In the wake of the London bombings, sympathy for all victims, of whatever nationality, whether British, American, or Iraqi, has been urged upon us. People who are sympathtic towards the victims of the much larger Iraqi tragedy have been told that all victims are the same, and no-one is a bigger victim than anyone else. We have been told that British or American bombing victims and war casualties deserve as much sympathy as the Iraqi victims of British and American policy. We have been told that making such distinctions would amount to committing the sin of blaming the victim, a deadly sin according to the liberal scripture.
But there really is no equivalence of victimhood. We, as citizens of Western nations, are responsible for most of the evil that has characterized the last hundred years, whether we are willing or able to admit it or not. Majorities of us have again and again voted in governments that we knew were a curse to the rest of the world. Why did we vote them in? Because they promised us tax cuts, jobs, and the rest of the self-centered package that voters are bought with. We have again and again voted in governments that we knew were intent on plundering the rest of the world. Why did we do it? Because they plundered it for our benefit.
Specifically, there is no equivalence between victims of American terrorism and those of Islamist terrorism. Why? Because the West, and most especially the US government, is the source and origin of both varieties of terrorism. The US government is the source and origin of Islamist terrorism because: (1) With the complicity of its old buddy-in-plunder, the British government, it established and has continued to give its unconditional support to the State of Israel. The depredations of the government of Israel have been an endless source of misery among Palestinians, fueling political and religious extremism, and retarding political growth in the Middle East as a whole. (2) The US Government, through the CIA, brought down the secular democratically-elected government of Mossadegh in Iran in 1953, returned the despotic Shah to power, and set back that country's political development for many decades to come. Iran is still suffering the consequences. (3) The US Government, in the 1980s, created various terrorist groups in Afghanistan to attack Afghan government and Soviet forces. Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban, and various other re-energized forms of extremism throughout the Moslem world are the direct fruits of that project. (4) The US Government, through its Cairo embassy, made contact with the “CIA asset” Saddam Hussein in 1959, eventually helping the Baathists bring down the government of Iraq in 1963. And, as is more widely-known, the US government was Saddam’s primary supporter in his war against the democratically-elected government of Iran during the 1980s.
I won’t go on. We, in the West, are all responsible for this, every one of us, whether by being directly complicit in the crimes, or by bringing such governments to power in our countries, or by not doing enough to defeat them and the socioeconomic ideology that they represent.
20 comments:
nice blog here. good writing. :-)
regards, from malaysia.
http://iraudzah.blogspot.com
thanks. i wish more people realized that we are disliked for some very good reasons. i spend a lot of time thinking about how to contribute as little as possible to the opression machine, but living in the us makes it almost impossible...
I'm sick and tired of people like "monkeyslovebananas" telling me "if you don't like it here, why don't you leave." I quote from Al's post:
"The US Government, through the CIA, brought down the secular democratically-elected government of Mossadegh in Iran in 1953, returned the despotic Shah to power, and set back that country's political development for many decades to come. Iran is still suffering the consequences."
That's the reason I'm here. You and your governments have created a situation for me and millions like me that has left us little choice but to leave our families and our beloved countries and come to your precious civilized countries. So don't blame us. Blame your precious democratic institutions that have created such a situation.
I agree too.
I AGREE WITH YOU, AND MY OWN LETTERS ADDRESS THE TRAGEDY OF IRAQ. SCROLL FOR AMUSING BUT SCATHING WRITING.
FIND ME @ www.madplatonews.blogspot.com
Once again, I would like to ask the commenters who write to oppose the views expressed in this post, or in this blog in general, to please read the blog's rules at the top of the page. We are here to discuss ideas, and perhaps try to enlighten each other, not to insult and degrade each other. Please feel free to discuss, agree with, or oppose ideas, without name-calling and trying to degrade the person who expressed the ideas. Thank you.
I just stumbled across your blog, too, and so far I agree with most of what you're saying. I think you need to know how most American Liberals are thinking, so I'll take a few minutes to share with you.
Please don't be too quick to condemn the American people with blanket complicity or any kind of tacit approval being perceived by the world today in the face of the present administration and their policies. Rest assured that it does not reflect the true feelings of all 'Yanks.' Most Americans (us Yanks) are as appalled by the actions of the RightWingers as you are. The reason are these, among others: Our wonderful FDR at one time suggested that the Democratic Party was a party of "trying" things, which is to say that an idea has a right to be tried in the public to see if it works. He said, "Try things, and if they don't work, stop, and try something else."
