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. . . . . . mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
. . . . . In dedication to
. . . . . . mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm everyone who was lost
. . . . . or lost someone
. . . . . . mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm September 11, 2001:
. . . . . Anada 434
. . . . . . mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm "In Mind (Bandulu Remix)"
by Pavement
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09/30/01
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I've spent the last few days at work conducting a Department of
Defense sponsored survey. If your phone number winds up on our hitlist,
I'll be asking you:
* "How likely is it that terrorists will explode a nuclear bomb in
the United States within the next ten years?"
* "How likely is it that terrorists will use chemical weapons or
deadly gas in the United States within the next ten years?"
Almost invariably, I'm told it's very or somewhat likely, and I'm
inclined to agree.
When I think about the future of the United States, it's impossible
for me to be optimistic. Americans are bloodthirsty right now. They want
revenge on the (as one especially ignorant survey respondent put it to me)
"fucking sand niggers that don't respect democracy no more." Americans are
willing to wipe a country off the face of the Earth, if it means Osama Bin
Laden and his followers are among the millions killed. Americans think
giving up their civil liberties will protect our country. I, for one, am
not proud to be an American right now.
I wasn't flying a flag before the tragedy, I'm not flying one now,
and I don't plan on flying one tomorrow or the day after. I'm neither
ashamed nor proud of my nationality. It was extreme good fortune that I was
born a citizen of the current world power, but I had no more control over it
than the color of my eyes. My parents had sex in the winter of 1978, and I
popped out nine months later. That was a few years after the US murdered
millions of innocent people in Vietnam, a couple years before The Gipper
invaded Grenada, and a few seasons before we funded Afghanistan's war
against those godless heathens in Russia. None of that excuses what
happened last week, but is it any surprise that the world is starting to get
fed up with the United States trampling everything its path to world
domination?
I have no idea if Osama Bin Laden masterminded the whole thing. The
media tells me that he did, but they've lied to me countless times before.
Maybe George W. Bush isn't as dense as we all thought; he recognized our
need for a bogeyman, and provided one immediately. Meanwhile, Americans are
busy trashing Arab-owned convenience stores and dragging Muslims out in the
street, gleefully beating them. So who's the real terrorist here?
We've got millions of people homeless or below the poverty line, a
country on the verge of recession, and kids shooting up public schools that
are falling apart from lack of funding. So why in the hell are we pouring
trillions of dollars into our military, and why in the double hell are we
pouring billions into ISRAEL's military? The Holocaust ranks right up there
with the biggest tragedies of all time, but does that give Israel the right
to land it lost thousands of years ago?
Is it out of genuine concern that virtually the entire world offered
its aid for what could become World War III, or fear of being caught on the
wrong team when the bombs start flying? It's certainly suspect, when even
Iran starts offering support.
The largest McDonald's in the world is in Beijing, and the second
largest in Moscow. Japanese teenagers can buy tennis shoes named "Little
Americas." The French are forsaking their own vineyards for those in
California. According to recent studies, Queen Elizabeth's voice has become
ever so slightly Americanized since the beginning of her reign. Does Osama
Bin Laden himself use Internet Explorer? Probably. The United States is
unquestionably the dominant force in the universe, and that's a dangerous
position to be in.
I've never felt less secure or more afraid in my life. If it gets to
the point of a nationwide draft, I'm leaving the country. Be my guest if
you want to die defending Warren Buffett's right to drive a Porsche and
Pepsi logos plastered on Russian shuttles.
While I feel sympathy for the families of those killed in New York
and D.C., they aren't the ones we should be worried about. We should be
worried about the not-so-distant future, when we willingly become a Police
State, in the name of national security. We should be worried about the
thousands more that will be killed, when the terrorists retaliate for the US
bombing the shit out of Afghanistan. We should be worried about government-
sponsored, population-approved racial profiling of Arab-Americans, which
will set off a landslide; a gradual reversal of the Civil Rights movement.
We should be worried about George W. Bush dropping bombs to get re-elected.
Finally, we should be worried about ourselves, because First Place never
lasts forever, and every empire must fall.
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. . .------
* * ------ by Pavement (c) anada.net 09/30/01
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