From The Black Commentator:
Massacre is an acquired taste. The United States is arguably the only country on the planet whose national personality and self-image is rooted in centuries of unremitting expansion through race war punctuated by massacre. There have always been “free-fire zones” all along the coveted, ever moving peripheries of white American power, from the “Indian country” surrounding the settler beachheads of Plymouth Rock and Jamestown to the “Sunni Triangle” of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan. Whole peoples – millions – have been erased in the glorious march of American Manifest Destiny.
31 comments:
Why do you stay in this country, Nadir? If you feel that strongly that this country is so evil, why don't you leave? Move to Canada. Move to Africa. Move to Europe. Anywhere must be better than staying here in your mind.
But you can't though, can you, because you're a hypocrite. You enjoy all the creature comforts and freedoms that go along with being an American citizen far too much to leave. You know all-too well that in far too many places around the globe (Many of which you have even romanticized: Venezuala, Cuba, etc.) you would never get away with your criticism of the government and political leaders as you can and do living here.
But why be so miserable? Is it because it makes for such inspiring songwriting topics?
How sad it is that you seem able to only see the bad and the negative in anything pertaining to this wonderful country in which you live. I really feel sorry for you.
I really do.
I'm not miserable. Don't feel sorry for me. This country's history of murder and imperialism doesn't depress me. If anything, it emboldens me to do my part to make America a better place.
At any rate, you can't refute anything that is in this essay. In fact, you celebrate and support the racist wars and murderous history of this great nation.
I feel sorry for you because you can't see any other alternative than murder in your efforts to force others to live the way you want them to live. Isn't that terrorism? It certainly isn't democracy.
You don't apologize for your country's most dastardly deeds. If anything you either ignore them or shoot your glock in the air to cheer the death and destruction of yet another primative asshole who has fallen under the heel of America's boot.
Don't feel sorry for me. Feel sorry for yourself.
Don't be surprised if I leave at some point though.
No, you're wrong Nadir. I do acknowledge the darker side of American history and the wrongdoings it has committed. And even if I wanted to, it would be impossible not to seeing as these days that's the only part of American history that seems to be highlighted, thanks to guys like you.
I am willing to admit that the United States has committed wrongdoings throughout it's history, but you seem unwilling, or unable to acknowldge any of the great things this country has accomplished that have benefitted not only Americans, but people in every corner of the globe.
If this such an awful place, why have people from all over the world flocked and continue to flock here looking for a better life? Because they, unlike you, know what a great country this is.
By the way, I don't own glock. I don't own a gun of any sort as a matter of fact. Some right-winger I am, huh?
Nadir says: "At any rate, you can't refute anything that is in this essay."
Bullshit. I read your precious "essay" and there's nothing in it that is exclusive to America, Americans, or American history. The only thing this essay is exclusive to is human nature, not "American" human nature. Societies having been killing and slaughtering each other since the dawn of man.
I'm sure those peace loving indiginous native Americans never slaughtered each other before the colonists arrived on their shores. Nooooo. I'm sure the thought never even occured to them.
This essay could have been taken directly from a Communist textbook designed to villify America. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that Joseph Stalin murdered and slaughtered more of his own people in his own lifetime than America has "murdered" in its entire history. But that doesn't count does it? Communism gets a free pass with you, doesn't it?
I'd be quite interested to know what kind of political affiliations the authors of this essay have.
War is a part of human history. American history, however, celebrates its massacres and its attacks on non-white people as part of its mythology. The United States was founded on another people's land and was built on the backs of another people's slave labor. Its empire has grown through imperial warfare that started on the east coast of North America, crossed the continent, and has infiltrated every corner of the globe.
This is the America that you love.
"The United States was founded on another people's land and was built on the backs of another people's slave labor. Its empire has grown through imperial warfare that started on the east coast of North America, crossed the continent, and has infiltrated every corner of the globe."