Well, after the bizarre 2000 and 2004 'elections', all of us are standing back to see if what the RightWingers have said they want to do will work. So far, we have seen, most of what they have proposed has not worked. Sorrowfully, the worst that they've caused has cost real human life. The other things, financial, legal, domestic, foreign policy , etc., will take time to be fully disclosed. Most Democrats down here truly believe in "Truth Will Out", "Crime Does Not Pay", "Thou Shall Not Steal", etc., and believe that it will just be a matter of time for Providence to "out" all of the derring-do that has occurred in the last 30-40 years at the hands of 'You Know Who.'
One of these days, for example, the whole world will know without doubt who was responsible for JFK's death. We will also know exactly how the 2000 and 2004 elections were rigged and stolen, and just who did it. The people responsible might have died before that happens, but humanity will know and it will make us better humans for waiting to find out. As silly as it sounds we will all one day thank the RightWingers for committing suicide right in front of us and the whole world because through their sacrificial actions they will have shown us where our wonderful Constitution had become deficient and exactly where it needed fixing. After we, or a future generation, fix it America will continue as the beacon of Liberty and Freedom it has been up to now.
Before anyone decides that Democracy is dead, Al, just remember how the world as a whole has regarded the American Constitution these many years, i.e., the most magnificent document conceived by the mind of man. This regard is no accident but simply the work of men of conscience and decency, the names we know so well, Franklin, Madison, Washington, Jefferson, Adams, et. al. We all know that they created the document that will live for all time no matter the attacks being made upon it today. The genius we see in it is best viewed in the light of all the recent attempts to change it only to find that it is more rigid and certain than the Sinai Tablets, and that stands at the root of frustration we see in the faces of the insanely maddened faces of those who would distort it for their own gain. We can only watch as they self-distruct in their attempts to destroy this most magnificent product of Liberal minds.
The US government will be temporarily inconvenienced by the absence of that party, but it seems there is nothing that we can do, they simply wiil not listen or stand to reason. They wish we would join them in their vulgar tirades, but most liberals can't do that because their conscience won't let them; it is not because of the usual things they say we can't. Herein lies the difference in our values. No Liberal believes that any kind of Greed is good; or any kind of Death; or any kind of Theft; or any kind of Lie or Deceit; or any kind of Hate. These are the value-notions that the RightWingers despise because they are incapable of them. They are truly deserving of Pity.
A month or two ago the Tomlinson man (at Public Broadcasting) had a survey done to see if the programming on PBS was balanced or one-sided in favor of Liberals. The survey showed that 80% of those surveyed thought it was okay. Well, he hid these statistics because they didn't say what he wanted them to say. You see, he was wrong but was AFRAID to admit it, a common affliction of those people, as I am sure you've seen already. So who's going to get in his face and try to convince him he's wrong? Nobody, because it won't do any good. We just have to wait him out, and let him ultimately hang himself.
The movers and shakers behind this whole movement are the ones more deserving of disdain than the ones we're used to seeing everyday. They know who they are, the moneymen behind all the RightWing "think-tanks", (Boy, is that a misnomer!), and we know the names of most of them. They will likely never be seen after this thing is over, but will simply slither back under their rocks, as they say, and good riddance.
So, Al, to answer your question, which you never really asked, let me assure you that Democracy is safe in the hearts of millions of Americans who have been living it since 1789. You're right, what is happening because of some of us Americans is awful and should not be allowed to happen. You have to know that only a handful of people have caused these things to happen, and they will have their day in court. They have done nothing, though, to our Constitution, it stands back there in time just as strong as it was when Nixon left, and it will be there long after this bunch is gone.
I was going to say something about "Brick Sykes" comments, but I thought it would violate the rules of this blog. My comment had something to do with “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Anyway, back to our discussion, I just thought it would be appropriate to quote from the mayor of London. He says: "You've just had 80 years of Western intervention into predominantly Arab lands because of a Western need for oil. We've propped up unsavoury governments, we've overthrown ones that we didn't consider sympathetic. I think the particular problem we have at the moment is that in the 1980s ... the Americans recruited and trained Osama bin Laden, taught him how to kill, to make bombs, and set him off to kill the Russians to drive them out of Afghanistan. They didn't give any thought to the fact that once he'd done that, he might turn on his creators.."
