Letters to the Editor
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Kovie
Very good on your part. After I clicked the post button I realized I meant to say the Sandanistas. Then I even checked to make sure on Wikipedia. Alas, it wasn't my first error. I figured that I wouldn't get caught and would let it pass rather than post another comment, saying regrettably, that I made an error.
You know, after living in Central America, I found that most of the people I met were remarkably civil. On a day to day basis they laughed a lot, were enthusiastically friendly, helpful, etc. Quite different from living in the states where everyone appears to be the "rat race." Everyone, it seems, has an attitude of "screw you, man."
The Middle East was also very pleasant to live in, with hardly any crime, and people very polite. It boggles my mind that the Arabs that I happened to be friends with, would ever be terrorists. They always appeared to be so "laid-back" without a care in the world. Allah would take care of everything! "Inshallah!"
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antineocon
No prob, I figured that it was an honest mistake, as no one who holds the kinds of opinions that you've expressed here who's lived in Central America could possibly view the Contras as the good guys. People who get their support from thugs like Ollie North cannot be, by definition, good guys.
And yes, being from the mideast myself and having spent some time in Europe, travelling and staying with friends, it never ceases to amaze me how uncivilized so many Americans can be. Not so much by being overtly rude, as by being tense, rushed and out of tune with the tempo of everyday life. De Tocqueville remarked upon it 160 years ago so clearly it's not a new thing or technology-based. This is one of the reasons that I'm not really that bothered by the so-called "alien invasion" from down south. Once the recent arrivals get integrated into US society--and they will--it's hopefully going to improve, diversify and "mellow out" the US.
Insh'Allah.
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Better late then never
Probably because there has been little said from this perspective I want to chime in.
I have the notion that yes our government has been corrupt for however-long. There is also a troublesome but demonstrable fact that many Americans do not have the greatest capacity for the independent thought that is necessary to critically sift through and analyze the multitude of data available and thus understand the deep duplicity of our elected officials. Many rely on feeling or their friends feeling. I find a great deal about human nature stunted. In fact I believe that, tragically, most humans do not look upon evil or ugly and see it. The highly subversive nature of evil counts on human gullibility and fear of naming our human brothers and sisters the problem. So those that look or act much different are easier targets. Many of you have probably noticed the reaction of the average citizen when you call the “devil” out. They freak. The want you to be quiet. They whisper to each other how you may have not had enough sleep, or too much to drink, or you have always been different, a trouble maker, unbalanced. Unless of course you name the “other” as the enemy; then you probably can rely on another human characteristic, the visceral and intellectual rejection of that which is different. While I will try not to overdo the microcosm perimeter what does happen when you argue with your spouse, or sister or neighbor?
I think that those of us who moved away from our more homogeneous and insulated childhood home, with it’s chimera of civility and safety, have forgotten how the rest of America thinks. There really is an ivory tower quality to the deeper thinking intellectuals who fled to those of higher and equal education, who are housed mostly in urban areas, and imbued with the energy of changing neighborhoods and faces, which can ultimately prompt a wider philosophy and perhaps a greater courage. All I have to do is go to Alabama where my mother and sister currently reside and I notice my own compelling need to leave, quickly. I want to get back to my people.
I doubt that human nature has changed much. Mine has not. All of the really marvelous inventions of the past millennia has not shifted the polarizing ingredients of greed and power with human need. When faced with my enemy I do not often respond with compassion. When confronted by the specter of BushCo I think of guns. Ones that I can use.
I am aware that I am using language that most would identify with religion. But I think that fundamentally we are discussing human values and human responses to those values. Both the effective and damaging kind to individuals and institutions. I have learned that when I look for the ills of humankind I can find their stones and weeds in my own reactions. This is not to say I do not pick up the phone and harass the aids in my senators office or I do not despair in writing to newspaper editors, and sign as many petitions the ACLU, Moveon.org, the Sierra Club etc... offers. I am grateful that the internet and my faithful keyboard offers me some sense of political activism.
But I think that sometimes when I am overwhelmed by the preponderance of ugly human rationale for negligence and contempt I need only look to my own life for it’s reflection. Although Gloria Steinem published the title, I have known for twenty-five years that the revolution must begin from within. Or I will very likely behave the way my ideological enemies do. You should have heard the things I wanted to do to the guy who had the audacity to park in my neighborhood with a frigging confederate flag attached to his front bumper. I was so sure he didn’t belong ‘round here and I thought I should tell him who and what I thought he was.
Still, I have been thinking about the American revolutionary slogan, "Give me liberty or give me death." I think I can do that.