camo said:
So tell me Thursday... what makes YOU a true American? Is it because you disapprove of a few policies the government has? Just because you're going against the current government does not make you some sort of martyr or intellectual.
who said anything about being a martyr or intellectual? i'm an american because i pay taxes, i fulfill my civic responsibilities, and i'm politically and socially aware and active. no, i'm not part of the armed forces nor would i want to be right now because i don't support much of what the military is doing.
i guess i'm just a "pansy" because i'm not willing to pick up a gun and kill whoever i'm ordered to kill when doing so does not accomplish anything positive. i'm a "whiner" because i feel that our government's foreign policy is unethical in certain ways, and i think that as a free citizen in a democratic society i need to voice these criticisms of the government in order to preserve the democratic ideals our society was founded upon. i'm a "douche bag" because i question why we are killing people overseas.
and yet i do support our troops. i am involved in various organizations which have been lobbying to bring our troops back and end this unnecessary endangerment of our soldiers. there is no point in risking the lives of our soldiers when it is not in our best interest and when it increases tension between us and other societies. i also think that the military unjustly targets minorities and the poor for recruitment and does not offer enough monetary compensation for the services most of our soldiers provide. i have met many people in the military who are unhappy with the way the military conducts itself and have been wronged by our government.
to me being an american doesn't mean being submissive and apathetic. sure i don't decorate my house with flags nor do i participate in public spectacles of neo-patriotism but i do want what's best for this country and for the world. i think making sure that our politicians and government officials are doing the
right thing is more important than joining the army, or blindly supporting all the actions of the current administration.
Sorry but YES, the military DID give you the right to free speech. Why don't you go ask an Iraqi citizen if he had the right to free speech under Saddam Hussein. Many tyrannical regimes liked to keep that 'right' suppressed.
our constitution is what preserves our right to free speech. however, it did not give me this right. it is a natural right because everyone has a claim to it unconditionally. iraqis have the right to the same freedoms as we do, but their rights are being encroached upon, that is why they are considered "oppressed." the only reason your right to free speech isn't being being violated is because we live in a democratic society in which people will defend these rights from being encroached upon. people do so not by picking up arms. they protect these rights by exercising their democratic perogatives such as rallying against unconstitutional actions by the government, public disobedience, revealing government corruption, and voicing dissent when these rights are threatened.
you don't preserve your liberties by killing people in other countries. you preserve your rights by keeping your government in check. it's silly to think that somehow terrorists overseas or fascist regimes in other continents are encroaching on our liberties when they have no control over us. the only people able to take away our rights as amercians is our federal government. you want to protect your liberties and the rights of your family members and loved ones? pay attention to laws being passed by congress which may strip us of our basic rights as human beings. pay attention to what the government is doing and be politically active. you can't protect your rights if you don't vote, or if you don't voice opposition against government actions which may compromise these rights.
How in the hell can you even compare anything that's happening today to Nazi Germany? Seriously. If American soldiers were murdering millions of innocent civilians, you can guarantee we wouldn't follow orders. You might argue that Iraqi civilians are dying but it isn't us that is killing them. It's their own people. The only Iraqis we are killing are the ones that fire RPGs at us. The ones that set up IEDs to blow up a passing humvee convoy. They want to fight... so we fight back. Keep in mind these are the same Iraqis that use hospitals and ambulances to stage attacks.
signs of a police state:
nationalistic/jingoist fervor(demonstrated by you and many other americans caught up in the post-9-11 swelling of neopatriotism)
-a galvanized, xenophobic, and self-righteous public ready to blindly follow a belligerent administration into war.
-anti-foreigner attitudes in which foreigners are looked at with suspicion, a strong "us vs. them" attitude where compromise is never an option, foreign governments are dismissed off hand whenever they voice opposition.
violent military conquests
-iraq
-afghanistan.
-carrying out neo-imperialist vision of global dominance.
inundation of propaganda
-chauvinist stories churned out by mass media, which at the same time remains silent about overseas massacres and domestic repression.
-one-sided elliptical reporting by most mainstream news sources.
-employment of mass public deception through public statements which are outright false, and yet when the truth comes out, very little noise is made by the press.
-WMDs?
-astroturfing: corporate-sponsored pro-war rallies for a corporate-sponsored war.
scapegoating
-profiling, accusing, targetting, arresting, and investigating muslims and arabs is accepted common practice at the federal, state, and local level.
-arab and muslim organizations, charities, mosques, and other institutions are often subject to police investigations and its members targetted for arrest.
-large concentration of arab communities have become effective ghettos. massive sweeps of arab houses, stores, and civic group offices have created a siege mentality.
-anti-arab police campaigns have fomented a wave of racism, citizen hostility and insults.
mutual suspicion
-turns ordinary citizens into secret police informers. citizens are encouraged to spy on each other.
-literally hundreds of thousands of denunciations were registered by the government in the month after 9-11. these denunciations led to the suspected individuals to be spied upon, investigated, and harassed by the police though none of them were ever convicted.
-people are afraid to criticize the government for fear of job dismissal, public hostility or other negative consequences.
-people who demonstrate anti-war sentiments are considered terrorist-sympathizers.
arbitrary dictatorial laws:
-the patriot act allows any federal law enforcement agency may secretly enter any home or business, collect evidence, not inform the citizen of the entry, and then use the evidence (seized or planted) to convict the occupant of a crime.
-all forms of public communication(e-mail, letters, phone calls, VoIP) are subject to control without judicial review. internet service providers are forced to supply the government with a wiretap or backdoor.
-creation of military tribunals to try "suspicious" immigrants and overseas "suspects" with habeas corpus suspended. these trials are secret and prosecuters do not even have to present "evidence" if it is in the "interest of national security."
-any federal police agency can invade any business premises and seize all records on the basis that it is “connected” with a terrorist investigation. citizens who publicly protest these arbitrary, invasive police actions can be arrested.
It is your God-given right to freedom of speech, freedom of religion, to bear arms, etc etc etc. We all know these things. It was said earlier that we are attacked and hated because of what America stands for. They see our freedoms and our way of life and are jealous. If we have the power to give these freedoms to our own people we also have the power to give it to others. So we took down Saddam Hussein. Sure Iraq isn't as developed as the US but we helped millions of people to now live a free life. Damn America.. those bastards. Who do they think they are?
WE are the reason you sleep soundly at night. Do we give you your natural rights? No. We defend them. We insure them. We put our lives on the line so that you can keep your natural rights from being oppressed by our enemies.
well, i guess your indoctrination went successfully.