This is not something that I say, or some lunatic suicide bomber or a mullah in Iran or Saudi Arabia says. This is what mayor of London says after the bombings in London. So there is a difference of opinions. There are people like Dubya and Blair who are still looking for the 'evildoers' in Iran, Iraq and all those nasty little places with their comical customs and uncivilized traditions. On the other hand, there are people like Ken Livingstone who don't go too far to find the 'evildoers.' They find them right here, in our own wonderfully democratic and civilized neighbourhoods.
I appreciate the passion in your posts. Keep up the good work.
greetings.. to clear things, there's no such thing as Islamist terrorism. bcoz islam doesn't condone terrorism in all its form.
There is no such thing as Islamic terrorism, Nisa, but there is, obviously, such a thing as Islamist terrorism. The phrase "Islamist terrorism" refers to the practice of individuals who misuse the name of Islam as a pretext to commit crimes, and as a point of reference for propaganda purposes. You are right insofar as such individuals cannot in any sense be considered real Moslems, in the same way that George W Bush and his type are not real Christians.
i just don't like the word islam to be linked with terrorism. maybe you can differentiate it, but not all people can. some will see the link & think islam condones this. that's why i don't prefer the term.
e.g.: if some people support you, yet suddenly go overboard & topple a government by force, in your name. would you be happy if the media call them alseist terrorism? it struck me, when islam is used with such a negative word.
hope it makes sense to you.
"Alseist terrorism" : ) That was very funny. Thanks Nisa.
Well I beg to differ. We have not beheaded anyone live on tv and if anyone did they would be tried for war crimes.
Are George Bush's crimes any less because we don't see them on TV? Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, etc. have murdered tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians who never did harm to the US. The government- and corporate-controlled media doesn't show us the pictures, but the deaths are real, the maimings are real, the destroyed cities are real. And they are war crimes.
And there is so little respect for the young men and women who Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld send to their deaths, that we aren't even allowed to see their coffins.
P.S. I thought everyone knew that beheading was fake. The man was dead already.
I doubt this person is reading this comment, but that "beheading on TV" bullshit just got to me.
These days, I try not to let the Right's idiocy get to me, L-Girl. I just try to ignore their existence. Ignoring them won't make them go away, or make their leaders' crimes disappear, but not ignoring them won't do any good either. It will just make us uselessly dissipate our energies. I feel something must have gone horribly wrong in their upbringing if they believe Dubya, Chenery, Rumsfeld, and Rove are the greatest things that ever happened. And, considering their obstinate clinging to false and unfounded beliefs, I feel it is futile to try to remedy the character flaws created by their upbringing.
Well said! Al, I agree with you. I mostly use the same approach. Someone read my comment here, and came over to my blog to flame me. No matter. I wasn't speaking to him/her anyway - as you said, there's no point.
Sometimes, though, you just gotta sound off... :)
I should have added before, L-Girl, that I do appreciate your "sounding off" in reply to Katy's comment. Often it is best when rebuttals come from a third party, because it is then clear that the person isn't just protecting his/her own ego. We may not succeed in converting the Right, but we may succeed in enlightening left-leaning individuals and "moderates" who have been misled by the media and the government.
Once again, I would like to ask the commenters who write to oppose the views expressed in this post, or in this blog in general, to please read the blog's rules at the top of the page. We are here to discuss ideas, and perhaps try to enlighten each other, not to insult and degrade each other. Please feel free to discuss, agree with, or oppose ideas, without name-calling and trying to degrade the person who expressed the ideas. Thank you.
Yes, you are right, it seems I did break my own rules. I think the rule-breaking was so slight that I wasn't aware of it until you mentioned it. In other words, considring the obscenities that Bushites have hurled at me for expressing my opinions, I think what I said was understandable. As you said, though, it was against the rules, and it won't be repeated.
"Monkey": If you agree with anything I say in this blog, and if you hope for world peace and, especially, equality, then, believe it or not, you are not a member of the Right political wing. So I would say there was no reason to take offence at my comment about the American ultra-conservatives to begin with. I agree that my comment broke the rules of this blog, but it was definitely not directed at anyone other than individuals on the Right who seem to have no sense of humanity or compassion, and no desire for peace and equality.
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