How our illusions hurt us.

[KlatooBNikto]

I was thinking about Senator Byrd's courgaeous oration in the Senate during the run up to the War On Iraq.He warned us at the time that Imperial Hubris will do us in as it has many other conquerors drunk with power that preceded us throughout history.He was,of course, dismissed as a timid and out of touch old man.

Two years after the war was launched there is no end in sight to the drain on our blood and treasure.The Iraqis are willing to die to eject the invaders for however long it takes.Layer by layer, the lipstick the Bush administration has put on this swine begins to run and show the ugliness underneath.They are mortally afraid of telling the truth and even more afraid to face the families of the dead soldiers.It is only a matter of time before the Ayatollah Ali Shistani makes common cause with his Sunni brothers escalating the costs to the occupation forces even more. The bankruptcy of this War is going to be clear as summer approaches and even the most diehard supporter will be hard put to justify this disaster.

While this monumental disaster in Iraq is unfolding, it has its origin in the same mindset that dragged us into the Vietnam War.The notion that our view of the world must prevail at all costs,our need for the world's resources (euphemistically " our vital interests")
must be paramount and we can violate all international agreements, even the ones we put in place, with impunity without fear of reprisal.
That is the hubris that Senator Byrd captured in his oration and which has been elegantly expressed by Shakespeare thus: What need we fear who knows it when no one can call our power to account? Mr.Bush and his minions are in hot water despite their brave appearances because the time to pay the piper is coming due.The skyrocketing costs of petroleum mostly due to the actions he took are deepening the crisis and all his chest thumping about freedom and democracy are beginning to ring hollow to Americans who see that their wallets are being emptied out.

The same hubris is also affecting the symbol of America's dominance of the automotive industry, GM.For a long time, GM existed unchallenged commanding over 50% of the market simply by being able to produce cars in large volumes. Thsoe days have suddenly come to an end and GM is now fighting for its very survival.The old ways of doing business no longer work and nimble competitors from Japan, Germany and Korea are taking away the market shares with well engineered and quality cars.As Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler-Chrysler said recently, all signs point to even worse times ahead.If China and India enter the markets, the game will be over.Once again the illusions of our superiority have come to undermine us in the one business we are supposedly good at.

All this goes to show that unless we learn to live among other human beings as friends and neighbors instead of prancing around, our humiliation and defeat will be worse than what I fear is happening.May be that is what is needed for us to return to sanity.But then, the old octagenarian who warned us loves this country too much to say I told you so.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. If the experience of Vietnam is any guide, there will be die-hard

supporters of the Iraq War no matter what happens. :-(

I remember the excuses that were made for the My Lai massacre: "Our guys are under a lot of pressure." "Those children would only have grown up to be Communists anyway." "It's all Communist propaganda." Etc. Etc.

[mattclearing]

2. Sometimes you have to put up or shut up.

We Americans have become complacent. We have become accustomed to being considered the best, and we haven't done anything worthy of the superlative treatment in some time.

From manufacturing, to innovations in science or technology, to international relations, we haven't lived up to our billing lately.

At all.

Soon even freepers will admit we aren't the greatest nation on Earth.

It will be evident in the way we live, the news we watch, and the misery we reap.

[KlatooBNikto]

3. There is clearly a better way.We have to be able to admit that we

are a part of humanity, no better and no worse than the rest.That admission will be cathartic and lead us into sane behavior that the rest of the world will respond to with positive feedback.When we become part of humanity as a whole with all its failings and triumphs,our greatness will be ahead of us, we will be much admired and ,dare I say it, even loved.

[mattclearing]

6. Is it too much to ask to simply be equal?

Americans recoil in horror at the idea of relinquishing the title, of being just another country.

There was a time, and some people living can probably still remember it, when America was just another country.

Since World War II, there has been a severe national superiority complex that we desperately need to be cured of before we blow the goodwill we earned in the last century.

[BeHereNow]

4. GREAT Post!

You have summed it up quite nicely.
Americans are the most arrogant, ignorant
and narcissistic and self deluded people on the planet
and they are in for a very rude awakening.
Soon, very soon they will learn the price of
their blind support of the hubris spreading hegemonic
leaders.
The way of life they feel so entitled to enjoy, at the cost
of those "other" people living in parts of the world
they could not find on a map or even pronounce
the names of, is OVER.
O-V-E-R.
It's going to get ugly fast when the
over grown adolescents in this country find out how the
rest of the world has lived for the last hundred years.
They are not even remotely prepared to survive
the hardships that they have brought upon themselves
and still think they are considered "special" to the
US led Empire.
Just wait until they realize that they are of no more
value to the Empire than the civilians in other
countries killed with their tax dollars.
They will soon realize that their only value to the
Empire will be in serving the empire, as serfs.
The writing is on the wall.
Too bad so many Americans can't read.
BHN

[understandinglife]

5. Just how does anyone justify killing a child? Reflect on that on ....

...May 2 2005; reflect on how Bu$h and his theocratic neoconsters justify the countless children they have killed - for what?


www.missionnotaccomplished.us (a day to stop and THINK about what "We The People..." are going to start doing to put an end to the thecoratic neoconsters murdering, pillaging, greed and deception)

[BeHereNow]

7. How, you ask?

Because the collective mental illness of the people
actually has advanced to that degree.
They can justify anything that allows them to remain
deluded and comfortable.
The tables are about to turn on them though.
The same neo-christo-crats are also
plundering and pillaging their way of life as "Americans."
The recent laws enacted by this administration
will reduce them to the same status as the people
they justify killing.
The lack of health care in this country is no different
than the sanctions imposed on Iraq as far as our children
and the number of them unable to see a doctor.
The recent bankruptcy laws and credit card mess
is going to deepen that situation driving people into
a state of complete poverty.
By the time people figure out what has happened
it will be too late, and the rest of the world
will not empathize with us because we have
been far to arrogant for far too long.
Our downfall will be celebrated by many
and I don't know it we will ever be considered
as a friend again.
More likely we will go down in history as the
playground bullie who finally got his come-uppance.
BHN

[understandinglife]

8. I would be greatful if you posted your response to the following thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3476986

And, thank you!

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us (a day to reflect on:

"By the time people figure out what has happened
it will be too late, and the rest of the world
will not empathize with us because we have
been far to arrogant for far too long."

Posted by DUer BHN in "How, you ask?")