Thursday, September 11, 2003
Happy September 11th!
"I know why you tore it down that day
You thought, that if you got caught
That we'd all go away
Like a spoiled little baby
Who can't come out to play
You had your revenge
Build me up, tear me down
Like a skyscraper
Build me up, then tear down
These joining walls
So they can't climb at all..." ~ 'Skyscraper' - Bad Religion
World Remembers Sept. 11, Questions U.S. Response
All right, so it's not a very "happy" anniversary, after all. But it does make one happy to note that so far the War On Terror has been somewhat successful, in that no repeat Al Qaeda attacks have occurred on U.S. soil since that early morning chaos two years ago. But it does make one wonder what we as a nation have actually achieved since that fateful day.
True, we are still the lone superpower of the world, but it does tend to get a little lonely at the top, doesn't it? Our "friends" are treating us like how your office buddies would treat you if you were suddenly promoted into a position of power over them and their future with the company; they'll talk all sweet and nice to your face, but will resent you and talk a bunch of shit about you when you're not around. And our enemies only hate us that much more.
And yes, we've conquered Afghanistan and Iraq on a military level, but are being smacked around in the Hearts And Minds Department regarding those two countries, in that we have won the military war but are losing the psychological war. Nothing hurts worse than an idea. That's how Rome finally fell. The Romans thought that they were the shit and that their shit didn't stink until the walls crumbled in around them.
Is the same fate in store for us? Not very likely, not unless the entire world decided to "go nuc-you-lar" on us, and nobody wants that; nobody save the extremist Allah-lovers of the world who would want nothing but a quick trip to their bastardized version of the Promised Land (they can go there without me, thank you very much). But the Dubya Administration's plans for global dominance are starting to become extremely hampered by that annoying little fucker called Reality. While our dominance over the world is still in large (if somewhat rickety) effect, it is slowly but surely being hamstrung by our country's own economic struggles. It is this same economic pain-in-the-ass that will either force us as a nation to retreat from our objective of world domination, or force us to make war on another country once again in the hopes of plundering the spoils of that nation like the strong-arming pirates that we are.
It has already forced us to reconcile our differences with the United Nations recently, as evidenced by our President's own "foot-in-mouth ailment" that I ranted about the other day. True, Americans are arrogant, as we have every right to be. But it is hard to be arrogant when our President is now being so humble toward the U.N. in regards to the U.S. getting outside help to assist us regarding the problem in Iraq, which could have been solved by so much more careful planning a year or two ago, instead of diving off the deep-end of the dock like we did back in February and March and hoping that we could keep our heads above water.
Judging by the sentiments posted in the article that I linked at the top of this blog, the world stands divided on this little upstart nation of ours that makes a habit of pushing smaller countries around with its military might. Part of the world sympathizes with us over the loss of so many innocents on 9/11, but another part of the world laughs at us and mocks us for the deaths of so relatively few in comparison with the countless deaths that have taken place throughout the world as a result of U.S. influence. And still another part of the world stands with us, yet thinks that we have overstepped our boundaries in regards to the War On Terror.
Where does Zelmo stand in all of this? Well, that's a toughy, and I'd be lying if I said that I didn't argue with myself silently with every passing day over that question. I was pretty gung-ho about the U.S. going out and getting revenge against the fuckers that were responsible for the 9/11 attacks, and I was pretty gung-ho about our troops marching into Iraq and snuffing out Saddam Hussein's regime. But I do believe that there should be some moderation in how our plan for global domination should be carried out.
The U.S. could benefit more from playing the sympathy card and winning the globe that way, than it could by strong-arming the entire world into submission, because that's not the way that the world works. Hitler tried that and failed. So did Stalin. So did Genghis Khan and Napoleon. So did Rome, for that matter.