And what nation wasn't? Again, a classic example of the villification of America.
And yes, I do love this country.
Oh and by the way, in case you forgot, we fought a war with ourselves that nearly destroyed this country to free those slaves.
What other nation in history can make that claim?
A partial list of America's positive contributions to the world:
jazz, basketball, Jimi Hendrix (though he had to leave the country to get recognition first), the phonograph, blue jeans, Langston Hughes, Robert Redford, Janet Jackson's right nipple, Malcolm X, pizza, the elevator, Alice Walker, Johnny Cash, Motown, James Brown, Martin Luther King, Jr., the electric bass guitar, Ernest Hemingway (though his best work was done in Cuba), Muhammad Ali, Richard Pryor, Walter Cronkite, 4:20, the thong...
I can't believe you even brought up the Civil War.
The Civil War was fought for Northern economic and political superiority over the South. The South (the other half of America at the time) fought to insure that they could keep people enslaved. Then federal, state and local governments conspired to keep black people powerless for 100 years after slavery ended.
Other nations (Britain, France, Spain, etc.) abolished slavery once they realized what a horrible business model it is. The US only ended slavery because it was a convenient political tactic.
You keep coming up with positive things America did to right the wrongs it committed before.
"The Civil War was fought to end slavery." Bullshit. It wasn't. And why use slave labor in the first place?
"We're building new schools in Iraq." Bullshit. You shouldn't have blown up the perfectly good schools that were there.
"We helped Japan rebuild after WWII." Bullshit. After US planes bombed the hell out of the country and then vaporized 200,000 people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
I can't wait to see how Paul weighs in on the Civil War issue. After he's finished with his latest entry on the Duke rape case that is.
"I can't wait to see how Paul weighs in on the Civil War issue."
He'll say the same simple-minded bullshit he always says. Paul claims Lincoln lied when he said he freed the slaves as a political tactic. I happen to think he was telling the truth.
You know why? Because he only freed the slaves in the Confederate states which he didn't even control at the time.
You know, there's a song by Andy Partridge of the band XTC (my favorite band by the way) that he wrote for his father called "Hold Me My Daddy", but there's particular section of the lyric that could easily describe you and me (except for the "merely related" part of course):
"And if you agree we can make amends.All this squabbling I've hated.
In another time and another place where our history bends,We could've been the best of friends and not merely related."
More American contributions to the world:
George Carlin, Netflix, Redd Foxx, Lenny Bruce, George Gershwin, Tracy Chapman, Tony Bennett, the airplane (though the current state of the American airline industry is a spot on this legacy), Prince, Mark Twain, Pam Grier, Rick James, did I say 4:20?...
It's nearly 4:20. Literally and well, literally. ;-)
Andy Partridge is from the UK.
That reminds me. I need to buy "Oranges and Lemons" again...
"Here Comes President Kill Again" by Andy Partridge of XTC
Here comes President Kill again,
Surrounded by all of his killing men.
Telling us who, why, where and when,
President Kill wants killing again.
Hooray, ring out the bells,
King Conscience is dead.
Hooray, now back in your cells,
We've President Kill instead.
Here comes President Kill again.
Broadcasting from his killing den.
Dressed in pounds and dollars and yen,
President Kill wants killing again.
Hooray, hang out the flags,
Queen Caring is dead.
Hooray, we'll stack body bags,
For President Kill instead.
Ain't democracy wonderful?
Them Russians can't win!
Ain't democracy wonderful?
Lets us vote someone like that in.
Here comes President Kill again,
from pure White House to Number 10.
Taking lives with a smoking pen,
President Kill wants killing again.
Hooray, everything's great,
Now President Kill is dead.
Hooray, I'll bet you can't wait,
To vote for President Kill instead...
"Here Comes President Kill Again"
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. I said they were my favorite band, but not that I necessarily agree with their politics. Great song though.
Can't really even call them a "band" anymore now that it's just Partridge and Moulding, but they still turn out great music.
