Thoughts on Anti-americanism

This is a discussion board post, but thought I'd put it here as well because I think it accurately reflects why I can be so critical of our nation, not just the policy makers. Anyway, here is my post.

Quoted from another post:

But I get tired of hearing about America being a big bad imperialistic, selfish capitalistic nation. If anyone doesn't want us to be that - then DON'T be that! The country is what it's people are.

Criticize the policies. Criticize the President. But to use statements like American Imperialism (when we all were taught how EVIL imperialism was and is) is to make a really negative comment about our country in general - not this administration.

If we take a good look at our country's policies, you begin to notice a trend - imperialism. And imperialism has been the foundation for our policies since our country was founded. Just look at how we handled the conquest of the American continent. And our policies in interacting with our neighbors, and oil producing companies, and developing countries. While the imperialism isn't one of annexing those nations to the US, it is more one of making them adhere to policies that benefit the US at their own cost.

Does this make the US evil? That's something you have to decide for yourself. Do I think our policies are consistent with our supposed ethic of democracy, liberty and equality for all? Absolutely not. Now, as you know, consistency is one of the most important things to me. All I personally want is for the American people to recognize that our policies, while contributing nicely to our high standard of living, do not promote the same high standards around the world, and, in fact, tend to squash local movements that are heading in that direction.

Now, if Americans are fine with it, then I need to figure out how I feel about living in a country that does things that I completely disagree with. However, and I might be incredibly naive, I believe that Americans, if they were shown the truth of other's situations around the world, then we as a country would have a change of heart.

In his book, On the Justice of Roosting Chickens, Ward Churchill argues that Americans already have the tools they need to know the truth of the situation, we just choose to bury our heads in the sand and pretend to not be aware of it. He argues that all adverse actions that we are experiencing today are deserved and should be met not with violence, but with sincere attempts to make amends.

I'm not sure I agree with him completely, but he does have a point. It seems that Americans would rather not know where their products/energy/etc come from so long as it is cheap and accessible. I do think this is changing. Slowly. But changing, nonetheless. But change never would have happened if people didn't speak up and force others to look at the way things really are. Change doesn't happen if you don't get out of your comfortable place and go see, truly see, what is going on in the slums, the ghettos, the orphanages, the hospitals, the nursing homes, the third world. It won't happen if you don't acknowledge your part in maintaining the status quo that keeps them there. And it won't happen if you go back to your cozy home and forget about what you saw and felt.

One of my favorite (well favorite is not exactly the right word) parts of the spanish mass is when the priest is walking the congregation through Jesus' death. He talks about Jesus' suffering on the cross and the congregation repeats "Por mi culpa, por mi culpa, por mi culpa" while pointing their finger at themselves. Por mi culpa best translates "for my fault", "all my fault", or "the blame is mine". This is the part of the mass where the congregation accepts the blame for Jesus' death.

It connected me in ways that I had never experienced to Jesus death and suffering. I fet compelled to do that when I saw the Passion of the Christ as well. It has become a sort of mantra for me when I am faced with suffering and injustice. I look at it and say "por mi culpa" and really look and see where I am to blame. Now, this can be overwhelming and can weigh you down if you accept the blame for the world's problems. But, if you take an honest, realistic look at how your actions contribute to the problem, you are able to then decide how to change the situation starting with you. And instead of sitting around talking about it, you have started to change your own habits. You are now starting to live your life conscientiously instead of living just because that's what they tell you to do.

And when you start to do that, you want other people to join you in this. So you talk about it. You bring things up. You want to do whatever it takes to open their eyes to the truth, because you realize that you can't change the world yourself you need others to help you. And here I stand bringing up the issue of American imperialism because I can see how my living (and especially buying) habits are contributing to the problem. So, yes, it IS a negative comment about our country. But I am doing everything I can to change it.