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 anada   "Jason on                                                #          
 229         Anti-Americanism"         +###           +###    +####    +###  
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 01                          Jason   #    .#  ## #  #    .#  #   .#  #    .# 
 nov                                  *###  * #   *  *###  * *###  *  *###  *
 2000 .+#################################################################.net

        One thing I've found is that stupidity and irrationality knows no
 borders.  In fact, those qualities are so intrinsic to the human spirit that
 they are as important as the metabolism of oxygen.  In fact, some people are
 so consumed with being idiots that they wouldn't know what to do with
 themselves if they banged their heads and jarred their atrophied brains into
 nominal functionality.

        The most recent source of irritation to my psyche is the rampant
 Anti-Americanism that exists in the world today.  What in the name of GM
 Chrysler is up with that?  I'm constantly hearing how we evil Americans are
 using the evil subversion of free trade and capitalism to take over the
 world.  Yes, it's those nasty Americans who are extending their empire by
 giving away food and money to needy countries.  Heck, many Americans even
 hate Americans, pointing out how grievously evil we are any chance they get.

        Now I'm not going to be a crackhead and say that the U.S. is perfect,
 but we definitely don't deserve the crap we get.  Let's compare, shall we?
 How many countries have slaughtered 6 million Jews this century?  Oh?  Just
 the Germans?  How about those 10 million dead Chinese civilians?  That would
 be the Japanese, whom we so cruelly nuked and then viciously dumped money
 into their economy to make them one of the strongest economic powers in the
 world today.  And who gets the title as the most expansionist nation this
 century, dominating about a dozen nations and sponsoring civil wars all over
 the world?  I think that would be the Soviet Union, but nobody hates them
 except the Chechens.  Heck, everybody's friends the Swedes sold iron ore
 to Nazi Germany throughout WWII and then jacked up the price when the
 Germans were losing!  How many people did the weapons made out of their iron
 kill?  Bulgaria was Germany's ally in BOTH world wars!  The Swiss got rich
 off of dead Jews!  Egad!!

        "Well what about those poor little Native Americans?" says the geek
 in the tie-dye and the unwashed hair.  "Americans killed all of them!"

        Well, sure.  I'm not going to defend that.  That was genocide of the
 highest order.  Of course, we learned how to do it from the Spanish, the
 Portuguese, the English, the Australians, and even Native American tribes
 who decided they didn't like their neighbors.  It sucked and is
 incomprehensible by today's standards, but it was pretty much normal conduct
 of the day and barely raised any eyebrows anywhere.

        "Well what about Vietnam?" says the geek's "life mate." 

        Sure, that was questionable, but what about the French who were there
 for decades before fighting the Vietnamese independence movement?  Heck, the
 French were fighting to OWN that territory, we were fighting to protect its
 sovereignty.  I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time.
 Congratulations to all of you Monday morning quarterbacks who just won the
 Hindsight Bowl.

        "What about slavery?" asks someone who wisely does not stand up, but
 wisely stays hidden in the crowd.  I guess we'll have to imprison the entire
 section.

        Again, that's something that sucks by today's standards and its
 echoes are still dragging down society last a whole, like a really big shit
 that you just can't squeeze out.  A century and a half ago, though, it was
 business as usual.  Plenty of countries practiced slavery, and many still do
 (ironically, many of them are African).  Heck, the Africans we got the
 slaves from owned their own slaves.  EVERY culture had slaves at one time or
 another.  The Greeks, the Romans, European and Asian feudal systems, Native
 Americans, AND Africans all held slaves and that was that.  Amazingly, the
 idea of human rights is pretty damn new.

        It all comes down to this: the U.S. ain't perfect, but we certainly
 have a less-dirty record than most countries out there.  It seems that the
 U.S. is held to a higher standard than any other country, and that anything
 we do is scrutinized in the worst possible light.  Heck, it seems we can't
 do anything right.  When the Hutus went nuts in Rwanda and we didn't stop
 it, we get blamed.  When we intervene in Yugoslavia, people bitch!  What the
 hell?  Ironically, our relations with one of the countries that I would say
 is justified to hate us, Vietnam, are better than some of the countries
 we've helped out over and over again.

        So if you're one of those people who realizes that the U.S. is just
 another country and inherently no better or worse than any other (except
 Albania, which sucks) and know better than to make knee-jerk judgements
 based on someone's nation of origin (or skin color, or gender or whatever),
 then this doesn't apply to you.

        If you're not one of those people, then you can kiss my red-white-
 and-blue ass.

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 anada229 by Jason                                                   (c) 2000
 ###################################################################anada.net
