Jackson Free Press

America is arrogant. But before you right-wingnuts paint me with the "anti-American'' brush, observe a more practical scenario: Close your eyes and imagine your workplace. Now picture one of your colleagues coming over to your desk and crowing about how magnificent he is; how much smarter and more beautiful he is and how inadequate you are compared to him. Oh, and he also tells that you should take all your pointers from him to become a better employee, even though you've been doing your job quite effectively for some time now.

Now imagine having to hear that every day over a long time. What would you do? What would you say to that employee? Do you think maybe the slightest bit of resentment would build up despite that person's best intentions? Of course it would. Even the nicest of us would have a breaking point.

Given the United States' documented history of heavy-handed foreign policies, it's easy to see why we're not so popular in other parts of the world. And it's equally as easy to see why Rev. Jeremiah Wright's comments struck a nerve with some Americans. Now, I don't have space here to go into heavy detail or specific instances (check out Tibbit Music for some sobering historical facts); however, truth is, this country has blood on its hands.

Based on the experiences of Native Americans, African Americans, Irish and Italian Americans, Iran Contras and others, one doesn't have to "hate'' America—as Bill O'Reilly would call it—to see that we're not always the "good guys." We've occupied lands where we were not (and still aren't) wanted. We've abused, murdered and discriminated against those who sought out our country as refuge (and those who were forced to come). We've sent thousands of men and women to die in a holy war that is not ours, trying to stop countries from wrongly using technology that we gave them. What conceit.

Whether or not you agree with Wright's words or Barack Obama's subsequently "throwing'' him under that political bus, I haven't really seen anyone refute the facts Wright presented. His words were harsh, but they force America to do what it hates to do: Look at itself in a mirror.

Whenever we've had to do that—racism, sexism, COINTELPRO, Citizens Council, hip-hop lyrics and gay-bashing come to mind—we've turned away in disgust. The image was too ugly, so we point the blame somewhere else.

It's TV, it's liberals, it's rappers, it's black liberation theology. Surely only an unpatriotic person or institution would so bluntly criticize the U.S. (insert sarcasm here).

Look, America is a great country. I wouldn't wish to live anywhere else. We have rights and opportunities that other countries don't have. But I'm sure the folks who live in other countries feel the same way. They love their land, their religion and their people as we do.

In turn, they don't hate us because of our "freedom," they hate us because we're that arrogant, annoying co-worker in this workplace that is Earth, the one who can't stop bragging on himself. Especially when we have as many faults as they do.

And that's the truth ... sho-nuff

Previous Comments

ID

119826

Comment

Comedian Lewis Black does it so well. If someone did that in the office, we would kill them after a week then figure out a way to eat some of them just to possess some of whatever it was they possessed! He also says Americans need to look around and perhaps travel because then they would discover that other countries are giving away stuff for free--like Health Care!! [emphasis his] And he is right--we can learn from other countries. I almost wish we had learned the trick of the coup d'tat for miserable and/or terrible leaders.

Author

Turtleread

Date

2008-05-07T17:17:44-06:00

ID

119829

Comment

People need to read a book that was written decades ago titled "The Ugly American". America is schizophrenic. We ARE beautiful and kind and loving and free, but tomorrow we might obliterate your entire family, force your children to work in sweat shops and forget about it. This country needs a serious therapist! I love the first America. gOD BLESS HER! The other one (HELLRAISER) needs counseling from Reverend Wright before it is cursed with eternal...!

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-05-07T17:54:31-06:00

ID

119835

Comment

Kaze this might be my favorite column ever written by you. I won't say any more as I don't want to hurt anyone wittle feelings since I'm the mean Negro with little tact. Plus when I get wounded up I can't catch hardly any of my errors since my mind is faster than my typing and editing abilities.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-05-08T07:52:50-06:00

ID

129535

Comment

BRAVO!!!! So true....so so true!

Author

Queen601

Date

2008-05-08T09:22:19-06:00

ID

129537

Comment

Thanks for this column, Kaze. Great work. Americans, westerners in general, tend to look at everything in terms of positive OR negative, ignoring the fact that we're both; we paint ourselves as either all good or all bad, so "they" are either all bad or all good. We--and I'm not excluding myself--have real problems with shades of gray. As a result, "we" tend to paint ourselves as the good guys and everyone else is just bad, bad, bad. Truth is, we all have positive and negative aspects, individually and collectively. (duh) When we can learn to embrace our own dark side, we can let our lights shine a little brighter. One can't exist without the other. Arrogance begins in the fear that someone might just find out that we (I) are not all sweetness and light, all powerful and without fault. Ha! As if they didn't know it already.

Author

Ronni_Mott

Date

2008-05-08T10:36:52-06:00

ID

129542

Comment

Right Ronni M, I believe we can be saints and sinners, blessed and damned sometimes on the same day!

