I find accounts such as the following a reason for hope - that perhaps one day, citizens in the most powerful country on earth will eventually wake up not just to the destructiveness of their state, but the potential for their society to be a force for the good. This "wakening" affects not just Americans, but also people who meanwhile have to suffer from their stupor. Is it too much to hope that future generations of the world will actually be grateful to George W. Bush for pushing his country unwittingly towards their second revolution?
PUBLISHED ON ARAB VOICES SPEAK
My name is Jean Hendrick. Both my husband and I earned MBAs, and then worked in the corporate world in manufacturing and banking until 1998. That year we both realized how destructive large corporations are to humans and the environment. So we left our jobs, sold everything we owned and moved to the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Georgia. Greg now markets nutritional supplements and I help disabled people get Social Security.
While we were in the corporate world both Greg and I were moderately conservative in our politics, mostly because that was the way we were raised. However, that changed 100% when we moved to Georgia, and especially when President Bush started to talk about going to war in Iraq. We knew this was wrong and that the reasons he listed for war were lies to the American people. We stopped listening to the corporate controlled media and started to think for ourselves. We started to get very active in promoting progressive policies and ideas.
I have spoken out against the war in Iraq since the day President Bush started beating his war drum. I have spoken out against Guantanamo. I have spoken out about the injustice being done to the Palestinians. Every day we see new evidence of how President Bush and his administration have lied to the American people, and I am deeply ashamed of my government.
I have spent many hours trying to understand why so many Americans still support President Bush and this disastrous war in Iraq. The answer is complex, but basically it comes down this: First of all, most Americans do not realize that our news media is no longer independent, that it has become a tool for corporations to push products and propaganda. And since the Bush administration and the Republican Party favor corporate wealth over individual American prosperity, the corporations who own the media will not show the truth about what is really happening unless they absolutely have to. It is in their best interest to promote Bush Administration propaganda, because if they do they get favors. If they don’t they get attacked – like Newsweek was attacked for it’s coverage of Quran abuses at Guantanamo. Secondly, average Americans do not lie, and therefore cannot believe that our government lies. We have all been taught since childhood that America is the land of the free and stands for truth, honor and justice. It is very difficult to break away from that concept to see things as they really are. The lies from this administration are so big, so unprecedented that most Americans can’t believe they are lies, no matter what facts are given to show them as such. Thirdly, in order to retain support for his lies, President Bush has played upon the base fears of Americans, as well as their sense of patriotism. First he tried to make us afraid of more terrorist attacks. Then he used fear of gay people and abortion to incite the Religious right, which has become more fundamentalist in nature for the past 10 years. If anyone speaks out against this, or the war in Iraq, they are attacked professionally and personally, including those in the media who question the lies. They are called unpatriotic. The Bush Administration does not listen to critics; they surround themselves only with supporters, even at taxpayer funded events. When they could not win the 2000 and 2004 election fairly, they rigged the vote! ng machi nes and took the results to court. We are very much in danger of becoming a fascist state.
The American government has been a tyrant since the 1950’s. Most Americans have no idea what our government has done in our name, since most of it has been done in secret. If the truth did come out, the information was “spun” to make it look like we were still the good guys. The American government does not really care about democracy and freedom; it only cares about what is good for those few individuals and corporations who make a lot of money as a result of American policies. That is why the American government appears inconsistent to the world, creating dictators, bringing them down, and then propping them up again. The underlying common thread is money, and what is needed to make sure the money keeps flowing. That is why our government takes what does not belong to it, and this is wrong.
I don’t know why Americans judge Arabs without knowing them. I suspect that the media has done this, creating a scary picture of Arabs in order to retain support for the unconstitutional policies the Bush Administration decrees that curtail our civil liberties. Most Americans believe this propaganda rather than doing the hard work to find out for themselves. Now, with the heightened level of fear in this country, anyone who looks like an Arab is suspect. This is wrong, wrong, wrong. I am ashamed of the way our government has abused American Arabs and Arab immigrants. I am appalled at the attack on Aljazeera that caused the death of the reporter. I am disgusted with what is going on in Guantanamo and Iraq. I am deeply embarrassed and deeply ashamed that my government has done this.
I have not had much contact with Arabs in the U.S. I did have some Arab acquaintances when I went to school in southern France. It was only recently that I learned the difference between an Arab, an Afghani, an Iraqi and an Iranian. Since we don’t understand the languages, we cannot tell the difference on TV. I have taught myself a little about Islam and Mohammed (PBUH), the difference between Sunni and Shi’ite and I deeply respect the contributions that Arabs have made to the world. I am almost envious of the closeness of Arab families, although I do understand that this closeness can sometimes be hard to deal with. America has become a rootless society and I long for the sense of belonging that you must have. When I watched the documentary “Control Room” about Aljazeera, I wished that I could invite every employee interviewed over to my house for dinner. I am very much impressed with how many Arabs speak English, and how open and welcoming you are to strangers.
It has only been very recently that average Americans have begun to wake up to the tremendous injustice done to the Palestinians. I hear about it more and more every day, but mostly from independent media. National Public Radio is being criticized for being too pro-Palestinian in it’s coverage of the Middle East, and is in danger of losing its government funding. The reality is that NPR is telling both sides of the story, and the Bush Administration doesn’t like it. When I was a young girl I grew up with the romantic myth of Exodus and the Jews creating a nation of their own. However, I do remember wondering how land could simply be taken away from one people and given to another. But then, Americans are used to that because that it is what we did to Native Americans. Again, I believe the root of the problem is money. Wealthy American Jews who can make or break a politician’s career heavily lobby the U.S. government. My experience of American Jews is that most of them cannot see past the Holocaust, and therefore cannot see that Palestinians are being treated by Israelis the same way Jews have been treated for thousands of years. Even highly educated progressive Jews that I know in Georgia cannot open their minds to the Palestinian issue, and refuse to read anything that contradicts their assumptions. I agree with those who say that America must either become an even-handed broker, or get out of the way. However, I don’t think America is capable of being even-handed, due to the influence of wealthy Jews. I suggest that the Palestinians and the Israelis find some other group or country to help them through this – like the UN, or Switzerland.
I know that what I have said here is very depressing. So let me end with hope. Hassan Abrahim (I hope I got his name right) said in “Control Room” that the only thing that will stop America is the American people. I felt joy when I heard it. It is absolutely true. What I want the Arab world, and the rest of the world, to know is that there are millions of Americans who feel just like I do, who see things as clearly as I hope I do, who have stopped listening and believing the lies from the corporate media and our government. We still have a few members of Congress who speak the truth and challenge the lies. We are coming together and working hard every single day in this great struggle to change America – not back to what it was, but into what it says it is. There is an American expression – “walk the talk.” This means to act as you speak. We want America to act as she speaks, openly, honestly, fairly and with great compassion for all Americans and the people of all other nations. This is going to take a long time to accomplish. We have strayed way too far down the wrong path. We may not accomplish this in my lifetime. But I do know that what our government is most afraid of is the power inherent in the American people; that is why they lie to us. Once we have the truth, we cannot be stopped.
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