"You are riding the crest of a wave of blind arrogance"

[damn, it felt good reading this]

http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=490

''Excesses of blind patriotism bothersome for a few'' 
Printed on Sunday, July 14, 2002 
 
By D. Haynes
YellowTimes.org Guest Columnist

(YellowTimes.org) – Dear Post-911 Flag-Waving Fellow Americans: 

After reading your newspapers - after listening to your corporate media's
propagandistic version of the so-called "War Against Terrorism" now under
way in Afghanistan - after seeing your flag-decked SUV's with the Pisces
emblems on the one side and National Rifle Association stickers on the
other - after enduring this national adrenalin rush daily for the past
two months - I have concluded that you are, by and large, a shallow,
callous, insular, naively manipulable and infinitely self-righteous lot.

You are dangerously intoxicated at this time with a virulent strain of
myopic ethnocentrism approaching Third Reich fanaticism - one that is
most unattractive to the quiet minority here who can't in good conscience
join your sloganeered, bumper-stickered, anthem-singing, flag-flapping,
Muslim-hating hysteria. 

You are riding the crest of a wave of blind arrogance, egocentric hedonism
and aggressive nationalism that cannot last - one that will inevitably
lead to a cataclysmic fall in time. 

I do not know how these things will evolve. I am no prophet or seer.
But of this I am reasonably certain. You will be - you must be - humbled.
Karmic laws are inexorable, inescapable and universal. America is ripe
for a humbling as the 21st Century begins. 

I do not wish this to be the case. I live here, as have my forebears
for at least six generations. I have children and grandchildren who will
suffer when the collapse occurs. But I see this national adjustment as
inevitable. 

You as a people are not better than - you do not deserve more of everything
than - any other group on the planet. 

You do not possess an inherent right to abuse - to show utter disregard
for - other human cultures and groups, as well as every other species
with which you share this tiny blue orb. 

You do not possess an inherent right to destroy the very Earth that has
nurtured you with your outsized contribution to global pollution - one
that will bring catastrophic climate changes and sea level alterations
within the present century. 

You are not so very special and unique as you may imagine, flag-waving
Americans. Deity has not singled you out for preferential treatment and
predestined dominance. You are merely the current bully on the block
- an ephemeral thing at best. Bullies come and go. 

In the longer view of history, you will go the way of other civilizations
that became overly extended, overly aggressive, overly confident, overly
materialistic, and overtly abusive toward all that did not embrace unflinchingly
their narrowly defined interests and values. 

I have thought often during recent days of Thomas Jefferson's remark
regarding the institution of slavery - a gathering storm in his time.


He said, "...I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just."


Indeed, I tremble today for my country because I know my fellows are
on a course that cannot end well. 

[This article was originally written on November 17, 2001.] 

D. Haynes encourages your comments: guestbox101-/0wa+0QY/[email protected] 

YellowTimes.org encourages its material to be reproduced, reprinted,
or broadcast provided that any such reproduction must identify the original
source, http://www.YellowTimes.org. Internet web links to http://www.YellowTimes.org
are appreciated. 
 


---
Marc Rodrigues
Voicemail/Fax: 866.206.9067 x4217
SFS: http://qcsfs.tripod.com

"Settle your quarrels, come together, understand the reality of our situation,
understand that fascism is already here, that people are already dying
who could be saved, that generations more will live poor butchered half-lives
if you fail to act." -George Jackson