[thechat] P.o.Ws - Thought this was interesting...

[Judah McAuley]

At 12:29 PM 1/28/2002 -0800, Erika Meyer expounded...
>For some reason, it seems that American citizens are able to exert
>very little influence on foreign policy.  Can anyone recall a time
>where American citizens were asked to vote on anything having to do
>with foreign policy?

We're a republic, not a democracy.  We've never voted on federal matters,
just federal representatives.  I'd be potentially interested in exploring a
more direct democracy type of government.  We're approaching a time where
direct democracy could be practical in a nation the size of the
US.  Advances in telecommunications does give us, potentially, the ability
to do it.  but, as you point out later, our citizens aren't really educated
in civics, law, foreign policy, etc.  So it might not be such a wise idea
to go for direct democracy.

>It's sort of a Catch-22 because as a whole, we're a pretty uneducated
>nation, and so I'm not sure whether democratizing our foreign policy
>would do much good.  This is a society built on self-righteousness &
>might makes right.

Actually, we are a pretty well educated country (in terms of basic
literacy, basic math skills, etc).  But we do a lousy job (at the high
school level) of teaching history and civics.  We also do a pretty lousy
job teaching natural history/biology.  I wonder if they are related?  It
seems like we have the hardest time teaching the things that are closest to
us: our recent history and what is going on in the world around us.

>Critical thinking is not something that is encouraged of the
>populace.  Critical thinking would interfere with our voluntary
>enslavement to the shitstem.

I would agree with that 100%.


>How many children are starving in Afghanistan?  What's up with the
>Caspian oil?  What is going down with our drug war in Colombia?  I
>don't know, but when the founder of Wendy's hamburgers died, it was
>front-page news.

Lot's of children are starving in Afghanistan.  I'd say even most.  Of
course, many of them were starving prior to our bombing of
Afghanistan.  And it's well known that war causes death, famine and most
any manner of unpleasantness.  I do believe that the American populous
understands that war really sucks for the other guys and that bad things
happen.  They were for it anyway.
As far as Caspian oil goes, that one really sticks in my craw.  I sincerely
believed that the Gulf war had a great deal to do with oil and
economics.  But those people who argue that the war in Afghanistan was
about oil just piss me off.  There are lots of things to criticize about
our current actions throughout the world.  It cheapens and nullifies those
efforts when people try to pin *everything* on multinational
economics.  Sometimes people hate other people and attack them and then
those people fight back.  Without regard to economics or any planned
rational world order justification.
Our drug war in Colombia?  People in Colombia are rebelling against
it.  Colombia's government is trapped between right-wing and left-wing
militias.  They continue to take US funds in an effort to gain control of
the situation even though they don't really agree with US drug policy
regarding Columbia.  How do I know this?  Reading AP and Reuters
articles.  They aren't controlled as much as many people on the left or the
right would have you think.

>Often I feel so helpless, so like the rest, I just seek to escape.
>Sex, drugs, rock n' roll, whatever it takes.
>
>Rock n' roll is the best thing America have to offer the world,
>really.  It comes from the blues: pain, longing, oppression,
>rebellion, desire...  some things cannot be changed, but at least we
>can forget about it while we're dancing.
>
>And in the end....
>what goes around comes around.

Amen to that.

Judah