I got my letter published in the SMH. I’m not sure that the majority of readers will agree with my sentiments but this ‘war against terror’ is like all American foreign policy – ill thought out and broken down into sound bites. At least it always seems that way when Americans bomb countries most of their citizens couldn’t find on a map. I’ll never forget a poll that the Economist magazine took during the Gulf War asking a thousand Americans to point out Kuwait on a map. Only about three could. Some of the other places that were identified as Kuwait were actually the Falklands, the Balkans, Germany, the Sudan, and North Carolina. As a result of this seemingly almost universal ignorance amongst the American population they simply do not understand the countries and people who oppose them. Perhaps what is worse is that they do not understand the reasoning behind their opponent’s hate. Post September 11 most Americans seemed stunned that anyone would want to do this to America. What the fuck? It’s like they have no history – they live in a totally a-historical society – with only some vague cultural memories retained as 10 second takes of “Where are they now?”on Entertainment Tonight. People of America remember Cuba, Vietnam, Cambodia, Somalia, Central America and all the other places where through covert or overt force you interfered in the freedoms and liberties of sovereign peoples. Remember you trained Osama Bin Laden, remember the butchers you trained in Central and South America and sent forth to torture and murder, remember the weapons you paid for that killed and maimed innocent women and children. Remember with shame and then ask yourself why you are a target, ask yourself if the chickens have come home to roost, as yourself if America is now paying for its sins. Maybe the dead of September 11 will make their peace with the millions of innocent dead that were made in America.
Somehow I seem to be very angry this morning… I’ll try to make the rest of this post somewhat lighter but I make no promises.
I joined a peer-to-peer review of blogs at Acutecut. You sign up and someone reviews your blog and you review someone else’s in return. Will be interesting to read a review of this – at least it guarantees one reader *lol*. Will be curious to see who I get to review – hope it’s something that makes sense… usually otherwise known as someone over the age of about 23 because almost everyone (with a few notable exceptions who know who they are) I know younger than this has an entirely different cultural experience from me. Maybe I’m getting old… *grin*
Listening to: my mellow house, some mellower House, some Spiller, some Violent Femmes, some Judy Henkse. An all round weird musical day.