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-05-08T11:37:46-06:00

ID

129555

Comment

Aboslutely factual. Sure enough.

Author

Scott Albert Johnson

Date

2008-05-08T20:11:33-06:00

ID

129559

Comment

We are obviously in our (collective) saint role in trying to get supplies to the people in Myanmar (I hope I spelled it right). Their government is in Hellraiser mode 24/7.

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-05-09T07:57:37-06:00

ID

129560

Comment

I don't understand why the government there is so resistant to outside help. When a disaster strikes, you'd want help from all over.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2008-05-09T10:39:36-06:00

ID

129561

Comment

Is it really a surprise that a government that's routinely hostile to its own citizens refuses donations when so many of their people are killed? Burma’s been a hellhole ever since the military took the country over. The thugs that now run the country don't want the outside world to see the misery in which these people live under, and any foreign aid would be withheld from the people that need it most. It's sad that such an oppressive government can sit idly by & watch their people die when help is just hours away.

Author

Jeff Lucas

Date

2008-05-09T12:29:39-06:00

ID

129582

Comment

Great article, Kaze! Tell the truth! The whole Myanmar thing breaks my heart. A guy on the inside being interviewed via phone said he could get shot for saying anything about the way the goverment is handling foreign aid. It's a shame. They're being treated like dirt and could get pumped full of lead for complaining.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-05-10T12:00:19-06:00

ID

129589

Comment

The oppression of truth in Myanmar IS very sad. That is why we should take very seriously the sad trend in this country of people like Ann Coulter and the flag pin nut mob wanting to villify people as unpatriotic who question questionable things done in the name of the War on Terrorism or the War on Drugs. These people are eerily Orwellian. Vigilant people cannot be enslaved.

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-05-10T18:12:47-06:00

ID

129590

Comment

Watching Sean Hannity's weekend show..He constantly reaffirms why Id like to slap fire from him the instant I get a chance. He's digging into Michelle Obama now about the comments she made about ''not being proud'' of america. And it hit me...He simply doesnt get it. A lot of right-wing nuts dnt GET IT! Hannity simply cant understand how someone could NOT be proud of America or criticize it. It really baffles him..duh! He goes on and on about the Obamas living a life of privelege and Michelle having made over 300,000 bucks last year. SO. His premise is..if youre rich, you should be happy and you shouldnt criticize a country that has allowd you to make that much money..Ridiculous. That attitude is exactly what Im talking about! Michelle Obama says America is a ''mean'' country and Hannity is flabergasted. sheesh.

Author

Kamikaze

Date

2008-05-10T19:28:21-06:00

ID

129591

Comment

...and the one time we should actually intervene..no word on the U.S. invading Myanmar to remove the oppressive govt. in place thats refusing outside help to feed their citizens..dead decaying bodies still floating in water..the govt run tv station running pro-government videos on the tube completely denying the obvious fact that they have a disaster on their hands..maybe its becaus they dont have any oil...THIS TOO is what Im talking about. looking at these images makes me MAD..but funny..reminds me of Katrina. bodies floating in the water and a government oblvious to the suffering. No wonder we havent gone into Mayanmar yet..

Author

Kamikaze

Date

2008-05-10T20:23:53-06:00

ID

129592

Comment

"they dont have any oil.....reminds me of Katrina. bodies floating in the water and a government oblvious to the suffering." Kamikaze But they are big, and we are small. And divided. By race, and class, and age, and region....distracted by: do we want the granite counter tops or Corian, do these pants make my a** look fat, what's on the boob tube tonight...

Author

willdufauve

Date

2008-05-10T21:11:58-06:00

ID

129594

Comment

I've never subscribed to the thought that you have to support America 100% and I never will. Chew on this: you love your children, but do you support them when they are disobeying you? When you show blind loyalty to someone, you allow them to say and do whatever they want, without regard to the consequences. And I agree about us not invading Myanmar. Not that we should, but we heard all the talk about freeing Iraqis from an oppressive regime, but what about all the others around the globe? A lot of the regimes in Africa and southeast Asia made Saddam's regime look like a Sunday picnic. And there was no talk about invading South Africa to free people from apartheid. Double standard.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2008-05-11T10:36:42-06:00

ID

129595

Comment

McCain made a mistake and said they unsayable and then he said he did not mean what he said or something like that. That convoluted sentence is convoluted on purpose because that's the essence of this Orwellian state of mind embraced by the lynch pin nut mob. You cannot speak truths that are obvious to the rest of the world such as: We invaded Iraq because the right wing nut mob thought we would be able to free up (gain control over) the oil supply; however, ironically they created instability in futures markets and drove the price up instead (uncertainty equals risk which equals higher prices (I was an econ major)). A lot of the increase in prices is not due to supplies being that much lower but is due to the instability in the Middle east that our invasion created. God protect us from the idolatrous flag worshippers.