I was really disappointed when Dave Gregory left. He's a great guitar player. Partridge ain't no slouch though. And Colin Moulding's one my favorite bass players too.
I just downloaded Oranges and Lemons. One of my favorite albums of all time.
I've got (Virtually. There's a couple of odd releases I don't have)) their entire catalog.
===(Nadir) you can't refute anything that is in this essay.===
Nadir: I don't refute that the US govt and many of its people have committed disgusting atrocities, many premised on racism, throughout its history. Please cite any world power of any so-called color or race that has not. Brutal expansion and subjugation by civilizations is a dull cliche.
What makes the US special is not that it was once premised on slavery. All African civilizations beate the US to that distinction, as did many other civilizations. Subjugation of its own people also does not make the US unique in history, nor does its brutal, unjustifiable expansion and conquest of other nations, activities also perfected by every African, Asian, or American civilization that predated it.
What makes the US special are its constant, precident-setting abandonment of these practices over the years.
"What makes the US special are its constant, precident-setting abandonment of these practices over the years."
Yes, it has abandoned these practices over and over again.
The US has been involved in a violent conflict either inside or outside its borders almost every year in its two and a quarter centuries of existence. Most of these wars were either wars of military conquest or wars of economic and political conquest.
Other countries go for years, even decades, without attacking or bombing or massacring anyone...
Something about the US... things just don't seem right if someone isn't getting kilt.
The US is the Evil Empire from Star Wars. Our president is always Darth Vader. We all live in constant fear of aprehension and execution by government agents... if corporate agents haven't already confined us to sweatshops, barely earning enough to pay for enormous flat screen TVs and shopping sprees at Whole Foods... attended by the individuals compsing the torrent of immigrant survivors from US military pogroms around the globe.
==(Six) "I can't wait to see how Paul weighs in on the Civil War issue."
==(Nadir) He'll say the same simple-minded bullshit he always says. Paul claims Lincoln lied when he said he freed the slaves as a political tactic. I happen to think he was telling the truth. You know why? Because he only freed the slaves in the Confederate states which he didn't even control at the time.
Nadir: How do you think that Lincoln's electorate would have responded had he behaved and spoken in such a way to have made you proud in 2006? If you and I could build a time machine and go back to dictate Lincoln's deeds and words, could we have possibly concocted a different plan that sped by a single second the rate at which black folks moved from bondage to freedom?
Are you aware of the transformation of sentiment of white Union state residents on the matter of black rights from 1860 (opposition to war, emancipation, sufferage, full citizenship) to 1865 (complete reversal)? Are you aware of how this sentiment shifted when Lincoln phrased his Proclaimation as he did (so objectionable to you in 1865) and the confederates still rejected it? Can you start to see how this step helped disrobe the Confedrates as naked racists, layer by layer? Are you aware of the concepts of subtlety and politics and persuasion?
You would have prefered that Lincoln spoke like William Llyodd Garrison and Sojourner Truth, but then what hope would he have had of getting elected? What hope would slave have had then, with Steven Douglas as the US president?
Are you aware of the assessment of Lincoln by Frederick Douglas, and its progression from 1860 (fierce opponent) to 1865 (humbled champion)? Are you aware whom the confederates hated the most? Why, if he really agreed with their racist views, and merely sought to preserve the union? Are you aware that Lincoln baldly equated preserving the union with emancipation?
====(Six) we fought a war with ourselves that nearly destroyed this country to free those slaves.===
This is a complicated topic, in my view, but the above claim largely holds true. A very substantial minority of white folks fiercely opposed both slavery and black subjugation of any kind, and in many important areas -- such as Boston -- this fraction constituted a clear majority. Without this population and their goal of racial equality, the civil war would not have occured, though we may imagine that blacks on their own would have obtained their own freedom eventually. Such happened in Haiti, with results disasterous (white-on-black slavery traded for black-on-black), and several decades later in the various African nations where slavery existed, also with progress for freed peoples so minute that a dominant goal for most became immigration to the nation that Nadir castigates as racistly evil.
