American Politics
In this last midterm election, I really tried to pay attention and get some cold facts out of all of the silly rhetoric. I have come to some disappointing conclusions.
1) Americans are fickle. They only see what they want to see today, and they have very little memory when it comes to history. This is best exemplified by the war issue. Do you remember how you felt on 9/11/2001? I was PISSED and ready to do whatever it took to prevent it from happening again. 90% of Americans felt the same way at that time. As the years passed, and now a mere 5 years later, so many Americans have forgotten about what happened. Some people even start developing theories that actually blame our own elected officials for the attack itself. This kind of lukewarm patriotism would never happen in the countries that we are fighting. Why are we this way?
2) Americans feel invincible. We have such lukewarm support for this war because 90% of Americans still feel perfectly safe in going about their daily lives. They still have the teenage mentality that "bad things won't happen to us". It's not our fault, though. Our president told us right after the attack that we should go about our daily lives and not live in fear. While it was a good statement to calm our feelings at the time, it worked a bit too well, and we have been lulled back into our comfortable place. The very place we were on 9/10/2001.
3) Americans really don't care about the rest of the world. Unless it has something to do with our daily routine, we generally don't care about it. We care about things when they come on the news. We donate money in the days and 4-5 months after a natural disaster, but after that, we move on to something else. Have you heard anything about New Orleans lately?
Don't get me wrong, I love this country and her people. I just wish that people would wake up and realize that they need to start holding grudges. We have been burned many times, and as soon as we see something else that we want, we forget about our national injury.
posted by Mike Sassman at
2:57 PM
4 Comments:
1. We are not fickle. We were lied to. Republicans make excuses when they're found to have been telling lies. Ireq = No WMD. RE: You were pissed, I don't see your ass over in Iraq fighting with your life. Are you encouraging your brother to go there? Your dad? What about your mom? What have you done to keep it from happening again?
2. Everyone feels invincible in a self-normative society, which is what we are. Bad things are happening every day, look at our homeless population, bigotry, the debate over gay marriage and our national healthcare system is nonexistent. Why do you care if 2 people who love each other want to spend their lives together? Does it affect you? No, and you shouldn't have an opinion about it. Besides me, how many gay people do you know? How many people do you know without health insurance?
3. You're right. I don't care about the rest of the world, much. I have enough on my plate right now trying to pay my way through school, pay my rent and worry about how to pay for prescription medication that I take every day. What did you do to help out in New Orleans? Do you remember that commercial a few years back where everyone was standing in a circle around a garbage can looking at a can on the ground that someone had thrown out? They were all saying how horrible it was and how someone should do something. Then one guy came along and picked up the can and put it in the receptacle? I see you as a member of that group, not the guy picking up the trash.
You've lived at home, and not had to work for what you need, because your parents put you through college and you made it here by being the Apple Rep for the school. Which was cool, but after chatting with you I found out that I paid attention to their events and news more than you did. If this is any indication of how you represent yourself in everyday life, I can imagine that you have a long way to go before you're a functional adult.
You need to start being responsible for yourself and forming your own opinions about the world and its residents. After all...you live here, too.
Hey Tater,
You seem like a very frustrated guy! Go smoke some pot and chill!
1. Nerve gas killing thousands of people = WMD
I assume from your rage that you are posting from your barracks during boot camp, on second thought if you were, you would have more respect for other opinions.
2. Why the fuss over a piece of paper? You can do anything that you want with your boy toy including giving him your power of attorney for anything that you have, your health decisions, etc. so why get your knickers in a twist? Militant Gays are soooo passe.
Our nation is blessed to have THE BEST health care in the world, the fewest homeless and the most affluent poor. (what other country debates if phone service and cable TV are rights?)
3. I see a lot of assumptions here and I'm glad that you have time to watch TV to back up your opinions. I tend to give more weight to people that debate with facts, not video snippets. (Maybe you will quote Britney Spears on your next post)
You have a bad case of victim mentality. Go out and march, protest, yell, scream, throw a fit! Your parents will appreciate it!
Interesting conclusions.... Here's my take, FWIW.
1) I would 100% agree with your statement here, if you are talking about Afghanistan. However, I'm almost certain you're referring to Iraq here. Irag had nothing to do with 9/11. i think our fickle attention to what is going on in Afghanistan will come around to bite us in the butt again someday. But I think Tater is right about Iraq.
2. If I lived in Israel, I would feel nervous about terrorist attacks. They happen all the time there. Here, there was one quite a few years ago now. And no evidence that any other attacks have been planned. There are many more imminent and serious threats to be worried about,
3. As individuals, we may or may not care about the other people in the world on a day to day basis. This is why we vote for representatives in government. Because on our own we cannot do much, or attend to everything that needs attending to. So we elect leaders to do this sort of thing. Which we just did, once again.
Re: Our nations healthcare. We have the worst health outcomes of any civilized nation. Far lower than what we should have based on the amount of money that we spend on it. I'm a Health Admin major and I'm 34 years old...which means I'm a grown up and I don't smoke pot.
You are doing what your party does best, cloud the issues with doublespeak and turn the attention away from the chief.
I read the news, bunghole. As far as TV is concerned, I watch M*A*S*H* reruns and HGTV a lot. I just don't trust the evening news. I either get it from a paper or from RSS feeds.
My victim mentality will beat your inexperience and optimism bias any day.
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