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-05-12T07:48:31-06:00

ID

129596

Comment

We invaded Iraq because Saddaam wanted to kill us. Burma / South Africa / etc. named above did not threaten the security of the United States.

Author

QB

Date

2008-05-12T08:11:11-06:00

ID

129599

Comment

We invaded Iraq because Saddaam wanted to kill us. Please tell me you're being sarcastic.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2008-05-12T08:22:23-06:00

ID

129600

Comment

Golden Eagle: I've never subscribed to the thought that you have to support America 100% and I never will. Chew on this: you love your children, but do you support them when they are disobeying you? When you show blind loyalty to someone, you allow them to say and do whatever they want, without regard to the consequences. I saw a great bumper sticker awhile back that pertained to this. It said Saying "America- right or wrong" is like saying "My mother- drunk or sober"

Author

Rico

Date

2008-05-12T08:28:13-06:00

ID

129601

Comment

Fat Harry, where are the weapons of mass destruction? If we invade any country where someone "wants to kill us" then we would invade Iran, North Korea, Lebanon and our new motto can be, "Why wait for World War III when we can go ahead and start it now" (because someone over there "hates our freedoms"). the only salient characteristic about Iraq was/is their oil --- NOT that Saddam wanted to kill us. There is a big difference between "wanting to kill us" and actually having the means.

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-05-12T08:35:09-06:00

ID

129602

Comment

People are concerned about economics. Clinton has threatened to "obliterate" Iran and McCain actually joked that he would "bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran". Anyone who has taken Economics 101 has to be able to figure out what that would do to the world economy --- the price of oil might hit $200 a barrel. Maybe the idea of diplomacy might not be so bad. Our gunboat diplomacy has actually set Iran up as a power broker in Iraq. It may have given greater future power to a country that not only dislikes us but, unlike Saddam, may actually be able to muster the means to do something about it.

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-05-12T09:09:09-06:00

ID

129603

Comment

I'm a foreign citizen and I'd like to dispel this myth that "we" hate "your" freedoms or are jealous of your freedoms. In other parts of the world we have more rights and freedoms. Americans are viewed as savage barbarians by peoples around the world, like the Huns and Visigoths, rampaging against the world's most ancient cultures, looting their treasures, genociding their people. Fat Harry, haven't you ever seen that photo of Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam before we gave him the bio-technology to gas the Iranians and Kurds? Saddam and the Bushes were business partners who had a falling out, and Saddam woke up with the horse's head in his bed. The American people are so dumb, FauxNews can tell the masses any crazy thing and they believe it.

Author

willdufauve

Date

2008-05-12T09:10:16-06:00

ID

129604

Comment

And in case you haven't seen the picture... http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/

Author

golden eagle

Date

2008-05-12T09:12:20-06:00

ID

129605

Comment

We invaded Iraq because the right wing nut mob thought we would be able to free up (gain control over) the oil supply; however, ironically they created instability in futures markets and drove the price up instead (uncertainty equals risk which equals higher prices (I was an econ major)). But it seems that instability in the Middle East worked in our favor for many years, Whitley. Unstable governments with corrupt (or corruptible), greedy leaders are quite happy to spend our cash at the expense of their own resources and people, keeping the oil flowing to the U.S. Why do you think the U.S. continues to support the Saudi's, one of the most craven governments on the planet? Surely it's not because of their democratic ideals.

Author

Ronni_Mott

Date

2008-05-12T09:15:31-06:00

ID

129606

Comment

Whitley has it right. The US isn't supporting the Saudi's. It's the other way around; the Saudi's are propping up the US. When they stop trading oil in increasingly worthless dollars we'll all be standing in soup kitchen lines.

Author

willdufauve

Date

2008-05-12T09:20:02-06:00

ID

129607

Comment

You are right Ronni M, but (surprisingly) a lot of my econ theory ended up being relevant in the real world! It seems that there may be diminishing returns to the gunboat diplomacy model that led us to support corrupt governments like the House of Saud, Saddam Hussein, Manuel Noriega (he was our guy before he wasn't (there's a pattern there)), General Pinochet, etc. A better long run, more sustainable model might be to stake out positions based on principles.

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-05-12T09:21:10-06:00

ID

129609

Comment

Those who really love America ought to take notice that a rising power in the world, China, seems to be outflanking us in spreading its influence through non-threatening means.

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-05-12T09:59:53-06:00

ID

129610

Comment

Will, I think it's six of one, half-dozen of the other. We "supported" the Saudi's with our cash and by making them our allies despite their undemocratic government and poor civil rights record. In exchange, they "supported" our way of life with cheap oil.

