Is anyone in the U.S. innocent? Although those at the very pinnacle of the economic pyramid gain the most, millions of us depend - either directly or indirectly - on the exploitation of the LDCs [Less Developed Countries] for our livelihoods. The resources and cheap labor that feed nearly all our businesses come from places like Indonesia, and very little ever makes its way back. The loans of foreign aid ensure that today's children and their grandchildren will be held hostage. They will have to allow our corporations to ravage their natural resources and will have to forego education, health, and other social services merely to pay us back. The fact that our own companies already received most of this money to build the power plants, airports, and industrial parks does not factor into this formula. Does the excuse that most Americans are unaware of this constitute innocence? Uninformed and intentionally misinformed, yes - but innocent?
يوجد نوع من الناس يعجبون بالسلطة القوية، يحبون النظام ويعشقون التنظيم الخارجي الذي يشبه تنظيم الجيش، حيث يكون معروفاً من يعطي الأوامر ومن يطيعها. إنهم يحبون المناطق الجديدة التي ألحقت بالمدن، حيث تقام المنازل متشابهة في صفوف متراصة ذات واجهات موحدة. ويحبون الزي الرسمي الموحد وفرق موسيقى الجيش، والعروض والاستعراضات.. وغيرها من الأكاذيب التي تزين وجه الحياة وتجعلها أكثر قبولاً. إنهم بصفة خاصة يحبون أن يكون "كل شئ طبقاً للقانون". هؤلاء الناس يتمتعون بعقلية الأتباع.. إنهم ببساطة يحبون أن يكونوا أتباعاً. فهم يحبون الأمن والنظام والمؤسسات، والثناء من رؤسائهم، وأن يكونوا موضع عطف منهم، وفوق ذلك هم مخلصون مسالمون أوفياء، ومواطنون ذوو ضمائر حية. يحب الأتباع أن تكون عليهم سلطة ويحب أصحاب السلطة أن يكون لهم أتباع. فهم جميعاً متوافقون كأنهم أجزاء من كل واحد.
ومن ناحية أخرى، يوجد أناس أشقياء ملعونون، في ثورة دائمة ضد شئ ما، يتطلعون إلى شئ جديد على الدوام. إنهم قليلاً ما يتحدثون عن الخبز ولكنهم يتحدثون عن الحرية كثيراً، ويتحدثون عن السلام قليلاً وعن الشخصية الإنسانية كثيراً. ولا يقبلون فكرة أن الملك هو الذي يمنحهم مرتباتهم، وإنما على العكس، يزعمون أنهم هم الذين يطعمون الملك (ليست الحكومة هي التي تعولنا، وإنما نحن الذين نعول الحكومة). هؤلاء الهراطقة الخارجون لا يحبون السلطة، ولا تحبهم السلطة.
في الأديان يوقر "الأتباع" الأشخاص والسلطات والأوثان، أما عشاق الحرية المتمردون فإنهم يمجدون الله فحسب.
علي عزت بيجوفتش
الإسلام بين الشرق والغرب
ومن ناحية أخرى، يوجد أناس أشقياء ملعونون، في ثورة دائمة ضد شئ ما، يتطلعون إلى شئ جديد على الدوام. إنهم قليلاً ما يتحدثون عن الخبز ولكنهم يتحدثون عن الحرية كثيراً، ويتحدثون عن السلام قليلاً وعن الشخصية الإنسانية كثيراً. ولا يقبلون فكرة أن الملك هو الذي يمنحهم مرتباتهم، وإنما على العكس، يزعمون أنهم هم الذين يطعمون الملك (ليست الحكومة هي التي تعولنا، وإنما نحن الذين نعول الحكومة). هؤلاء الهراطقة الخارجون لا يحبون السلطة، ولا تحبهم السلطة.
في الأديان يوقر "الأتباع" الأشخاص والسلطات والأوثان، أما عشاق الحرية المتمردون فإنهم يمجدون الله فحسب.
علي عزت بيجوفتش
الإسلام بين الشرق والغرب
Here is an 1850 quote from a British general about the government of Siam. In it, the steps of invasion are clearly identified.
1. Announce that the government is unjust and hostile, because it does not abide by the demands of the British.
2. Attack, invade, kill, and maim, under the pretense of teaching a lesson.
3. Install a puppet government
4. Steal the money of the people to pay the debt incurred from the military operations.
Here is the quote:
1. Announce that the government is unjust and hostile, because it does not abide by the demands of the British.
2. Attack, invade, kill, and maim, under the pretense of teaching a lesson.
3. Install a puppet government
4. Steal the money of the people to pay the debt incurred from the military operations.
Here is the quote:
The Siamese Government is hostile -- its tone is arrogant -- its presumption unbounded . . . Should these just [British] demands firmly urged be refused, a force should be present, immediately to enforce them by a rapid destruction of the defenses of the river… Siam may be taught the lesson which it has long been tempted, . . . a better disposed king placed on the throne, and an influence acquired in the country which will make it of immense commercial importance to England . . . Above all, it would be well to prepare for the change and to place our own kind on the throne . . . This prince [Mongkut] we ought to place on the throne and through him, we might, beyond doubt, gain all we desire . . . And the expense incurred [of the military operation] would readily be available from the royal treasury of Siam."
