Have you heard that the world's gone crazy?
Young Americans listen when I say there's people puttin' us down
I know they're sayin' that we've gone lazy
To tell you the truth we've all seen better days
Don't need no fast buck lame duck profits for fun
Quick trick plans, take the money and run
We need long term, slow burn, getting it done
And some straight talking, hard working son of a gun.
Whatcha doin' tonight, I got faith in our generation
Let's stick together and futurize our attitudes
I ain't lookin' to fight, but I know with determination
We can challenge the schemers who cheat all the rules
Come on take pride, be wise, spottin' the fools
No more big shots, crackpots bending the rules
A fair shot here for me and for you
Knowing that we can't lose
Styx Rocking the Paradise
I think that these words ring as true today as they did in 1981 when the album was released. Except, now the people puttin' us down are also blowing us up and have declared war, not on us, but on our way of life.
The enemy does not want to take some of our land, they want to see all of us dead. They want our way of life dead. They want to strangle Ronald McDonald in the street, and behead Jack (of Jack in the Box) in front of a video camera. They want to control what music we listen to, what we wear and how we worship.
Now, as a Buddhist, I am supposed to be against killing. And I am in most cases. However, I feel that defense of my family's life, of my freedom and of the freedom of my country people is a worthy cause. I salute the men and women that are on the front lines – giving up their holiday time with their family's to defend us, and to help another people realize the freedom that we all deserve.
As a people, we must approach the rest of the world with compassion, and a iron fist in a velvet glove. When we need to hit, it must be hard, precise and with out remorse. However, when the iron fist is not the answer, we have to start actually helping the rest of the world. We cannot continue our ways of funding extremists who happen to be fighting our enemy at the time. If there is a famine, we need to assist as the richest country in the world can. We need stop propping up governments and companys – and start dealing with the problems at home. We need to behave less like codependent parents and more like a good friend.
-Tsyko
5 comments:
Domo Arigato!
The cold war distorted our foreign policy badly. I'd be more critical, but since we won it is somewhat hard to argue with success (although I am not sure that our foreign policy made things easier rather than harder.)
Regardless, the cold war is over and we need to continue to alter our foreign policy to deal with the times. The most profound thing to realize, as you have alluded to, is the only free democratic countries can be counted on, long term, to not be a threat. This means continual pressure on those countries who are our 'allies' but somewhat despotic in nature to reform.
A certain amount of real-politic is probably needed though. For example, while Musharaf isn't my number one hero, he is better then the alternative and the fact that Pakistan has nuclear weapons makes the alternative very scary. We need to support him, and while we should encourage him to reform, it probably does need to be at a gradual pace.
I think that we did a good job of winning the cold war - I think that our foreign policy was not the winning factor. I think that our economy was the winning factor. We did not beat the Soviets, we simply spent them into the ground.
I think that a lot of the hatred the rest of the world feels for the US is in part a left over from our poor foreign policy. We really have not done a good job making friends out there. A lot of this started when we were interceding in Central American country's in the 20's and 30's. We have always been good at being bullies, and not always good at being friends.
Now, as a result of our past poor choices, we are stuck fighting our way out of a situation that we caused. You live with the cards that you are dealt, I am just hoping that we can learn from the past, and start to act more like adults on the world stage.
I think it ain't gonna' matter a whole helluva' lot what the USA decides to do in foreign policy regarding our stance towards the nations that war against us. They do so for a reason that has not so much to do with us, and much more to do with them.
Hatred. Like Tsykoduk said, they hate us, our way of life, our freedoms, etc. No matter how nice we are to any of them (building schools, roads, sewars, dams, you name it) they are always going to hate us. It is prejudice and racism and ethnocentricity to the max.
The USA gives away more of our GNP than any other nation in an effort to build our world into a place of peace and understanding. Yes, our government also does soem stupid, stupid shit, but in the end how will we be judged? On the strata of working towards world peace we have a darn good track record, in spite of our failings.
I fear the USA is going the way of the Roman Empire, and I pray my family doesn't live to see it. It will get worse before it gets better as our society makes the rich richer, the poor poorer, and our moral, ethical, and intellectual fibers erode under the mindless ministrations of mass media.
Wow...maybe I better post this to my own blog, for cryin' out loud! :) Thanks for asking questions, Tsyko. It helps.
The last 70 or 80 years of foreign policy's effect cannot be undone in a day or a year, I agree. It has to be a really long term goal. It's better to make freinds then to hook more people up to the teat of American Welfare.
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