Dubya had the perfect opportunity to win world support in stopping Al Qaeda and stamping out the Saddam Hussein regime once and for all, but instead chose to go both routes alone. True, we had some support in Afghanistan, but the U.S. was running the show the entire time, and is still doing so. And the Iraq Solution could have been solved in a much more subtler and friendlier approach instead of telling our global peers to fuck off the way that we did prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Needless to say, America is arrogant and brash, and will often push its way through any diplomatic situation with strong-arm tactics, at least so long as a Republican is in power. And while Democratic Presidents are (for the most part) pussies, they do know how to kiss foreign country's asses better than anybody, which is why Democrats in the White House are generally better received than most Republicans have been over the past 60 years or so. That is a quality that Dubya and his Administration are lacking, and while it is not a quality that I tend to favor, kissing ass does have its uses at times.
To be humble is godliness, after all. And for the sake of diplomatic relations, a little tact on Dubya's part over the past few years might have taken the War On Terror in a decidedly different direction than the way it has gone so far. Because in the end, we still had to kiss the United Nations' asses in order to help bail us out, because in the end, money always talks and bullshit always walks. And the taxpayers can't pay for everything, because there are only so many straws that a camel's back can take.
Gosh, I'm full of metaphors, aren't I? Like neverending sands in an hourglass, that I am! ;-)
So what was the point in today's blog, seeing as how I spoke very little about the September 11th tragedy from two years ago? Well, I thought about reminiscing over that fateful day with you. But I figured, why bother? There are tributes and memorials going on all over the news stations, so many in fact that I had to turn off the fucking TV because it was getting...well, for lack of a better word, rather boring. Call me evil, but there are only so many funeral processions that a guy like me can take before he says "enough is enough".
No, I thought it best to put our current global situation in a nutshell for you, if only in the hopes of enlightening you on just how small the U.S.' problems are in comparison to the rest of the world. While it is great to be an American as well as it is our right to be arrogant because of it, a little reality check every now and then never hurts.
Because when you put it all into perspective, 9/11 was not something that America deserved, but it was definitely a symptom of the much larger global conflict that the U.S. has been involved in ever since we were brought into it on December 7th, 1941. That was the day that America lost its innocence and never looked back. We can thank the Axis Powers for that one.
Osama Bin Laden sucks camel balls.
Have a nice day!
(0) comments
You thought, that if you got caught
That we'd all go away
Like a spoiled little baby
Who can't come out to play
You had your revenge
Build me up, tear me down
Like a skyscraper
Build me up, then tear down
These joining walls
So they can't climb at all..." ~ 'Skyscraper' - Bad Religion
World Remembers Sept. 11, Questions U.S. Response
All right, so it's not a very "happy" anniversary, after all. But it does make one happy to note that so far the War On Terror has been somewhat successful, in that no repeat Al Qaeda attacks have occurred on U.S. soil since that early morning chaos two years ago. But it does make one wonder what we as a nation have actually achieved since that fateful day.
True, we are still the lone superpower of the world, but it does tend to get a little lonely at the top, doesn't it? Our "friends" are treating us like how your office buddies would treat you if you were suddenly promoted into a position of power over them and their future with the company; they'll talk all sweet and nice to your face, but will resent you and talk a bunch of shit about you when you're not around. And our enemies only hate us that much more.
And yes, we've conquered Afghanistan and Iraq on a military level, but are being smacked around in the Hearts And Minds Department regarding those two countries, in that we have won the military war but are losing the psychological war. Nothing hurts worse than an idea. That's how Rome finally fell. The Romans thought that they were the shit and that their shit didn't stink until the walls crumbled in around them.
Is the same fate in store for us? Not very likely, not unless the entire world decided to "go nuc-you-lar" on us, and nobody wants that; nobody save the extremist Allah-lovers of the world who would want nothing but a quick trip to their bastardized version of the Promised Land (they can go there without me, thank you very much). But the Dubya Administration's plans for global dominance are starting to become extremely hampered by that annoying little fucker called Reality. While our dominance over the world is still in large (if somewhat rickety) effect, it is slowly but surely being hamstrung by our country's own economic struggles. It is this same economic pain-in-the-ass that will either force us as a nation to retreat from our objective of world domination, or force us to make war on another country once again in the hopes of plundering the spoils of that nation like the strong-arming pirates that we are.
