The End of “Greatness"

[G_j]

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Bouzid0909.htm

The End of “Greatness"

by Ahmed Bouzid
www.dissidentvoice.org
September 9, 2005

First it was Abu Ghraib, now it's Katrina.

With Abu Ghraib, the world witnessed in shock the spectacular collapse of America's self-erected moral high ground; with Katrina, the collapse of America's image as the limitless land of economic might and material plenty.

Of course, ‘the world’ has all along been well aware of America's deep moral flaws. The world remembers America's original sin that made its birth possible -- the genocide of Native Americans, the sin that made its emergence as an economic power a reality, Slavery, and its long history of military interventions and political sabotage (the Philippines, Haiti, Guatemala, Nicaragua, the Honduras, Chile, Iran, Greece, to name just the tip of the iceberg).

<snip>
How about, say, France, America's favorite whipping horse?

Infant mortality in France is 4.4 (per 1,000 live births), while the United States stands at 6.7 <1>; life expectancy in France is 78.8 years, while that in the US is 77.1 years <2>; only 5.6% of French children live in poverty, while a whopping 20.3% of American children live below the poverty line <3>; France spends 5.90% of its GNP on education, while the United States spends 5.30% (no surprise that the French have us beat in mathematics, reading, and science literacy). <4> This, in spite of the fact that France's GDP per capita is at $25,400, while the United States’ GDP per capita is more than $10,000 greater at $36,300. <5>

America, the most virtuous, the land of moral probity? Let's see how those sexually loose, philandering French stand up against the God-fearing Americans. The teen pregnancy rate (per 1,000 women, ages 15-19) is 20.2 in France and 83.6 in the United States; the adolescent birth rate is 10.0 in France and 54.4 in the United States; and the abortion rate is 10.2 in France and 29.2 in the United States. <6> As for who has the more solid marriages: the divorce rate in France stands at 38.3 (per 1,000 marriages), while it’s 54.8 in the United States. <7>




..lots more..

[BrklynLiberal]

1. oops. AMERICA = HYPOCRISY

[applegrove]

2. It seems the only greatness we are allowed is in Corporations. Or in

old time religion.

[silverweb]

3. Ouch!

Just the facts -- no frills and no sugar coating. A bitter pill.

I'm sending this out to my list to see how many call me "traitor" (as I've been called for defending Michael Moore).

It takes humility to learn hard lessons. Will we learn?

[G_j]

14. humility

now there is a unique concept!

:hi:

[melody]

4. excellent piece

Thanks for posting it.

[silverweb]

5. This deserves more attention!

:kick:

And at least one more recommendation!

:kick:

[HamdenRice]

6. Excellent, sobering kick nt

[Jara sang]

7. Good post

Is that teen pregnancy rate correct? Wow!

[Solly Mack]

8. the myth and the hype should have died a long time ago

I remain amazed by those who will defend the "greatest nation on earth" status even as the evidence to the contrary smacks them across the face.

[G_j]

10. last week there were a number of LTTEs

in our local paper complaining that while the US was generous in helping other countries in disasters, others were not helping us. Of course this is totally untrue, as over 100 countries have offered aid to the US in the wake of Katrina. I guess Rush or someone must have stated this lie and now it was being repeated.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. Empires crumble from within

Empires crumble from within. They get overextended and then neglect basics like education, infrastructure, and health care.

[H2O Man]

12. Very true.

Your description of empires is absolutely true. Yet the American people have a unique opportunity to transform this nation back into what many intended it to be. We do not have to continue down that path that every other empire has traveled.

[burythehatchet]

15. I admire your optimism

I'm all out.

[H2O Man]

16. I watching Donald Rumsfeld.

Not only can we not do any worse than this type of jackal ..... but we can only do better. (smile)

It is a sad fact that we are four years into what King called "a season of suffering." If we look at a mechanical model of society, in which today is a consequence of yesterday, which is a consequence of the day before .... then the outlook for tomorrow is indeed grim. For everything mechanical, from atom to solar system, either grows or decays .... and without any question, Donald Rumsfeld is an agent of decay.

Yet there is hope, because people can change. And if people change today, then everything has to chamge tomorrow. This is why I am optimistic -- actually, very confident.People are changing. And when people change, everything else begins to change, although slowly.

