Ramblings of a Crowe

Iraq perspective and Anti-Americanism

"It's not enough for the law to say we're all equal. If peoples hearts don't change, none of it means anything."
Rurouni Kenshin

I haven't talked at all about what's going on in Iraq. I try to stay away from the issue because it's so complicated on so many levels. Also, the entire fiasco just pisses me off to no end...Our soliders molest people, the Iraqi militants cut off people's heads, our President is a moron with ulterior agendas and it seems that no one knows their heads from their asses half the time...That pretty much sums up my veiw of the whole thing...

Anyway, I ran across a couple blogs of people who are actually inside Baghdad, and they offer an entirely new perspective. I won't say biased, because blogs are almost always biased...but it is interesting to see things from a different point of view. One interesting site is written by a family of native Iraqi's, and their opinions of what is going on is quite interesting. I can't say I always agree with the author, and I find her to be as ignorant as us Americans sometimes (making general assumptions of our country and government as we do with theirs), but it is a blog and everyone is entitled to thier own opinion on things, and she does give a decent discription of what life is like for her right now. Perhaps by talking with one another, we can understand each other better? Or maybe that's just wishful thinking....

Her latest post on 6/16 irked me somewhat...I honestly can't understand why people need to protest violently to get their point across? We aren't children throwing a tantrum, we are suppose to be adults...but the more I think about it, the more I have to believe that it is just a culture different than mine. If they want to jump on cars and scream angrily, so be it. Maybe that's how grown ups behave over there... However, I can't justify dragging the bodies of dead people through the streets to protest US occupation. From a HUMAN point of veiw, that is just sick and morbid. While I can grasp why the Iraqi's are so pissed at us for being there, I mean, I'm pissed we're over there...but my question is...if they are so ticked off about us blowing stuff up and killing innocent people, why aren't they pissed off at their own fellow countrymen who are just as bad as our soliders? Why aren't they protesting the militants and people who defile their religion by using its teachings to murder people? That pisses me off, and I'm not even muslim. Why is it that the Iraqi's can find a voice against the US, but they couldn't find one against Saddam, who even they admit was a sick, murdering, tryant, or against all these radical leaders who tie bombs to children and blow up street corners? To me, their silence condones this behavior. It's okay if its Iraqi's doing it, right?

I just don't understand, and I probably never will...Honestly, I believe that a freedom not earned with your own hands means nothing...I wish we could just leave, but even that wouldn't solve the mess Bush has gotten us into. Even if we did pull out of Iraq, it wouldn't be good enough for the world, who would undoubtably come back and say something like "Look, you destroyed their country and just left them there..." Even though it's obvious they no longer want us there, if we did that, we would still be the "bad guys." So, thanks Pres. Bush for putting us into a no win situation where lots of people have to die and the US gets her reputation utterly shattered. You will certainly be remembered in my head as the most idiotic, self centered president I've seen to date.

All the anti-americanisim bugs the hell out of me too. Everyone has an opinion of the US. Everyone is suddenly and expert on us...it's rediculous. Oh, I expect it, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. Not all of us Americans are carbon copies of Bush and his cronies. Not all of us are war mongers. Not all of us patriotic zealots. Do I love my country? Hell yeah. I'm happy I'm an American. What's so wrong with that? Do you think I had a choice where I was born? Or that I would want one? I see postings all over the web where my fellow countrymen are saying "I'm sad I'm an American" or "I wish I lived in another country"...or even better, they pass themselves off as Canadians while traveling abroad to places like Europe. This disgusts me...get the hell out if you hate it so much or have to run and hide when things get rough...I'm pissed at what our government has done too, but I'm still happy to be from the USA...

Are the people in the US ignorant? Yeah, we are. Are we conceited? Yeah, we are. Are we perfect? No, we aren't. And I wish the rest of the world would stop nitpicking at our downfalls and expecting us to be perfect...or claiming to understand how our society works and how our culture is. Someone once said that American's don't have a "culture"...that's so stupid...open your frickin eyes...there's culture in the US, mixed in with cultures from around the globe...you have to look for it, but it's there. That's what makes the US the US...or perhaps people have forgotten that the US was birthed on the backs of people trying to escape persicution from their homelands all across the world. You find our culture "strange" or "unorginal"? Please...what do you expect? Of course, it's much easier to just pass judgement based on what the media says. Apparently other nations media isn't full of propaganda or bias like ours is (this is sarcasim).

Seriously, we Americans are idiots when it comes to dealing with foreign countries, despite the fact we live shoulder to shoulder with immigrants from all over the world. A friend from overseas once told me, it broke her heart to see so many different people living side by side but not really making an effort to understand one another. I have to agree. We aren't taught anything more than the barest of world history in school. Foreign languages are taught as a joke here, with most schools only offering courses in Spanish, French, or German. It's like the education system doesn't expect the next generation to have any use for being bilingual. Why bother when everyone speaks English, right? (sarcasim) We aren't taught what modern Europe, Japan, Middle East, etc is like. Nobody explains cultural differences to us. We grow up thinking everyone must be like us...and that's pretty disheartening.

At anyrate, times like these are meant to try our patience. I expect people to be angry with the US government, but those of them claiming that all Americans are a like are even more ignorant, and only make themselves look like fools in the end. It's like me saying that all French people are snobs, all Iraqis are terrorists, all British have bad teeth, all Russians are theives, and everyone in Denmark does drugs....stop with the stereotyping please. It's stupid.

Maybe someday we'll be able to see beyond our nationalities and finally realize that we are all, indeed, humans. What a fantastic notion, eh?

Posted by Zoso at June 16, 2004 01:12 PM