Cutting corners to become fatter
"The US isnt a great country, but can become one" - Arundhati Roy.
When I read this quote in her book "An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire", I thought that was quite an audacious comment to make. After all, the US is considered the "Land of the Free", it's the only remaining superpower, the place where its possible for penniless immigrants to become millionaires, the country where everything is bigger and better, it's the melting pot and the country where everybody is treated fairly ...
One might actually imagine that this country has streets that are paved in gold ... (Source: Maria Full of Grace)
A great deal of prosperity has been built up in this country - Through honest hard work, a sense of adventure, great natural resources, a bit of exploitation and some luck.
America in the past stood for all the right things, and the average American would always do the right thing even at the cost of personal discomfort. Even prisoners of war were happy to surrender to American forces during the World Wars, because they knew that they would be treated well.
Traditionally, this is a country that has been associated with a passionate pursuit of truth and freedom - Even at the cost of material gain. However, is this true of the USA of today ? Given a choice between losing the current level of prosperity/material comfort and sticking up for human rights, what would the average American choose ?
I believe that the slide has already begun ... The US is cutting corners in several ways - And whenever confronted with a difficult choice, they have chosen the easier option.
Look at what Americans have accepted in the past few months/years ....
- Losing a good amount of free speech rights (Patriot Act)
- Prisoner Abuse (Abu Ghraib)
- Two futile wars (Where's the WMD ?)
- Foreign sweatshops
- Chinese goods vs. Chinese human rights violations
- Misuse of the UN/IMF (Read "Confessions of an Economic Hitman")
- Economic sanctions against third world countries
- Forming alliances with crazy dictators (Including Saddam, Osama, Pinochet etc ...)
- Creating puppet governments around the world by indebting them using IMF money
- Alaskan drilling
- Reduction in science research funding
- NASA budget cuts
- and the list goes on ...
When Japanese cars came into the US, they were cheaper and of better quality - However, Americans resisted them for as long as they could. Today, there is no such resistance against Chinese goods, even though the products are made in a regime that has made a name for itself in cruel human rights violations, where people are only allowed to view government approved websites and where pro-democracy supporters "disappear" mysteriously.
The only way to sustain the "American Way of Life" (3 cars, 4 TVs etc..) is by making some sacrifices in other domains. Given the choice between a 29.99$ Chinese DVD player and supporting human rights by buying a $129.99 US-made DVD player, where would the American go ?
The current level of prosperity that has been achieved in the US, cannot, in my opinion, be sustained with the same level of respect for human rights, the environment and human dignity that the US has shown in the past.
The question now is, how many corners will be cut, before there is a stirring of the national consciousness ? Or, has the American been mesmerized into a state where Monday Night Football and Friday Night Beer are all that matters ?
Comments
I guess the US propaganda is meant for US people not "us people" i.e rest of us ;-)
I give a damn for all that truth and freedom UBS (US bullshit). Look around and you will find a lot of free countries in the world that exist before and after US.
By getting all the hispanics and asians in the last couple of decades, I guess that "truth&freedom" UBS is nothing but words. I am sure that they have different agenda and priorities.
If you haven't, you should watch PBS Frontline on WAL-MART - interesting program. It basically shows that the business of business is business and not values.
The list is nothing new - all countries act (and should act) in a way that benefits their citizens. Iraq is nothing compared to what US has done in 50s & 60s when CIA was shady. And on the other hand, I believe that it is morally right and will probably do good for the world unless US freaks out in middle-east like Britain has done there in 1900s.
But on the other hand I like the country where the the almighty president's biggest worry is not getting re-elected. It makes it democratic (which needs a discussion since is it democracy where you can vote only between an Elephant and an Ass. It is not all that representative. It is like having to choose between black & white - where are all the colours ?
US defence budget is more than what all other 192 countries spend together and that is only 5% of BNP (while India spends almost 10%). So with those figures - you can't really compare - it is ant against elephant. There is a lot of gizmos you can buy for that money to fry people out.
Majority of US citizens are not "Urbane" but what I would cal villagers that .. yes .. watch their belly buttons. They hardly know where Afghanistan is and not to talk of Herat and Dostum.
But one shouldn't forget that US is huge in most of things - wealth, size, population and CO2 emission (60% of world's production comes from there). And of course you will need a BIG MIGHTY ARMY to protect those economic liabilities (towards their own citizens). I wouldn't blame them.
And that is why India should "threaten" all their neighbours - just to make it easier to become a economic giant since China already does that.
On the other hand there are lot of good think tanks in US that look at the policies that might endanger them i.e. US position and that in turn give rise to new renewed policies. I lack that type of think tanks in India.
-Reddy K
That was an excellent comment(s) - Much more detailed than my post ... I guess we are saying the same things, in different ways -
You did say that you believed that the Iraq war was morally right - Why do you say that ?
And when you say that the US is doing the right things for its citizens - I dont think thats right, the government is doing what is good for itself - In the long run, this policy is going to affect the US negatively
Saddam has been mincing (physically) his people for last 20 years while world was watching. Saddam had to go for any possible peace in the middle east. I guess Bush government will attain that during their period just like Carter got his camp david between Israel & Egypt.
US has been actig on moral grounds (atleast it seems so) in Bosnia, Kosovo while the world watched and did nothing in etinic cleansing. It may be Islamic phobia in those interventions but nevertheless US did a morally correct job.
Government never does things - it is the leaders that do. US is running on deficiet but eventually it will be recovered which means that US will grow by another 400 billion dollars in next 10 years. That is the smart way of gaining wealth.
A mighty (& smart) army is always good for wealth as long as it is democratic.
/Reddy K