By 1865, a majority of honkies in the US Union states had advanced to holding a view relatively novel on earth: racial equality. The orignal unsullied Union troops indeed fought to "preserve the union", but by the time blood flow became a gusher, "freeing the slaves" was the clear clarion call, as countless studies of diaries and letters homes prove, as well as opinion polls and newspaper editorials.
Nations like Britain indeed ended slavery sooner than did the US, but the eventual Union states ended slavery around the time that Britain did, and Britain never had an extensive slave population. It helps to remember that in 1860 the US was not "The" US, it was "those US" and "these US"; it was a collection of states. The abolition of slavery in nations like Britain was an important step indeed, but the biggest and most important "Empire of Slavery" (as confederates would describe themserlves) had its northern border on the Mason-Dixon line and its southern border on the north American gulf coast. Ending that emprire cost nearly 200,000 union troop lives, and most of them died "to free the slaves", and they died fighting men who fought to "preserve slavery and white supremacy". Read the letters of these men and see for yourself; they fought for the opposite reasons, not two disconnected reasons.
===(Nadir)"The Civil War was fought to end slavery." Bullshit. It wasn't. And why use slave labor in the first place?==
Nadir: Are you as critical of the black African peoples who then -- and now -- practiced slavery? Where on earth in 1700 and 1800 did slavery no exist?
"The US is the Evil Empire from Star Wars. Our president is always Darth Vader."
Not a direct analogy, but George Lucas would appreciate the fact that you've noticed the similarities.
"If you and I could build a time machine and go back to dictate Lincoln's deeds and words, could we have possibly concocted a different plan that sped by a single second the rate at which black folks moved from bondage to freedom?"
I would concede that Lincoln was a good leader in many regards. He made sound decisions that were politically necessary at the time.
This does not mean that he was some humanitarian or even that he was an abolitionist. His primary concern was preserving the Union, and he admitted he would do it any way that he could. His personal choice would have been to send blacks back to Africa, but that wasn't practical. That doesn't make him sound like he was trying to build a rainbow coalition...
Whites in the Union were ready for the war to end by 1863, and that may have had an effect on poll numbers, but feelings of sympathy for the slaves wasn't the reason.
In fact, there were riots when Lincoln instituted the draft in an effort to stop the war. Whites didn't want to fight a war to free the slaves. You know about those riots, don't you?
That draft may not have been necessary if Lincoln had allowed black troops to join the army earlier. Free blacks volunteered in droves. Instead Abe refused until his white troops were being so badly beaten that he didn't have a choice.
Frederick Douglass didn't like Lincoln at first because he sensed Lincoln didn't give a damn about blacks. He decided later that Lincoln had made the most politically expedient decisions, and he developed a respect for those choices.
Slavery was abolished in Britain because it was a bad business model. The same was true in other slaveholding nations. It was true in the US, but the Southern aristocracy didn't want to change their business model.
The Southerners knew that most Northerners didn't give a damn about blacks. They just wanted to shift the economy toward a more industrial base, and Southern slave labor was a threat to Northern companies who couldn't compete with a labor force that has near zero labor costs.
I always mention this, but you should reopen your copy of "Capitalism and Slavery" by Eric Williams (who was a horrible totalitarian leader in Trinidad many years after he wrote that book).
"Are you as critical of the black African peoples who then -- and now -- practiced slavery? Where on earth in 1700 and 1800 did slavery no exist?"
I am critical of anyone who has or does place other human beings in slavery. The difference between African slavery and US slavery was that free blacks could not be legally enslaved because some random slave owner claimed that the free black was actually an escaped slave.
Black Africans never enslaved other black Africans simply because those other Africans were black. Can you present an example of when that happened? Ever?
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