Only one of those two men, Martin Luther King or Donald Rumsfeld, can have told the truth. Only one of them can be right. They represent the two paths that we as individuals and as society can take: one is life, and one is death. And so even though I recognize that we are in a dark time, that prolonged season of suffering Martin spoke of, we will overcome.

[G_j]

17. people can change

Harry Belafonte talks on Civil & Human Rights, RFK, Bush , more
http://www.jfklibrary.org/forum_belafonte.html


Seeking Common Ground: Civil Rights and Human Rights
With Harry Belafonte
Moderated by Anthony Lewis

John F. Kennedy Library and Foundation
Challenges at Home and Abroad Series
March 15, 2002

<->

Dr. King asked some of us to discuss what this meant or would mean to us, and after many aired their feelings about Bobby Kennedy and their great doubts about coming to our assistance in some meaningful way, Dr. King made the observation that regardless of what his history had been up to that moment, we had to view him in a new context: a man whose hand was on the throttle of justice and who was going to have to be dealt with on the issues that we were facing. And that although there was much for us to bemoan about what his history had presented, it was to be our task to find his moral center, find if there was a greater truth in who he was and to work on that and to win him to our cause. And a lot of us looked at that moment with some sense of bewilderment and frustration, but we were given our direction and our directives, and we did just that.

We decided to approach Bobby Kennedy based upon the truth of our struggle and the honor of our mission, and to test his knowledge of us and his knowledge of poverty, his knowledge of racism, his knowledge of pain and see the extent to which we could grade him and know the extent which-- how much work we would have to do in order to get him to see our vision and to embrace our cause. Let me just say that as much doubt as all of us entered into this relationship with the Attorney General, it was to the same extent that we embraced him in the end.

<->

A lot has been written about meetings that we've had, one in particular, when he called for a meeting with James Baldwin and Lena Horne and Dr. Kenneth Clark and others. And at that meeting things took a fierce moment, and he was quite upset and quite angry and quite frustrated, and we were of the sense that we would lose him. But to the contrary, what that evening did was awakened a lot in him. I think it made him go back into life, into his own life, and begin to measure how he would do things, or would like to do things.

..much more..

[H2O Man]

19. Beautiful.

That meeting really bothered Robert. Really upset him. Angered him in a way that never was fuly resolved. But rather than react self-righteously to some of the very obnoxious behavior that was directed at him, he instead responded to it by attempting to understand why he was not supported, or stuck-up for, by the more moderate people at the meeting. When he found the answer, he was transformed.

[G_j]

23. the Peace Maker was right

:-)

[G_j]

27. if we can become a community

instead of an EMPIRE, perhaps

[Bernardo de La Paz]

18. "Collapse" by Jared Diamond

http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,0_0713992867,00.html

Basically he has concluded that cultures tend to collapse from self-induced environmental catastrophes. Follow-up to his book "Guns, Germs, and Steel".

[H2O Man]

20. Hey, thanks!

My brother sent me "Guns, Germs, and Steel" a while back. I sent him Vine Deloria Jr's "Mythical Pleistocene Hit Men" to remind him that Diamond has some limitations. However, he is always worth reading. I'm getting reading to place my order at the local book store, and appreciate your bringing that to my attention! (Surprised my brother hasn't sent it -- what's wrong with him?)

[Bernardo de La Paz]

21. There was a good PBS 3-part on "Guns, Germs, Steel" recently.

http://www.pbs.org/gunsgermssteel/

[leftchick]

11. what an eye opener

for those that did not already know this. Thanks G j. Excellent read!

[are_we_united_yet]

25. Love your gfx!

:)

[Karenina]

13. "*America can take care of its own..."

:kick:

[tavalon]

22. Damn

I need to learn French.

[JanMichael]

24. Great article! Most people forget is that the US is 2 nations not one.

One relatively wealthy, one reletively poor. One not in jail, the other impacted by our prison rates.

BUT! Even the "Mostly White middle-classes and up" numbers usually lose to most other "First World" nations, they aren't so hot either.

Go figure...We simply are not a Humane nation, never have been either.

[G_j]

26. & then inadequate education

especially when it comes to the realities of the rest of the world, just perpetuates the misconceptions, a classic "vicious cycle".

[SunDrop23]

28. Thanks for posting that. (nfm)