When did the bad guys realize they were the bad guys? Did the Japanese or the Germans realize they were the evil ones during WWII? Is it like the movies when the antagonist knows he/she is the bad one? When the Romans were conquering the world as they knew it did they think they were evil? With the American military based in over 180 countries throughout the world I am beginning to wonder who the bad guy really is? When I was a kid it was easy. The Soviets were the bad guys and we were the good guys. The cowboys were the good guys and the Indians were the bad guys. Now as I learn more about propaganda and how it really works and as I study the history of the defeated as well as the victors I'm beginning to finally see the light. The Indians were not the bad guys and the Soviets were convinced we were the bad guys. I remember after the fall of the USSR I was watching some cable news and a former Soviet who was in charge of propaganda came on and said something to the effect that his country was really proficient at administering propaganda on their people but that the US was the king of propaganda. He said in the USSR the people had some idea of the propaganda being used against them but the US had the ability to completely fool their people. In other words, the US citizens were convinced that propaganda was for other people in other countries and that somehow they were immune to it. That was/is the genius of the US version of propaganda.
Maybe just maybe we are the bad guys. We have more nuclear weapons than all other countries combined. We critique and punish other countries for trying to obtain nuclear weapons when we continue to develop new and improved weapon systems. We are the only country to use the bomb...TWICE. We created are own rules for what is considered torture and ignore international law. We use the UN when it's convenient for us and ignore it and criticize it when we don't agree with it. We have suspended Habeas Corpus when it's inconvenient. We claim to be spreading freedom and democracy when so many people in our own country feel slighted. We speak out against genocide but wiped out the Native people of this land and claimed this continent as our own. We gained a vast amount of wealth by participating in slavery for 350 years on this continent and scoff at the idea of reparations. We claim there is equality in this land but our prisons are full of minorities, our women were shot down when trying to pass an equal rights amendment, and we're STILL arguing whether or not beating/killing a homosexual is actually a hate crime. We invaded a country who was not only a very weak country in it's own region but never actually threatened us or attempted to attack us. We treated our own people in one of our proudest American cities like enemies of the state when they were at their weakest moment...and people are still waiting to return to their homes. Finally, we claim to take the sick, poor, and unwanted unless they don't look like us and they come from south of the border.
We have lost our way or maybe we were never on our way, somebody just told us that and we bought it. I can already hear the love it or leave crowed piping up so I'll finish by saying my peace. I love the idea of America and what we all claim it to be. I hate what we actually have become but to leave would be easy for you "patriots." I'm staying because if I leave and others who actually question our motives leave all of you will not only fuck up the US but with your logic you will fuck up the rest of the planet as well.
Quit drinking the Kool Aid and start reading authors other than Rush, Sean, or Bill.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Men nearing the end?
As I sit and watch NFL football I begin to realize what is wrong with American society...MEN.
I grew up watching football and playing a bit of it as well. It has become our national pastime, an institution if you will. This morning I turned on the TV and decided to treat myself and watch the game after some exercise earlier in the day. Usually it's torture to watch my Cardinals but I figure they're playing Washington so we may have a shot. During the pregame B.S. I caught a quick glimpse of the Washington Redskins marching band. Yes, apparently the Redskins have a band. I'm not sure if it is a full marching band but there were some guys playing trumpets and marching along the field. What caught my eye was the fact that these men were in full head dress and dressed like native chiefs. The men racially appeared to be anything but native. What is amazing is that it is 2007 and we STILL have a team in our nations capital call the Washington Redskins. What's even more disturbing is that we still dress up people to march around a field in some Halloween costumes to entertain men. Why don't we have the Atlanta Africans while we're at it. We can dress up some guys in black face and give them loin cloths to wear. Maybe we could have the Phoenix Mexicans and give them sombreros and thick mustaches. We seem to love false history and stereotypes.
I criticize men for this because men created teams like the Redskins and the Cleveland Indians. Look at the Indians logo sometime, it's fucking ridiculous. Next time you're chanting at a Braves or Florida Seminoles game think about how absurd it is. Nothing like mocking the faith of a culture from whom you stole their land and conducted genocide against. Better yet, you're doing it at an athletic event and you named your god damn team after them.
Being a man it gets a bit old observing the ignorance of other men. That's why it was refreshing to see a few years back a group of Native students in Colorado flip the script on the man. They decided to name their intramural basketball team The Fightin' Whites. Everythings gonna be all white was their slogan. They even had a couple of mascots. One was a Yosemite Sam look a like and the other was a 1950's clean cut white man. I thought it was a brilliant move. Maybe during half time they could mock Christianity.
Men are oblivious because they can be. It's a man's world and with that comes privilege. The privilege is that we are rarely questioned about our choices and there are a different set of standards we have to follow. In many cases this is a white man's world. Don't get me wrong, all men have privilege but white men have a whole other level of privilege. There is a reason we don't see a team called the Fightin' Whites. Sure we have the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame but let me quickly point out the obvious. First, Notre Dame is a Christian university. Christianity is the dominant faith in this country. It is a Catholic university which is the largest sect of Christianity. Both of these affiliations come with privilege. The mascot is a leprechaun/shamrock, a fictional character mind you, who represents the Irish. The Irish were at the bottom of the food chain when arriving in America but like all other European immigrants they eventually assimilated into the white race. Obviously 43 white male presidents in a row and a history of law makers and laws created for white men by white men has given us more than just a few privileges. So when you try to compare the Fighting Irish with the Redskins it becomes pathetic.
