Had a conversation with Anne over dinner last night that I have been mulling over all day. I think the problem with this country right now is that we have an intensely overblown perception of our place in the world. Because of this national egotism, we tend to see things in black and white, when in reality, the world is nothing more than shades of gray- there is no black, and there is no white. There are no 'good guys' or 'bad guys'. This isn't a piece of mainstream hollywood trype- this is real life- and everything we believe, think, and do is just a matter of perception. This may seem a bit extreme, but do you really think that Osama bin Laden thinks he is evil? Does a large portion of the Muslim population in the middle east? No- they think we are. We see ourselves as good guys, and they're the bad guys, and they think they're the good guys and we're the bad guys. So who is to say who is right and who is wrong? Or perhaps it isn't that simple- perhaps there are parts of us are that are wrong- things we have done wrong that we don't want to admit and own up to- just as there are things that 'they' do that aren't necessarily evil. Do you think Hitler and the Nazi's were TRYING to be evil? No- they thought they were doing the right thing- they thought that Jews were a plague that needed to be wiped off the face of the earth, and that they were doing the rest of the world a favor. Of course that isn't the case- just as our long and distasteful legacy of slavery was based on false pretenses. We thought that blacks were sub human, and only had two useful purposes on this earth- to pick cotton and play basketball. When you have a culture so wrapped up in believing they are doing the right thing, it is really easy to loose sight of some of the really nasty shit we shouldn't be getting away with. See no evil, hear no evil- just pretend it isn't there. And it only makes things worse when the man leading our country perpetuates that simplistic and utterly false delusion. There is more animosity and hatred focused on this country right now than anyone can remember- and just three years ago there was more good will and kindness towards us than anyone could remember. How do you loose that much respect in just three years? We've turned into the neighborhood bully everyone fucking hates but are too weak to stand up to. And here we are, thinking we're doing all these great things and are a becon of hope and democracy.... and our president wasn't even fuckin' elected. Can we be any more blind? The health insurance and pharmacutical companies have hijacked this country and we choose to turn a deaf ear. We've become so caught up in our own little bubble, that we can't even realize that the bubble is getting a little too big and is in danger of popping. As soon as an Empire loses it focus (which is what we are, lets be honest), it implodes. The Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans- all basically ruled their known world back in their respective times- as did the Chinese. And when you think about it, that is really what we are doing. We are playing a game of Risk with the rest of the world- toppling weaker countries we don't like, installing dictators in others to gain economic leverage, etc etc etc. Don't forget that we sold arms to Saddam Hussein back in the 80's because he was fighting the Iranians. He was just as fucked up then as he was last year, but we didn't give a shit. Let us not forget that we helped the Taliban dig those caves they were hiding in when we were trying to find them and sold them weapons and aid back when they were fighting the Soviets. Yeah, we trained bin Laden- our own government. Do you think we didn't realize who they were back then? Of course we did, but they were fighting the Soviets, so we didn't care. Everyone else sees this bullshit but us, because we think we are "right" and they are "wrong". just as the Romans got complacent and lazy from their over abundance of power, so are we. We can't even take over and control a country as pathetic as Iraq anymore. Think what would happen if we went to war with China? We'd all be learning Mandarin.

I hate to draw this analogy, but I think it rings true- look at our Olympic basketball team. We invented the fuckin game- have dominated the sport for as long as its been around, and the team representing us on the word stage gets beaten by Puerto Rico like a red headed step child, and we barely squeek by Greece- a team who is in the olympics simply because they are the host country- otherwise they wouldn't even have qualified. Our best players are too complacent and lazy to represent our country, and those that did go over are so caught up in themselves they can't play as a team. Sounds a lot like a lot of other things in this country, doesn't it? We've forgotten that as US citizens, we are the luckiest people on this earth- we've started taking it for granted, like its a birth right or something. And when you start thinking like that, the walls start crumbling, and you wake up and realize you just got the shit kicked out of you by Puerto Rico. I think a little humilty could do all of us a lot of good at this point- and if anything good comes out of this clusterfuck in the middle east- that will be it. Iraq will never be a democracy, we certainly aren't going to be any safer as a country (quite the opposite), but perhaps it will let a little of the hot air out of our dangerously infated egos and we can gain a little much needed perspective.

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