Hey Brian
It's very nice to be back in touch with you, but I will not be forwarding this. First of all, in general outline it's not true:
secondly, I object to a lot of the content. I've been spending a lot of time in Brazil and it's a much more diverse society than the US. I'm in Durban, South Africa right now, the same goes for here, too. Americans like to think they have this great track record of welcoming in other people (compared to the rest of the world) but it just ain't so.
I'm currently living in Edmonton, Alberta, and even in this redneck city in the middle of a frozen wasteland (much of the year, anyway) is far more ethnically diverse than, say, liberal Seattle.
The despicable prejudice against Muslims (and Mexicans) our people have been showing of late contradicts what this ignorant (but well-meaning) imaginary Australian dentist has to say - actually a canny right wing propagandist, but more on that later.
I think the Declaration of Independence probably didn't hurt the cause of capital accumulation, but surely the holocaust of the native people and the appropriation of their land was a greater factor (something that a Caucasian dentist in Australia, if he existed, would have a blind spot about) - not to mention colonial domination over much of the world, after the European colonial powers pulverized themselves in WWII).
Back when the US was the colonized, not the colonizers, the richest men in the colonies were concerned that their British overlords were weren't rapacious enough in their dealings with the natives so they took things into their own hands... they sold the hoi polloi a bill of goods about taxation (at least the third of them that fell for it) and after they were in charge, they taxed them more than ever, a trick that the two right wing parties the US chooses from ever couple of years have used ever since... "watch out for those guys, they'll take your money!" and the suckers fall for it every time.
The bit about Afghanistan was a hoot. Brzezinski wants the Carter Administration to get the credit for the downfall of the Soviet Union, and so for a number of years has been bragging that the US funded the Mujaheddin and the Taliban to provoke the Soviets into invading Afghanistan. It doesn't seem like something that any sane person would brag about (and it could be that he's as crazy as his mentor Kissinger) but he's proudly proclaimed it, and I haven't heard a single Republican deny it, so there you have it - the fanatics in Afghanistan were a bipartisan project, but our naive imaginary Australian dentist feels pretty darn good about that, and so should we all. But the Afghanis for the most part don't, and we find it incomprehensible. Perhaps they have a bit of knowledge of history - something that most Americans don't?
Similarly, we don't understand why Pakistanis object to drones bombing civilians. I might add, "any" civilians - like the Pakistani financier (if he even exists), the US government is catholic and indiscriminate in it's choice of murder victims - something that the corrupt government of Pakistan (which the US is tight with, something the author of the piece pretends to be ignorant of) seems to be willing to accept, but that their people by and large, don't.
I wouldn't put too much stock in the National Review (the actual source of this bromide) - a reactionary rag founded by a wealthy elitist (William F Buckley, of course) who believed that it was ok to lie to people for their own good, because they aren't smart enough to figure things out for themselves. While he and many of the Founding Fathers would have found much common cause over that principle, I prefer real democracy, earned by ordinary people who gained it despite elitists who'd like to keep them politically powerless, and ignorant and fearful of the rest of the world.
On Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 1:42 PM, Brian Taylor
<jbriantaylor@yahoo.com> wrote:
Written by an Australian Dentist
To Kill an American
You probably missed this in the rush of news, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper, an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.
So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American is . So they would know when they found one. (Good one, mate!!!!)
'An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish , Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan.
An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.
An American is Christian , or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan . The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.
An American is also free to believe in no religion...... For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God. |
An American lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world.
The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence , which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.
An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return.........
When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country!
As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan . The national sy mbol of America , The Statue of Liberty , welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America
Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11 , 2001 earning a better life for their families. It's been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists. So you can try to kill an American if you must.. Hitler did, so did General Tojo , and Stalin. ![cid:7B856645F91F4D2D868BA88EE9A72480@kitbill]()
Please keep this going!
Pass this around the World .
Then pass it around again. It says it all, for all of us .
Thanks! |
--
Learn about YesArt, the independent creative union at:
http://web.mac.com/borisvasylyshyn/YesArt/Welcome.html I want to play in your town for you and 2 of your friends. Learn the details here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M05c46wdXU 
No comments:
Post a Comment