It has already forced us to reconcile our differences with the United Nations recently, as evidenced by our President's own "foot-in-mouth ailment" that I ranted about the other day. True, Americans are arrogant, as we have every right to be. But it is hard to be arrogant when our President is now being so humble toward the U.N. in regards to the U.S. getting outside help to assist us regarding the problem in Iraq, which could have been solved by so much more careful planning a year or two ago, instead of diving off the deep-end of the dock like we did back in February and March and hoping that we could keep our heads above water.
Judging by the sentiments posted in the article that I linked at the top of this blog, the world stands divided on this little upstart nation of ours that makes a habit of pushing smaller countries around with its military might. Part of the world sympathizes with us over the loss of so many innocents on 9/11, but another part of the world laughs at us and mocks us for the deaths of so relatively few in comparison with the countless deaths that have taken place throughout the world as a result of U.S. influence. And still another part of the world stands with us, yet thinks that we have overstepped our boundaries in regards to the War On Terror.
Where does Zelmo stand in all of this? Well, that's a toughy, and I'd be lying if I said that I didn't argue with myself silently with every passing day over that question. I was pretty gung-ho about the U.S. going out and getting revenge against the fuckers that were responsible for the 9/11 attacks, and I was pretty gung-ho about our troops marching into Iraq and snuffing out Saddam Hussein's regime. But I do believe that there should be some moderation in how our plan for global domination should be carried out.
The U.S. could benefit more from playing the sympathy card and winning the globe that way, than it could by strong-arming the entire world into submission, because that's not the way that the world works. Hitler tried that and failed. So did Stalin. So did Genghis Khan and Napoleon. So did Rome, for that matter.
Dubya had the perfect opportunity to win world support in stopping Al Qaeda and stamping out the Saddam Hussein regime once and for all, but instead chose to go both routes alone. True, we had some support in Afghanistan, but the U.S. was running the show the entire time, and is still doing so. And the Iraq Solution could have been solved in a much more subtler and friendlier approach instead of telling our global peers to fuck off the way that we did prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Needless to say, America is arrogant and brash, and will often push its way through any diplomatic situation with strong-arm tactics, at least so long as a Republican is in power. And while Democratic Presidents are (for the most part) pussies, they do know how to kiss foreign country's asses better than anybody, which is why Democrats in the White House are generally better received than most Republicans have been over the past 60 years or so. That is a quality that Dubya and his Administration are lacking, and while it is not a quality that I tend to favor, kissing ass does have its uses at times.
To be humble is godliness, after all. And for the sake of diplomatic relations, a little tact on Dubya's part over the past few years might have taken the War On Terror in a decidedly different direction than the way it has gone so far. Because in the end, we still had to kiss the United Nations' asses in order to help bail us out, because in the end, money always talks and bullshit always walks. And the taxpayers can't pay for everything, because there are only so many straws that a camel's back can take.
Gosh, I'm full of metaphors, aren't I? Like neverending sands in an hourglass, that I am! ;-)
So what was the point in today's blog, seeing as how I spoke very little about the September 11th tragedy from two years ago? Well, I thought about reminiscing over that fateful day with you. But I figured, why bother? There are tributes and memorials going on all over the news stations, so many in fact that I had to turn off the fucking TV because it was getting...well, for lack of a better word, rather boring. Call me evil, but there are only so many funeral processions that a guy like me can take before he says "enough is enough".
No, I thought it best to put our current global situation in a nutshell for you, if only in the hopes of enlightening you on just how small the U.S.' problems are in comparison to the rest of the world. While it is great to be an American as well as it is our right to be arrogant because of it, a little reality check every now and then never hurts.
Because when you put it all into perspective, 9/11 was not something that America deserved, but it was definitely a symptom of the much larger global conflict that the U.S. has been involved in ever since we were brought into it on December 7th, 1941. That was the day that America lost its innocence and never looked back. We can thank the Axis Powers for that one.
Osama Bin Laden sucks camel balls.
Have a nice day!
(0) comments
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