Author

Ronni_Mott

Date

2008-05-12T10:00:13-06:00

ID

129611

Comment

We would never outflank anyone right now through non-threateneing means. We still have too much John Wayne, Cheney and Bush in us, and the country is full of gun nuts and zealots just like them. Watch how many people vote for McCain to continue the Bush legacy. And be sure to take a good look at the people who support and vote for McCain.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-05-12T10:06:04-06:00

ID

129613

Comment

Sadly, Walt, you may be right, but I wouldn't lump all the gun lovers in one boat though. I have a close relative who is an NRA member and clings to his guns (he owns many) and religion (ha), but is generally very progressive and very much opposed to wars for dubious reasons.

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-05-12T10:15:44-06:00

ID

129614

Comment

Good, Whitley. I hope we have enough off that kind to kill the Bush legacy with Bush's and Cheney's departure.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-05-12T10:19:17-06:00

ID

129615

Comment

It is too bad that the right wing nuts don't worry more about the fact that this country is grown dependent on CHINA effectively loaning us money by investing in U.S. dollar denominated investments and if they pulled the rug out from under us by shifting to Euros what would happen. That is probably too much thinking for the right wing nuts --- their heads might explode.

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-05-12T10:35:42-06:00

ID

129617

Comment

This country supported the racist Apartheid government's state terrorism before we were against them. That is how Nelson Mandela ended up on the USA's list of official "terrorists" (he felt like it was justifiable to take up arms for freedom like the founders of this country did)!

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-05-12T10:57:23-06:00

ID

129619

Comment

And be sure to take a good look at the people who support and vote for McCain. And also the people who work for him too. Two of McCain's staffers resigned over the weekend because of their ties to the military leaders in Myanmar.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2008-05-12T11:18:18-06:00

ID

129625

Comment

First, Cold War politics dictated that the US deal with unsavory regimes like Saddam and South Africa. Iran had just held US citizens hostage for over a year, and South Africa was a stable country surrounded by potential Communist regimes. And this quote is just hilarious: "Those who really love America ought to take notice that a rising power in the world, China, seems to be outflanking us in spreading its influence through non-threatening means. " Please tell the people of Tibet how non-threatening Chinese influence is. Even France is threatening to boycott the Beijing olympics.

Author

QB

Date

2008-05-12T12:45:26-06:00

ID

129630

Comment

The difference between China and the US is that in China, you'd already be in the prison camp making stuff for Wal Mart for such disrespect for the government. In the USA, they'll let you blather on and on.

Author

Ironghost

Date

2008-05-12T13:16:27-06:00

ID

129639

Comment

Good point, Fat Harry. I am no apologist for China (I am personally offended by China's cozy relationship with the opressive regime in Darfur); however, I was thinking of how they are spreading their influence in Africa and gaining access to their natural resources not at gun point, but by building factories and developing trade relationships. Ironghost, we are not supposed to respect when our country behaves in a manner that does not show respect for human rights. THAT is what they have to do in China. I will only leave America when the right to respectfully dissent is no longer tolerated due to an overproliferation of right wingnuts.

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-05-12T14:03:19-06:00

ID

129642

Comment

The point was not "China is a lovely country and we're not"! We can get so busy reacting that we do not feel the earth shifting beneath our feet. The point (that has factual legs) is that China is making significant inroads through diplomacy on a continent with vital natural resources and minerals. They are not doing it because they want to uplift the African people. It is a means to get at the resources by means other than supporting vicious dictators. Hitler may have been Anti-communist. I disagree with those who say we can justify siding with racist, murderous regimes by relying bogeyment like "the Communist threat" or the nebulous "Worldwide War on Terror". Boooooooooo!

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-05-12T14:21:38-06:00

ID

129660

Comment

Yes, the economic argument will always win. The difference is that tons of US companies are doing business in Africa and having great success. Since China's industries are state-owned, the Chinese government is taking a personal interest in the development of these business relationships. Hitler was definitely anti-Communist. Of course, there was no Cold War when Hitler was in power and obviously the U.S. fought and defeated Hitler, so I'm not sure what you are trying to say. And you may disagree with that statement, but remember that hindsight is 20/20. Do you really think we would give guns to the mujaheedin or to Saddam or to any other murderous dictators to fight the Communists if we knew what would come out of it? (Well, some of you might say yes...). But currently, are we really propping up for funding racist, murderous regimes? Please no Israel comments.

Author

QB

Date

2008-05-12T16:06:07-06:00

ID

129662

Comment

The hitler example was to say just because a regime is anti-communist is not an excuse to back them up as we did the apartheid government in the 70's. It seems we are doing better. I cannot think of a racist government that we are supporting right now. Maybe if there was one that had oil (joke). We are supporting a sexist government in Saudi Arabia because we dig their oil policy. They will cut your head off in public if you are a wascally wabbit.

Author

FreeClif

Date

2008-05-12T16:19:46-06:00