Central Coast News Mission
Tom Hutchings
Deeply Imbedded Problem: American Violence
Thomas A. Hutchings
October 3, 2006
Saigon, Viet Nam – In Joseph Conrad’s literary work Heart of Darkness, a haunting line about corrupt human actions is uttered by the character Mr. Kurtz; The horror! The horror! News items issuing out from America are horrible. I was motivated to move to Viet Nam two years ago for several reasons. One rationale was that I could no longer morally and ethically justify living in a country that would use its military strength to invade other countries without proper justification and based on deliberate lies of its president. The violence that America models in Iraq, including prison torture, murder, rape of young girls by its soldiers and the now-admitted secret torture prisons has percolated into the heretofore safe depths of hometown America.
Within the span of one week, America has seen murders at three schools, including a horrific incident in a peaceful Amish community schoolhouse in Pennsylvania. Bush’s proposal for a conference on school violence is hollow, at best.
According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report for 2004 to 2005, the rate of violent crime, which includes murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, actually rose 2.5 percent for the first time in five years.
One can’t help but think the National Rifle Association and its paranoid gun-owners feel pride in keeping their right to bear arms. At the same time, Bush continues to make the world a more dangerous place while parents bury their soldiers or their children who do not return home from school.
As an international traveler, I have the opportunity to speak with people from many countries. The overwhelming opinion is that America is not viewed as a beacon of freedom and morality in the world, but as an arrogant and violent bully nation imposing its will through military force on other countries. Recently, a declassified report cited that Bush’s American War in Iraq has become a “cause celebre”for Islamic extremists while Bush has the audacity to claim the world is becoming safer because of his policies. With a “head in the sand” approach to reality, Bush is seen as the most dangerous person to world stability. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf recently told reporters that the (Bush) invasion of Iraq has made the world a dangerous place.
In July, the New Economics Foundation in Britain issued the results of a study aptly entitled The Happy Planet Index: An index of human well-being and environmental impact. It also measured people’s life satisfaction and life expectancy. The G-8 countries ranked very low out of the 178 nations ranked. The US was in 150th place. Andrew Simms, the foundation’s policy director and co-author of the report, said the index “addresses the relative success or failure of countries in giving their citizens a good life.
.
Before detractors start running for pens and pencils, I admit to living in a communist country. It’s a country moving ahead with its free-market economy and opportunity. It recently dedicated a new hospital dedicated solely to treating persons with AIDS\HIV for free; a country that in the past two years released more than 40,000 prisoners to celebrate major national events and boasts a recidivism rate of only 1.37%, and; a country that warns its citizens of impending dangerous typhoons and proactively evacuates those in peril. The few police who carry guns have rubber bullets, school students wear uniforms six days a week, and the country seems to close everyday for a nap after lunch. It’s also a country that is ranked as the 12th happiest country on the planet. Sure, there are economic problems still to tackle here, but the news here is nowhere at the violent level as the United States.
There is something people can do in the US to change things for the better. Revamp Congress because Republicans and Democrats alike are all on the payroll of corporate America. You can force a Bush impeachment, bring your troops home from Iraq and begin an open and frank dialogue with the Islamic world. There’s still a bit of time before everyone will echo Kurtz; The horror! The horror!
Thomas A. Hutchings
October 3, 2006
Saigon, Viet Nam – In Joseph Conrad’s literary work Heart of Darkness, a haunting line about corrupt human actions is uttered by the character Mr. Kurtz; The horror! The horror! News items issuing out from America are horrible. I was motivated to move to Viet Nam two years ago for several reasons. One rationale was that I could no longer morally and ethically justify living in a country that would use its military strength to invade other countries without proper justification and based on deliberate lies of its president. The violence that America models in Iraq, including prison torture, murder, rape of young girls by its soldiers and the now-admitted secret torture prisons has percolated into the heretofore safe depths of hometown America.
Within the span of one week, America has seen murders at three schools, including a horrific incident in a peaceful Amish community schoolhouse in Pennsylvania. Bush’s proposal for a conference on school violence is hollow, at best.
According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report for 2004 to 2005, the rate of violent crime, which includes murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, actually rose 2.5 percent for the first time in five years.
One can’t help but think the National Rifle Association and its paranoid gun-owners feel pride in keeping their right to bear arms. At the same time, Bush continues to make the world a more dangerous place while parents bury their soldiers or their children who do not return home from school.
As an international traveler, I have the opportunity to speak with people from many countries. The overwhelming opinion is that America is not viewed as a beacon of freedom and morality in the world, but as an arrogant and violent bully nation imposing its will through military force on other countries. Recently, a declassified report cited that Bush’s American War in Iraq has become a “cause celebre”for Islamic extremists while Bush has the audacity to claim the world is becoming safer because of his policies. With a “head in the sand” approach to reality, Bush is seen as the most dangerous person to world stability. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf recently told reporters that the (Bush) invasion of Iraq has made the world a dangerous place.
In July, the New Economics Foundation in Britain issued the results of a study aptly entitled The Happy Planet Index: An index of human well-being and environmental impact. It also measured people’s life satisfaction and life expectancy. The G-8 countries ranked very low out of the 178 nations ranked. The US was in 150th place. Andrew Simms, the foundation’s policy director and co-author of the report, said the index “addresses the relative success or failure of countries in giving their citizens a good life.
.
Before detractors start running for pens and pencils, I admit to living in a communist country. It’s a country moving ahead with its free-market economy and opportunity. It recently dedicated a new hospital dedicated solely to treating persons with AIDS\HIV for free; a country that in the past two years released more than 40,000 prisoners to celebrate major national events and boasts a recidivism rate of only 1.37%, and; a country that warns its citizens of impending dangerous typhoons and proactively evacuates those in peril. The few police who carry guns have rubber bullets, school students wear uniforms six days a week, and the country seems to close everyday for a nap after lunch. It’s also a country that is ranked as the 12th happiest country on the planet. Sure, there are economic problems still to tackle here, but the news here is nowhere at the violent level as the United States.
There is something people can do in the US to change things for the better. Revamp Congress because Republicans and Democrats alike are all on the payroll of corporate America. You can force a Bush impeachment, bring your troops home from Iraq and begin an open and frank dialogue with the Islamic world. There’s still a bit of time before everyone will echo Kurtz; The horror! The horror!
posted by thomashutchings at 7:46 PM
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