March 3, 2007 - Soapbox

Warning: I get very political in the following. Read on if u dare? I have debated heavily on whether or not to share. But, I figure the most important thing at this point is dialogue. It's merely an opinion, most definitely rooted some in emotion which of course leads to bias. So, feel free to share your opinions as well. I think this world needs more dialogue, that's where conflict resolution starts...right?
The Swedes (and the rest of the international student community here) despises so much of America, except our pop culture which they engross themselves in ironically. Liz, did I use “ironic” properly? Some things justified, others not. Especially President Bush, holy crap. We’ll talk about that later. But one of the first things I hear from people when they find out I’m American is, “Do all Americans eat McDonalds every day? Why are so many Americans so fat and dumb? Maybe not asked in that exact sentence structure but not much more eloquently put. Much of the world actually believes that American culture is centered around fast food, MTV, Jerry Springer, war, Brittany Hilton, religious hypocrisy, and ethnocentrism. Of course, there is some truth to that for some Americans. I know many Americans that fit the ethnocentric, hypocritical, war mongering, blindly patriotic, trashy entertainment loving mold that the Europeans so disdainfully speak of. But that’s human nature at its finest, free will is a double-bladed sword my friends. But give me a break Euro folks. Some of the most well educated, socially responsible, compassionate, peaceful human souls reside in North America and I’m dam proud of it. Don’t sit behind your façade of speaking 3 different languages and tell us American’s that we are all ethnocentric. Americans are a very generous people, with their time and money. April doesn’t speak another language (Latin in high school was useless, which I can vouch for babe!) but she’s committed 2 years of her youth to serve others in Namibia. That’s just one example among many. I love the fact that most Europeans speak English fluently as a second language and often a third. And I am constantly embarrassed when I get asked the question of what other languages can you speak? Where else in the world have you traveled and lived? And when I shamefully tell them no other languages and nowhere outside of North America or it’s nearby islands I sometimes get defensive, I can’t help it…I know I’m weak. But I try to explain the geographical isolation we Americans have that doesn’t lend much function to speaking another language fluently…and the expense an American must take to travel abroad vs. within the US. But I know they are right in this case. We Americans should make more of an effort to explore other cultures.

There are many things about the European way that I love, and I think there is a lot I’ve learned from it already. Wow are they open (which I love), and seem to be much more aware of the world as a whole then most Americans I know. But sometimes I wonder who really is the close minded ones? I am constantly shocked by how often Europeans stereotype and oversimplify the American people? Did the Swedes forget that in the early 20th century that something like a 1/3 of their population emigrated from Sweden to America? So are they indirectly stereotyping their own ancestors? America, like any other country of substantial size is mixed with diversity…religiously, culturally, politically, ethnically, sexually, educationally…the list of “llys” goes on. Of course a country of 300 million, all virtually from immigrant lineage (I think I used emigrate and immigrate appropriately) will be diverse. One of the first things I ask people from European countries is to tell me what region they are from and to describe the differences in the regions of their country. It is amazing to me a country the size of Sweden or Germany could be so diverse! And then when I turn this around and share the fact that there are 300 million Americans vs. 9 million Swedes, and 20 times the land mass, I gracefully ask them to stop stereotyping…it seems to consistently make a powerful argument. Anyway, back to President Bush.

I’ll be the first American to say that President Bush is no hero of mine, and that I think we have made a multitude of mistakes and have had poor foresight into the outcome of our decision to de-stabilize Iraq and force “democracy” upon them American style (brut force). More Iraqi’s have and will continue to die as the result of our naivety. More than 3,000 American soldiers have died as well. And of course we’re not in Iraq for humanitarian reasons. The government has only passing concern over the fact that Saddam Hussein gassed thousands of Kurdish people. The reason they care now is because we have American interest in Iraq, much of that centered around Texas Tea...and each one of us knows this plays a powerful role in the decisions our government makes in Iraq and the middle east, and I HATE to admit it! And yes, the war is not all about the black gold but lets not fool ourselves and think that if Iraq were located in central Africa that we would be handling this situation the same way. If we look back at American policy in Africa one can tell you that we don’t make international policy decisions solely on humanitarians principles. President Clinton admitted this in a talk he gave in an Ivy League University a couple years after his presidency ended. I saw this with my own eyes. One passionate student from the crowd asked why they did nothing in Rwanda when they had an opportunity to save hundreds of thousands of lives with perhaps something as simple as providing safe zones for the refugees to flee too. They didn’t even need to get involved in the fighting. When asked this question directly and with nowhere to flee himself he awkwardly responded, “There were no American interests in Rwanda.” What about humanitarian interest? Well, that’s not a stand-alone American principle…which the world is becoming keenly aware of. Of course I’m glad that a ruthless dictator was removed from power, but the question you have to ask yourself is do you believe the end justifies the means? If we want to go life for life, do we really know that invading Iraq will save the Iraqi people? Will it save lives in the long run? So far, NOT so good on that. Additionally, American lives are being sacrificed and I and most people in the world have a feeling that there are many American lives left to be taken. Whether that be in Iraq or the next large scale terrorist attack on American soil. Or even worse, the terrorist machine that we are creating worldwide by giving fuel to the global jihadist fire might go even further. Nuclear war…who wants to go to nuclear war with terrorists? Who would you return fire upon? And some say that’s the exact reason we need to stop Iran from further development of their nuclear enrichment projects. Sounds logical at first, sure. But is our naivety going to stop at Iraq? Would military force actually prevent Iran from getting their hands on an atomic weapon and using it on the US. I think there might be an even greater chance of pushing a crazy like Ahmadinejad over the edge by invading his country? We all know there is most likely atomic weapons floating around on the black market…if they wanted one badly enough I’m pretty confident they could get one, or ten. Do I think there should be UN oversight on all nuclear enrichment…heck yes. Western development as well. But war…this is not the way. If you use similar potential foreign philosophies that we have with Iran then we have to engage North Korea as well. Can you imagine a war with North Korea, Iran, and Iraq at the same time. This would be Vietnam times 10. America wouldn’t win, they couldn’t win. We might even decimate Iran and North Korea, remove the dictators from power and occupy their country even, but that wouldn’t be a victory. That would only facilitate more jihadists and extremists, the American economy would most likely take a nose dive (which is already happening with our currency which I can vouch for. The American dollar was worth 11 Swedish crowns now its only 7), and last but certainly not least, our founding American principles would then be washed away with foreign bloodshed and the American people would most likely be in even more danger to terrorism and we would become the tyrants that forced our forefathers to establish our nation in the first place. On paper, we would probably win. I can see the headlines: 1.4 million North Koreans and Iranians killed to only a mere 230,000 Americans. Who do we think we are? Are we willing to make the sacrifices and take the risks to rid the world of all its threats? Of course there is no way to do this, especially not unilaterally. There will always be threats, and only when all the diplomatic solutions have been tried and all the options and potential outcomes have been made should the words invasion even escape from our lips. And even then, invasion is probably not a good option in many circumstances. The diatribe must be stopped before I give myself a coronary! Where to go from now?

On a lighter note: Swedish people love tapered high-water pants, especially jeans. So high in fact you can usually see their socks. Initially quite funny to me for some reason. I’m a bell bottom/boot cut/pants flaring/sock hiding kinda guy. But perhaps I’m not so smart after all. My pants choice constantly causes problems as I trudge through the never ending snow…and ice. As the back of my head and the side of Mark’s face can attest too. My pants have turned black and continue to fray at the bottom…crap! The Swedes fashion, although not initially aesthetically pleasing, very practical. Not that I even care about fashion…I’m merely making conversation.