We're All Thugs

A Nobel Peace Prize was just awarded to Liu Xiaobo, who is in jail in China because he spoke out for free speech and democracy. Beijing called the award an “obscenity,” reinforcing how despicable the government there is--and how we in the United States are sadly complicit in bringing about the rise of this gargantuan force of tyranny.

It seems like at least half of what we buy is “Made in China,” and has been for decades. Our government claims to fight for human rights but it's really about economics.

Isn’t human rights the reason we took out Saddam Hussein in Iraq? (After the excuse about “weapons of mass destruction” was revealed as a lie). If we took out Hussein for human rights violations, why do we keep making China stronger by giving Beijing oodles of cash?

Answer: We invaded Iraq for oil, not to help the Iraqis.

The government of China is ethically repugnant. And unlike the invective poured on Hussein, there’s almost no condemnation from our media. Our politicians say nothing either. Why?

Because we are all corrupt. We like being able to make purchases on the dirty and cheap. Not just one thing once in a while, but lots of things all the time. Things we don’t even need. Where do these wonderfully cheap things come from?

They come from a country that spits on our bill of rights. A country that takes us ten steps back toward the Dark Ages. For decades, sweatshop workers in China have toiled like dogs and were treated like dogs. Any protest was met with incredibly cruel punishment. Summary execution was common.

The problems are still immense today. Just ask Liu Xiaobo. Oops, you can't. The Communist Party of China (CPC) put him in jail for daring to want freedom of speech.

But the good citizens of the United States have never really cared about Liu Xiaobo or where our products come from. We’re all hypocrites. We’re all thugs.

In my opinion, the reason the US Empire is in decline, sinking fast, has much more to do with moral decay than anything else. Our “economic choices” are dictated by greed. The result is to turn our backs on the oppression of tens of millions of people.

Since World War II we have been a narcissistic consumer society, swilling products with a devil-may-care attitude concerning our karma. We’re a nation of me instead of a nation of we. Money has been our God and it is telling and ironic that we inscribe “In God We Trust” on our currency.

The answer to all our problems, ironically, is to start acting like good Christians instead of don’t-tax-me pigs. (keep in mind I’m not a Christian but I’d be happy if people acted as meekly and kindly and givingly and spiritually as the Bible says).

All I see are Christians ranting and raving about how much they hate our black Islamic President who actually is a Christian. The hate-filled protesters cuss because they don’t want to pay for their neighbor who is dying of cancer, even if it is only a small tax on their carbonated sugar drink.

Our government has been subverting and preventing democracy in other countries for a long time. The reason is always claimed to be national security, but the dictators we install and support have been friendly to the economic priorities of our corporations.

Our fat cats have touchy-feely relationships with our politicians, so you see how that goes.

(The latest incarnation of this is Halliburton and Dick Cheney. Where did all those billions funneled into US business in Iraq go? The Iraqi people STILL don’t have reliable electricity.)

Did you know that the USA supported Saddam Hussein for years and gave him huge amounts of military support? Did you know that when he first gassed his own citizens, we turned the other way?

Why? Because then he was our ally against Iran.

Did you know that the Taliban was our ally against the Soviets in Afghanistan and that we gave them tons of military training and aid? Yes, it’s true, Osama bin Laden was one of our buddies.

If you don’t know this, or that the US has been supporting thugs and Darth Vaders all along, you are willfully blind.

All you have to do is look at our economic relationship with China to see that money is far more important to us at all levels--from the citizen on up--than promoting human rights.

We’re a sick greedy country that binged itself into a housing market crash. It was a headlong chase after profit. It was spiritually immature and idiotic. Virtue and Jesus had nothing to do with it. In fact, we don’t want ethics. We want our next Caribbean vacation or a new widescreen TV.

Folks, we have been seduced by our inner demons. That’s why we’re going down. Don’t blame anyone but the American people, we divided dumb petty griping spoiled brats, and the demagogues who we foolishly serve because they play to our hatred and fear so well.

History will remember us as the short-lived empire that gave birth to the monstrous police state of China. And once China is supreme, I tremble for human rights everywhere.


OWL