Wednesday, May 20, 2009

American Will

I have chimed in about the torture debate and the war on several occassions but recent events have crystallized a few things for me. Our former Vice President and permanent dick, Dick Cheney, has the infamous "dark side" quote. He has been fleshing out this theory during his latest media blitz justifying torture. By extension people who do not take these illegal measures care more about "rights" of "evil doers" than America. People who hold this opinion fail to see that America is an idea or a principal and not a nation of common identity, but I digress.

A coworker echoed the Cheney reasoning: "Americans want to intervene but lack the will to do what it takes to win." This was in the context of an ongoing discussion of the targeting of civilians by America and the use of napalm. This was also with the backdrop of John Stewart tripping over himself walking back from critical statements of U.S. use of nukes.

I will readily admit that my morals and principals do not allow for any form of mass murder and destruction; I can't even stomach the death penalty. Hundreds, maybe thousands of Iraqis were murdered when we targeted high level targets in Saddam's regime. We are making the same mistakes in Pakistan and Afghanistan with drone strikes. I understand war but I detest it; it should always be a last resort. Our Iraqi occupation is not a last resort. Americans may not have the "will," but we do a great job at turning a blind eye.

4 comments:

koolredd said...

if your morals and principles cause you to be totally against death and destruction, then you must be completely anti-capitalism, yet you identify with the biggest capitalist nation or idea, whatever you wanna call it, on the planet. seems hypocritical to me as I try to follow your logic.

HumanDynamo said...

Of course I hate death and destruction, remember I appreciate the nonviolent pirate.

koolredd said...

torture is as american as apple pie: check this

L BO said...

I remember in Spanish class, one of the dogs in the textbook Ya Veras was named Chomsky.