The problem with all of this is the fact that men are really no longer needed. We have enough sperm frozen to last generations, so that really eliminates the main basic need for men. Think of all the major problems in the world. Most of them can be attributed to men one way or another. It's not like women would need protecting if men were gone.
I believe that nature has a way of selecting what it needs and eliminating what it doesn't need or what is harmful to nature itself. If men continue to be the problem it wouldn't surprise me if the end of men is near. Problems like war, prison rates, crime, violence, pollution, genocide, murder, rape, hunger, and practically every other major issue can be directly traced back to men.
Well boys it's time to pony up and become real men. The men we are portraying now have obvious flaws. What we are doing is not working. We are broken and we may want to start listening to women. My wife is a brilliant women and has more strength than any person I know. I have tried to listen to her and I have learned about what it takes to be a decent human being. So quit worrying about what your boys think and start listening to the women in your lives. Unfortunately most of us have convinced each other that we're superior to women but like everything else up to this point we were wrong.
I grew up watching football and playing a bit of it as well. It has become our national pastime, an institution if you will. This morning I turned on the TV and decided to treat myself and watch the game after some exercise earlier in the day. Usually it's torture to watch my Cardinals but I figure they're playing Washington so we may have a shot. During the pregame B.S. I caught a quick glimpse of the Washington Redskins marching band. Yes, apparently the Redskins have a band. I'm not sure if it is a full marching band but there were some guys playing trumpets and marching along the field. What caught my eye was the fact that these men were in full head dress and dressed like native chiefs. The men racially appeared to be anything but native. What is amazing is that it is 2007 and we STILL have a team in our nations capital call the Washington Redskins. What's even more disturbing is that we still dress up people to march around a field in some Halloween costumes to entertain men. Why don't we have the Atlanta Africans while we're at it. We can dress up some guys in black face and give them loin cloths to wear. Maybe we could have the Phoenix Mexicans and give them sombreros and thick mustaches. We seem to love false history and stereotypes.
I criticize men for this because men created teams like the Redskins and the Cleveland Indians. Look at the Indians logo sometime, it's fucking ridiculous. Next time you're chanting at a Braves or Florida Seminoles game think about how absurd it is. Nothing like mocking the faith of a culture from whom you stole their land and conducted genocide against. Better yet, you're doing it at an athletic event and you named your god damn team after them.
Being a man it gets a bit old observing the ignorance of other men. That's why it was refreshing to see a few years back a group of Native students in Colorado flip the script on the man. They decided to name their intramural basketball team The Fightin' Whites. Everythings gonna be all white was their slogan. They even had a couple of mascots. One was a Yosemite Sam look a like and the other was a 1950's clean cut white man. I thought it was a brilliant move. Maybe during half time they could mock Christianity.
Men are oblivious because they can be. It's a man's world and with that comes privilege. The privilege is that we are rarely questioned about our choices and there are a different set of standards we have to follow. In many cases this is a white man's world. Don't get me wrong, all men have privilege but white men have a whole other level of privilege. There is a reason we don't see a team called the Fightin' Whites. Sure we have the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame but let me quickly point out the obvious. First, Notre Dame is a Christian university. Christianity is the dominant faith in this country. It is a Catholic university which is the largest sect of Christianity. Both of these affiliations come with privilege. The mascot is a leprechaun/shamrock, a fictional character mind you, who represents the Irish. The Irish were at the bottom of the food chain when arriving in America but like all other European immigrants they eventually assimilated into the white race. Obviously 43 white male presidents in a row and a history of law makers and laws created for white men by white men has given us more than just a few privileges. So when you try to compare the Fighting Irish with the Redskins it becomes pathetic.
The problem with all of this is the fact that men are really no longer needed. We have enough sperm frozen to last generations, so that really eliminates the main basic need for men. Think of all the major problems in the world. Most of them can be attributed to men one way or another. It's not like women would need protecting if men were gone.
I believe that nature has a way of selecting what it needs and eliminating what it doesn't need or what is harmful to nature itself. If men continue to be the problem it wouldn't surprise me if the end of men is near. Problems like war, prison rates, crime, violence, pollution, genocide, murder, rape, hunger, and practically every other major issue can be directly traced back to men.
Well boys it's time to pony up and become real men. The men we are portraying now have obvious flaws. What we are doing is not working. We are broken and we may want to start listening to women. My wife is a brilliant women and has more strength than any person I know. I have tried to listen to her and I have learned about what it takes to be a decent human being. So quit worrying about what your boys think and start listening to the women in your lives. Unfortunately most of us have convinced each other that we're superior to women but like everything else up to this point we were wrong.
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