Many Muslims term the United States as the Great Satan. Americans puff up at this claim. Our Friends in South Korea view us disdainfully, Americans look at them as ungrateful. Mexicans consider the US to be a belligerent bully that has invaded and robbed Mexico of her lands. A dozen other countries can make similar claims to US militaristic aggression.
My topic here is US cultural aggression in foreign lands. Most of us, if we were raised by parents that taught us right and wrong, find occasional if not persistent repulsion in the items that emerge from our televisions. Over the last twenty to thirty years we have been bombarded by ever increasing encroachments on common decency and values. To a large degree we have become immune to the content and may not fully realize just how decadent our society has become.
Consider this
Our Society
· Protects the murder of unborn children
· Flaunts homosexual behavior and lifestyles
· Has abandoned the sanctity of marriage
· Produces some of the worst child molesters in the world
· Produces and consumes pornography of various levels far in excess of the rest of the world
· Worships thugs, gagsters, punks and drug addicts that we call celebrities and sports stars
· Produces corporate executives, government leaders and even presidents that live by no apparent moral code
· Encourages greed
· Discourages selflessness
· Shuns the divine principles of our founding
The world receives MTV, HBO and all manner of other media produced right here. Their perception of us is based largely on what they see. Many have never met true Americans. They judge us by those that we idolize.
Would you fear a neighbor that had no apparent moral base and just happened to be much bigger and stronger than you? If that neighbor also had a demonstrated propensity to kick in the door of the houses of his other neighbors to “set things right” you would certainly fear him. If he also continually flaunted his immorality in front of you, attempted to take economic advantage of you at every turn and continually told you how to live your life you would grow to hate him.
Why does the so much of the World hate us? We are that neighbor. The “civilized” world, specifically Europe, tolerates us more because in many ways they are as decadent as we. In nations where people are closer to their God and less able to offer reasons for the US to leave them alone there is little toleration and much hate.
The United States has embarked on a path that will lead to its’ destruction. The War on Terror should have begun years ago by changing the reasons that people hate us. It is too late to become a good neighbor now. The War’s in Afghanistan and Iraq will not solve anything. Capturing a few leaders will not make the problem go away. Men that believe in their principles will follow them. That is really the problem with principles and conviction, you just cannot kill it.
The US lacks the advantage of actually having any principles in this current incarnation of imperial globetrotting. With all of the industrial, economic and military might that the US has this one fact will ultimately cause defeat. Just as the Roman and British armies seldom tasted defeat on the battlefield during the heyday of their empires the US too will remain supreme tactically. Strategically and over time however, this is a war that cannot be won.
People argue that the “terrorist” that struck the World Trade Centers demonstrated a distinct lack of principles and acted as murderers. War is a sad endeavor. I wished intently that the event of Sep. 11th had not of occurred. However, when faced with numerical and technically superior enemies one is forced to use asymmetric tactics. The methods used on the World Trade Center were brutal but effective and one of the few options available to those that wished to strike the US. It could be argued that their methods were no less terroristic that a US bomber flying at 20,000 feet dropping bombs on individuals that have no idea they are being targeted, or cruise missiles being fired from hundreds of miles away. The definition of terror is really in the mind of the receiver.
The rest of the world hates Yankee imperialism, secularism, commercialism and immorality. I for one cannot fault them for standing on their principles. The US must now fight this War and we as citizens are forced to support it because there is really no way out. We cannot simply stop and come home because nothing has fundamentally changed. The reasons for hatred still exist.
In the final analysis future historians will dissect the causes of the demise of the US Empire just as all historians do with all empires. The economic strain caused by making enemies of the world because we were bad neighbors will undoubtedly be the prime cause they settle on.
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