I try not to just blog about one single article I have read, but this one is too important not to.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/politics/ci_12589887?nclick_check=1
Why would we teach Americans that other Americans who are peacefully protesting against our government are in the same category as Osama Bin Laden? Why are governments so afraid of dissent?
But Obama will change this, right? Bush was totalitarian, but now we have a Liberal in office, things will turn around. Ahh, no.
Obama plans to hold Gitmo detainees indefinitely, just as Bush did.
Obama flip flops on CEO pay caps and his pledge to prosecute illegal wiretapping.
Obama flip flops on his pledge to prosecute those who tortured prisoners during Bush’s presidency.
And of course, you have the secret Anti Counterfeiting Treaty. The US is trying to extend US copyright laws to every country, and for some reason, this is considered a ‘national security’ level secret, since Obama rejected a Freedom if Information Request declaring details on this treaty a national security secret.
When Obama won the presidency, I thought I would have to move this blog away from finding the ‘Truth’ in the political realm, and do more reading on psychology, economics, or some other subject. But it seems Obama will be offering up a lot of material for me to blog on. Depressing, actually.
Yes he was. I had this argument about fifteen years ago with a friend of mine, and I said Hitler was NOT a patriot, making the incorrect assumption that to be a patriot you had to be a ‘good’ person.
Is there any benefit to society if the population is patriotic? It makes people feel like they are part of a group, which is hard wired into us through evolution. Those that grouped together lived, those that tried the lone wolf approach died.
Patriotism makes us more likely to belief someone when they say our country was right, and another one was wrong. It makes people more likely to feel cognitive dissonance when told their country has done something wrong – just look at how Americans fight against the truth that Iraq was not involved in 9/11, and that Hussein had US backing when he killed the Kurds (the chemicals he used were made in Rochester NY!). Or that the US pushed sanctions in the 1990s that killed hundreds of thousands of children in Iraq. I push this last point all the time, because it amazes me how people can continue on with a conversation when I make this statement. We turned the world upside down over 3,000 dead in NYC, but a few hundred thousand dead children? Hmm, yes that is horrible Shane… do you know if it is supposed to rain tomorrow?
Hitler used patriotism, along with other methods, to get Germans to ignore the truth. He himself was patriotic. Although he was extremely evil, he thought his actions were helping his country.
So why do we look at Patriotism as a good thing here in the US, if it is so often used for evil purposes?
Let’s say someone is really smart, becomes a physicist and wins the Nobel Prize. Should we commend him or her for their success? If you are an Atheist, you are probably a fan of Science, so you know your intelligence comes from your genes. If you are religious, you feel the physicist has a ‘god given talent’. Either way, should that person be commended for what they have done?
If you continue down that path, then you have to ask yourself if someone should be ridiculed for not being successful, or lazy, or stupid, or a criminal. If genes determine a person’s ability to be a Physicist, does it determine if they are a naturally happy person? Sarcastic? Pessimistic, loving, funny?
Only Ventura could come up with the question: “If waterboarding isn’t torture, why don’t our police use it on suspects?” His answer on Hasslepuke’s comment that waterboarding is just enhanced interrogation techniques is also priceless. Finally someone was able to shut her up.