Some lovely photos from mainland Europe today. The hate trend is well in place and this is not a trend that I am looking to ride.
Days like today seem quite depressing and overwhelming.
Go be nice to someone. I intend to.
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I’m sure it won’t be long before we find out how all of this is America’s fault…and how this was a religion of peace in the 90’s
It is overwhelming how people can take the time to create signs that ask for death. As bad as Bush is, that kind of hate is not something that makes me sleep well.
How can we ever win this war.
Chicken and the Egg. Bush hasn’t made them like us, that’s for sure. But at the same time, you have to respond.
To all the blame-bush or blame-america for everything crowd….I just have to ask—what exactly was it that bush did in his first 9 months that made these exact same people so hateful as to fly planes into buildings?
If I remember correctly, on Sept 11 2001 we were not in Iraq….so what was it?
Isn’t it possible that all of this was COMING, that ignoring it was making it WORSE, and that the best course of action is to SQUASH it instead of REASON with people like this?
It’s just way too popular and easy to blame Bush for everything instead of reading these signs. Just a thought from someone that really doesn’t even like Bush that much.
In no way do I condone violence of any sorts. That includes the Iraqi war. I’m quite confident that war could have been averted and that Saddam, a sociopath he may be, could have been brought to terms that would have been good for the US and good for him. Remember, we once were his ally. Ditto with Iran. Do we all know where Iran got their first nuclear reactor? The US under the terrorist Shah’s rule. A brutal SOB we supported and a police state which allowed fundamentalism to gain a grip on a once progessive society.
The reality is the US is the latest of colonial powers to play global chess with the countries of the Middle East. We shit on whom we find convenient at the time and leave a mess in our wake in an attempt to influence outcomes. We left Afghanistan after we had managed to defeat the Soviets without really caring about the people or financially helping them. We support Saudi Arabia which persecutes its people. I mean, what the hell do we expect? Honestly? Forty years of aggressive foreign policy.
The Europeans? Well, they allow immigration but then the immigrants are encouraged not to assimilate into society or aren’t given citizenship or cannot find work for the masses. So, why are people upset in Europe? Maybe the same reason Americans were upset in New Orleans: they feel shit on and let down. Maybe there is no economic opportunity. Maybe the same reason Watts is a perpetual mess in LA. Do you think those boys would be out staging such hatred if they were all were gainfully employed with decent jobs? Maslow’s Hierarchy.
That said, the fundamental basis for the mess and hatred in the Middle East is lack of opportunity for the average person. Thugs rule the countries and they are nothing more than crooked goons who use secret police to terrorize their own people with fear. Aka the Nazis. So, it’s easy to convince them the reason for their mess is America who just so happens to do them the courtesy of always sticking our nose in every international conflict because we have an opinion of the outcome.
It’s psychology 101. And, if you were in the same situation, you’d be one angry SOB as well. Why? Because regardless of whether radical Islam has a grip, it is allowed to perpetuate itself and gain a hold because people have no opportunity. Hey, how did the Nazis come to power? NO ECONOMIC opportunity post WWI when the allies basically shackled Germany to teach it a lesson. It isn’t our fault. But, by sticking our nose in the shit time and again, we make ourselves a convenient scapegoat for the goons running the countries over there.
What’s the moral of the story? We aren’t going to fix it and our foreign policy should be “walk softly and carry a big stick”. Eisenhower was right about the military industrial complex. It freaks me out that signs are brewing that we are showing signs of losing our freedoms, ie police state, all in the name of our own safety.
Concentration of power is never to be trusted. Ever. At its very heart, power is capable of unspeakable acts.
How do we win this war? Maybe by looking inside ourselves. We aren’t responsible for the economic mess these people experience but we can change our policy so that we aren’t so aggressive that we are involved in every conflict thus providing the goons an opportunity to blame the lack of economic opportunity on us. It’s sort of like being in a dysfunctional relationship and deciding you no longer want to be part of it. You can’t fix the other person who is dysfunctional but you can stop your own actions from perpetuating the dysfunction. So, what do you do? You leave.
Whew! Have some ice cream and enjoy the weather. lol.