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September 26, 2002—Watching America today, I can
hardly believe what I see. I see a nation, a society and its people,
that appear to be in a state of paralysis. In the past 18 months
this nation has been completely transformed. This current, totally
misguided administration has turned our nation a full 180 degrees in
the wrong direction and is running roughshod over the entire
world—the American people have watched all this happen and have
reacted with complete silence, subservience and submissiveness. No
great concern, no voice, no will.
In this critical, dangerous challenge to the future of
our great country and the entire world, Americans should be totally
outraged by what they see and hear. Yet America passively watches
while our new-style unilateralist, belligerent government cancels
important treaties such as the ABM, walks away from global warming;
we watch as environmental controls are rescinded to let corporate
polluters make greater profits as they poison our air and water.
Where is the outrage, where is our voice?
Corporate criminals are running loose—Enron, Anderson,
WorldCom, many others. Millions of Americans have lost most of their
401Ks' value, their stocks have crashed, and in many cases their
savings are gone. Many thousands of employees in many companies are
being dismissed at the same time that the unconscionable CEOs are
pocketing multi-millions of unearned dollars. We are in an economic
crisis, a rapid downward spiral. This administration has given huge
tax relief to the wealthy, has squandered a gigantic surplus and is
in the process of creating huge deficits. And it now wants war,
badly!
And how is the typical American reacting? With total
outrage and disgust, screaming that enough is enough and "we aren't
going to take it anymore?" Absolutely not. There is not even a
whimper, not even a sigh coming from Americans. No, we Americans are
now so completely conditioned that we understand that we must stay
completely silent. We have been told that we better not speak out;
if we do, we will be considered traitors. We should remember Patrick
Henry who said "Give me liberty or give me death."
Has the 9/11 tragedy caused this complete silence and
acceptance of the most outrageous and irresponsible directions by
any government in the entire history of our nation? Maybe, and maybe
not. I am not able, so far, to figure it out. Nor do I read any
great analyses by writers, including those with psychology
backgrounds, who might be able to explain this phenomenon.
Speaking of 9/11, we Americans are passively watching
this administration beat the drums of war against Iraq and Saddam,
the acknowledged dictator. But when we hear that 15 of the 19 WTC
terrorists were Saudi Arabians, and we also know that the Saudis
have been the biggest contributors to Osama bin Laden and his
terrorists, do we even start to wonder what the hell is going on? Do
we simply accept the fact that about 10 members of the Saudi bin
Laden family left America on a chartered jet soon after the WTC,
that flight hastily initiated and allowed by our current
administration?
I repeat, I cannot believe what is happening in
America, especially what I hear or do not hear. Actually, I hear
nothing whatsoever. In my daily contacts with many people, I hear no
opinions, nothing either pro or con, just nothing, just blind
indifference and acceptance of all that is going on. I guess most
Americans are hooked on more important things like watching the
Sopranos, Six Feet Under and other mind-stimulating
shows.
Watching the TV news or reading US newspapers, we see
Bush and company preaching a doctrine of eliminating Saddam day in
and day out. Does anyone remember bin Laden? He was supposed to be
the "Evil One."
There is no reason to read what the
corporate-controlled media write, for their pitiful message is
meaningless. This may be one of the main reasons for the silence and
submission of Americans. It may be that when the supposed messengers
of truth and facts have no outrage and have no inclination to
deliver honest, patriotic dissenting messages, or constructive
criticism, the American people blindly follow them. We can,
therefore, conclude that the corporate-controlled media now controls
the American mind.
If this nation of 280 million people can be cowed into
total silence and submission by its inability to cope with 9/11, or
by its total acceptance of the clever manipulation of that tragic
event by this administration, then I fear that there is no hope for
our future. We can continue to remain silent, continue to act like
the human equivalent of sheep and cattle and follow our totally
misguided "shepherds." If so we will give up every constitutional
right and important patriotic principle that our founders fought to
get in their 1776 Declaration of Independence.
Writing a conclusion to this article is very
difficult. I wonder if America can be awakened by anyone, express
its outrage and demand that this nation once again lead this world
in honesty, integrity and true democratic principles. I know one
thing; that if we continue on our totally misguided course of
alienating the entire world, that if Americans do not demand a
reversal of our current disastrous course, then we are on a
collision course with the rest of the world—billions of peoples, the
majority of which are opposed to our unilateralist directions. Even
our closest allies look at this administration in complete disbelief
and refuse to support it.
If we think that we have the military power to control the entire
world and we can refuse to acknowledge the thinking and objectives
of others by dominating them, we only need to remember the massive
destructive power of the corrupt, misguided Roman Empire and its
silent, submissive and subservient citizens. That empire collapsed
when its citizens fell in love with their material possessions and
lost their moral foundations. That corrupt, misguided empire
collapsed from within, from the silence and subservience of its own
people, not from without. Does this sound frightfully
familiar? |
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