Battleangel

Ok, so this is pretty much a constant annoyance these days. However, this time they have really stepped out of bounds as far as I am concerned. And here is why …

We’ve all heard the news by now .. Freedom Fries. This has got to be the single most stupid thing I have heard since .. well .. ever possibly. The power of a name is indeed great but that is no excuse for blatant stupidity. If it gets any more patriotic, Steven Seagal will probably be at the House making the damn things himself.
And btw, it’s POMMES FRITES, not “French Fries”. And go ahead and ban them altogether because *gasp* they make you fat. We all know what nation could really need to cut back on the calorie intake anyway.
And the stupidity never ends. Just the other day, a member of congress proposed that the government should pay for families who would wish to bring home relatives who had fallen in combat (during WWI / WWII):

“I, along with many other Americans, do not feel that the French government appreciates the sacrifices men and women in uniform have made to defend the freedom that the French enjoy today,” Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite said in introducing legislation providing financial help for the reburial of veterans from the two world wars.

Source: CNN

It is interesting that everything has got to have a pricetag with some people. Kind of makes you reluctant to offer or accept help from anyone else, doesn’t it? And people keep living in the past, or at least when it suits their purposes.
It is also interesting how some people can judge matters that they really aren’t competent to decide. The only people who have the right to speak in this matter are obviously dead (duh!). Personally, I find it revolting that someone might use my dead body as a political or moral commodity. I have briefly touched upon this matter before while discussing the difficulties imposed on cryogenics and euthanasia for example. Someone is basically saying that your effort was in vain and that you were an idiot for dying in France. That is the ultimate way of disrespecting the sacrifices that those individuals made.

What it really boils down to is the lack of respect. Respect for another sovereign nation having a different opinion. Not that France is alone on this but you know how people work. No one anticipates Russia or China to play ball. Nor are they members of NATO. And so, we are back in the good old days of WWII. Who saved who, where, when and why .. and to what extent?

I wont go so far as to condemn the US as a nation. The fact of the matter is just that they have some seriously rotten apples in their basket. People that have been skulking in the shadows and pulling strings since at least the Vietnam War. I wont turn this into another Bush hate campaign because I am too much of a pragmatist to blame a single individual, even if he may be a president. No, the flaws go much deeper and are indeed more serious than this.
I am not even sure that I could point to a single group of people and hold them responsible for the policy even if I wanted to. I’d like to think that there is a well defined group of “hawks” that could be routed and the problem would be fixed. But even hawks have to come from somewhere. You just don’t make them in little boxes at Langley. I’d like to think that there is some covert agenda here .. an Illuminati pulling strings for their own benefit. But this would all require intent and a common goal. That would really be a story born in Hollywood.

Maybe this thinking has just been integrated into the american society and is indeed something that every child is subjected to. A sort of master race arrogance that Adolf would be proud of. Maybe it’s a news-hungry media that creates wide spread panic as soon as there is even a smidgen of danger in the air. Maybe it is the sign of a corrupt political process. But then again, politics in itself is a corrupt concept. This is however an entirely different debate because in most “democratic” countries, they also behave in a sensible and ordered fashion. The Swedish army for example hasn’t fought a battle in 200 years and we still live to tell the story. Some might say that we, like the French, dodged WWII in various ways (the difference is that they got invaded!). Some might also say that Nazi Germany was born through the flaws of democracy. Put simply, if you elect the wrong guy at the wrong time, then democracy is no good. Democracy is no better than the names on the ballot and the ideologies that they claim to represent. Mix this with part male stubbornness (yes I admit it!) and you have all the ingredients for a global catastrophe. At least with time. What I am saying is that there is no universal rule or form of government that will produce a “truth”. That is also the reason that we shouldn’t be so quick to impose our own truths on others. Especially not in matters of ideology, moral and other non-scientific topics.

The current aggressiveness and meddling that the US in currently involved in is the perfect breeding grounds for new Bin Ladins. Only this time they aren’t bearded Arabs but rather anyone. Lets face it, people do not like to be told what to do. They would much rather figure it out by themselves. In fact, there is always a significant risk that people do the exact opposite of what you tell them to, if nothing else, just out of spite.

I have noticed that G W Bush is very fond of using religious paradigms. Looking back through history, the only thing worse than a (fundamental) Muslim is a Christian. And religion is only slightly short of insanity. Again, this only reflects the american society where so many still kling to superstition and shun the reality of the modern world.
I would like to say so much more but I feel so very tired. Anyway, it is only appropriate that I sign off with a biblical quote that pretty much says it all.
“.. They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind”