04.30.06

through a glass, darkly

Posted in ...ism schisms, View points at 1:23 am by daMan

America seems to have a selective memory…

We make a big deal of how we "won the Cold War" — the political war between the concepts of Communism and Democracy. We claim that this victory entitles us to the self-appointed position of "leaders of the free world", whichever world that may actually be.

The "Cold War", so-called because it was mostly a battle of ideas, was supposedly waged to oppose the Soviet Union in its tendency to, among many things:

• violate the sovereignity of nations, via invasions, occupations and violent atrocities
  
• suppress personal freedoms of its citizens and those of its subject nations
• restrict the press, and the fair and accurate reporting of the truth
  
• imprison people without cause in their prisons, known as "Gulags"
• persecuting political and, especially, religious minorities in actions known as "pogroms"

The Soviet Union was an "invading force" — but the United States is a "liberator".  Suppression of civil liberties was a crime in the U.S.S.R., but somehow is protection under the U.S.A. PATRIOT act?

During the Reagan era, we proudly boasted that chief among the positive differences between America and Russia was that Americans were free — free to speak and, more importantly, to speak out against their government should they choose.  Now, citizens are accused of treason for exercising the very virtues we claim our brave sons and daughters are dying for every day in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places.

The gravest atrocity of the soviet era in the minds of many was the imprisonment of thousands, if not millions, without trial or charge.  But we now defend the very same behavior — despite the evidence of atrocities at Guantanamo and Abu Ghirab — in the name of "national security"…

What was the point of winning the "Cold War", if all we accomplished was to become the very enemy we struggled to defeat?

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