
the burning of her Harry Potter books because of her
views on Gender: Who are the Nazis now? I'm not a fan of
Rowling's work, but this makes me want to go out and buy all
of her books, because their value is likely to increase due
to future scarcity.
For those who do not recall the controversy
with J.K. Rowling & the Harry Potter book series, here is
a brief synopsis:
Several years back, perhaps in 2007, the
Harry Potter books were in the peak of popularity among elementary
school age children. J.K. Rowling was simultaneously being both
praised for writing books that encouraged children to read,
and being
attacked by the Christian Religious Right (mostly Evangelicals)
for introducing children to Occult themes in literature. It
would appear that J.K. Rowling allied herself with the Liberal
(woke) Left as a defense against the Evangelical Christians
who were trying to drum up support to have Harry Potter banned
from schools and otherwise publicly demonized as being reading
material unfit for child consumption.
Quote of the day regarding the 'Cancellation'
of J.K. Rowling by the 'Woke
Mob' -
'There’s no better cautionary tale that
bending to the mob won’t ultimately save you from the mob.
I remember cringing when Rowling announced, well after the
fact, that Dumbledore was gay. I felt embarrassed for her, engaging
in such an obvious act of pandering.
Now here we are,
the same woman celebrated for celebrating homosexuality is summarily
canceled because she dared speak
A) her opinion and
B) the truth about .01% of the population.
Not hate,
not genocide, just words.
It’s easier to stand up to
the mob when you have a billion dollar cushion to ease the blow
if you’re canceled, but I hope even working class Joe’s will
do so all the same. These people [The 'Woke Mob'] are psychopaths.'
- Rottemeister
9/25/2020 Quote of the day:
'I never cared if you were 'gay' until you
started shoving it in my face, and the faces of my children.
I never cared what color you were, until you started blaming
my race for your problems.
I never cared about your political
affiliation until you started to condemn me for mine.
I never
cared where you were born until you wanted to erase my history
and blame my ancestors for your current problems.
I never
cared if you were well-off or poor, until you said you were
discriminated against, when I was promoted because I worked
harder.
I never cared if your beliefs were different from
mine, until you said my beliefs were wrong.
NOW I CARE!
My patience and tolerance are gone.
I'm not alone in feeling
this way, there are millions of us who do and we have had enough!'
- Author unknown
12/18/2020 Apparently
The New England Journal of Medicine
''One of the most prestigious medical magazines in the world''
has decided to ''get woke'' and substitute actual science and
sound medical principles with far left politics by
seeking to eliminate recording gender on birth certificates
of newborn babies. Between this and their collaboration
with the ongoing politically created
COVID-19 scam;
the medical establishment is losing their professional credibility
and impartiality.
Now, I don't know if I fully agree with this, but it is an interesting theory to ponder; regarding the actual nature and role of contemporary government in these United States of America:
'It is important to always bear
in mind that those calling themselves 'government' or 'the
state' are nothing but the dominant crime cartel in a given
area. They have no democratic mandate, they do not serve
the people. Their role is to keep populations enslaved and
working for the tiny bunch of ultra-rich criminals at the
top of the global pyramid. They do this by psychological
warfare, the dissemination of MSM [Main Stream Media] fake
news, distorted education, economic suppression and physical
violence against their populations.' -
MPJones
However, I think George Carlin expressed a very similar theory, and in a more humorous fashion when he spoke about the 'American Dream'
