Patriotism: A Cruel Form of Terror

Many cynical people who think national borders are a mythological joke still resort to patriotic swaggering on the Fourth of July to demonstrate their commitment to their country. Tonight I will be joining friends to watch the city of San Francisco blow up fire works evoking countless bombs that have been dropped on people throughout the world. The bright lights and loud noises, the smoke and the crowds will ultimately remind me of the loud noises of crowd control devices and will probably make me cringe. I will think of these countries:

Afghanistan 1998, 2001-present Bosnia 1994, 1995 Cambodia 1969-70 China 1945-46, 1950-53 Congo 1964 Cuba 1959-1961 El Salvador 1980s Korea 1950-53 Guatemala 1954, 1960, 1967-69

Indonesia 1958 Laos 1964-73 Grenada 1983 Iraq 1991-present Iran 1987 Kuwait 1991 Lebanon 1983, 1984 Libya 1986 Nicaragua 1980s

Pakistan 2003, 2006 Panama 1989 Peru 1965 Somalia 1993, 2008 Sudan 1998 Vietnam 1961-73 Yemen 2002 Yugoslavia 1999

all bombed since World War II.

I will think of the 50 gunshots fired by the New York Police department at Sean Bell. I will think of the millions of people murdered by U.S. Imperialism.

The flickering lights, the screaming crowds, the throngs of patriots will remind me of every time the United States has used explosives and guns to murder and terrorize people around the world. What the U.S. calls Independence day is a day when hundreds of thousands of fireworks resurrect the despicable pride of patriots. Karmic retribution, what Chalmers Johnson refers to as Blowback, threatens the future of this country. Terrorism against the United States occurs because we have waged terror against billions throughout the world.

Some Fear Carbohydrates; Some Fear Capitalism

Perhaps the world can be divided into two camps: 1) those who fear carbohydrates; 2) those who fear capitalism.

Those who fear carbohydrates tend to buy into mass media scares, fad diets, and technological solutions to problems humans solved long ago. They think the fix to global warming is nuclear power, the fix to justifiable terrorist attacks, or what Chalmers Johnson refers to as "blowback," is a higher level of military attack on poor countries.

They think to solve poverty you must starve the poor and refuse them adequate healthcare in order to inspire winning competitive attitudes on the market. Often these are the same people that advocate for abstinence rather than safer sex and salvation in heaven rather than on earth. These people believe that to be in harmony with nature we must work against it, modify it, fix it. They believe that though "God" created the earth, that it can be improved upon by human ingenuity.

These people believe that to be "in the trenches" means to serve as middle management or at the executive level of a company rather than on the floor of a factory or in the pits of a mine. Despite having one and a half bathrooms per person, or more, they view themselves as part of the struggling lower middle class.

They believe the solution to racism is for black people to get over their bad attitudes and they believe the solution to works rights is the free market. These are the dangerous people, uneducated by our public schools, unfamiliar with global communities, unaware of the violence within the United States, unable to hear the pleading voices of soldiers begging the United States to leave Iraq, unable to hear the pleading voices of Iraqis begging the United States to leave.

They will dictate the vote on both sides of the aisle. They will stand in alliance with the minority of people who believe that the electoral system in the United States is fair. They will drive us towards our destruction.

I prefer people who like carbohydrates and hate capitalism.