(Quoted in M. L. Manich Jumsai, King Mongkut and Sir John Bowring, Chalermit, Bangkok, 1970, p. 21)
I evade my personal responsibility for the things I choose to do. I blame the government, the oil companies, George Bush, the economy, the wealthy and anybody else I can think of for the destruction that my lifestyle causes.
I put my comfort, my convienence and my conformity ahead of the lives and livlihoods of thousands of future generations, and I try not to think too much about my daily contribution to the destruction of the world that was left to me by thousands of past generations. I put myself far, far ahead of my ancestors and decendents and take from them for the most trivial of reasons.
I ignore the real human pain, suffering and death that my behaviour causes. I turn the page, switch the channel, and change the topic of conversation. I pretend that the science isn't definitive yet, or that there's no point in changing before others do, and I convince myself that 'scientists' will come up with a technological solution that will make my lifestyle and me OK.
I avoid, I deny, I justify and rationalise, I pretend, I project, I squirm and sqeeze and do whatever I can to maintain my concept of myself as a good person while still doing what I do. I evade my moral responsibility a day at a time in the hope that reality will somehow be different tomorrow morning.
I steal from those who live far away from me, and who I do not know because I see their pain as cartoon pain, and not fully real. I casally destroy what future generations will depend upon to live because they have yet to be born and it is only me, and my time and my normalcy that is important.
I am like those who, sixty years ago, did their jobs and lived their normal lives and didn't ask questions about where their jewish neighbours had gone. I am like those who participated in slavery and other atrocities, except that the effects of my crimes will outlast all those others.
And it is OK, because today I am normal, and busy, and have other things on my mind and, if what I do is really so bad so many people wouldn't be doing the same, would they?
But when, in the hours before I die, I think back upon my life and what it has meant, I must do one thing. I must hope and hope and pray and pray that there is nothing beyond life and beyong time and beyond myself, that there is no blance, no karma, no morality and no justice.
Because if there is, and I do what I do, knowing what I know....
Well, lets not think about that.
I put my comfort, my convienence and my conformity ahead of the lives and livlihoods of thousands of future generations, and I try not to think too much about my daily contribution to the destruction of the world that was left to me by thousands of past generations. I put myself far, far ahead of my ancestors and decendents and take from them for the most trivial of reasons.
I ignore the real human pain, suffering and death that my behaviour causes. I turn the page, switch the channel, and change the topic of conversation. I pretend that the science isn't definitive yet, or that there's no point in changing before others do, and I convince myself that 'scientists' will come up with a technological solution that will make my lifestyle and me OK.
I avoid, I deny, I justify and rationalise, I pretend, I project, I squirm and sqeeze and do whatever I can to maintain my concept of myself as a good person while still doing what I do. I evade my moral responsibility a day at a time in the hope that reality will somehow be different tomorrow morning.
I steal from those who live far away from me, and who I do not know because I see their pain as cartoon pain, and not fully real. I casally destroy what future generations will depend upon to live because they have yet to be born and it is only me, and my time and my normalcy that is important.
I am like those who, sixty years ago, did their jobs and lived their normal lives and didn't ask questions about where their jewish neighbours had gone. I am like those who participated in slavery and other atrocities, except that the effects of my crimes will outlast all those others.
And it is OK, because today I am normal, and busy, and have other things on my mind and, if what I do is really so bad so many people wouldn't be doing the same, would they?
But when, in the hours before I die, I think back upon my life and what it has meant, I must do one thing. I must hope and hope and pray and pray that there is nothing beyond life and beyong time and beyond myself, that there is no blance, no karma, no morality and no justice.
Because if there is, and I do what I do, knowing what I know....
Well, lets not think about that.
It is amazing what you can find when you read the original books. Here is a quote from Darwin's "The Descent of Man":
With savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated; and those that survive commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health. We civilized men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination; we build asylums for the imbecile, the mained, and the sick; we institute poor-laws; and our medical men exert their utmost skill to save the life of every one to the last moment. There is reason to believe that vaccination has preserved thousands, who from a weak constitution would formerly have succumbed to small-pox. Thus the weak members of civilized societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. It is surprising how soon a want of care, or care wrongly directed, leads to the degeneration of a domestic race; but excepting in the case of man himself, hardly any one is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed. (133-4/138-9; first page numbers to the 1st ed., second to the 2nd ed.)
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