Alright, I'll be the first to admit that our government has made quite a few mistakes in its long history. But, last night I watched Blood Diamond and it got me thinking, quite idealistically, of course: Does our government have an impossible task?
As it stands right now the government has 2 groups of people to please: those within its borders, and those on the outside. Those within cry for peace or justice or a mixture of both for those on the outside while at the same time crying for all the things that make us comfortable(lower gas prices, diamonds, clothes, hair straighteners, shoes, plasma screen tvs). Those on the outside either hate us for what we have and what we do, or they love us for what we have and what we do; they either want to wipe us out and redo the structure of this country and its government, or they want to meticulously copy and conform to everything we do. These two groups separate, probably, in that one group sees us crying out for justice and the other chooses to focus on our consumeristic nature superseding any efforts towards justice. This may all seem rather obvious, but there's other things that are very obvious to the world and our government that haven't really penetrated our heads that are focused on getting to the next level of Halo 3, getting the newest MAC lipshade, or on updating our facebook status.
For instance, Saudi Arabia. I would hate the United States if i was a resident of that country. Saudi Arabia is the richest country in the ENTIRE WORLD. So, suprisingly, it has an insane number of refugees and homeless. How is this possible in a country with as many resources as S.A. could have such depth of poverty in their country? How? I'll tell you. The corrupt regime that runs the country uses all of the money on (besides lavish living for the royal family) funding for Wahabist groups. What is wahabism you ask? and why haven't your heard of it? Well, probably because: a. you weren't researching this (because neither was i. this information was given to me...luckily) b. you heard it and it was too uncomfortable. But, what is it? The most extreme sect of Islam.
"Some Wahhabist books and pamphlets teach that Muslims should reject absolutely any non-Muslim ideas and practices, including political ones. A study by the NGO Freedom House found wahhabi publications in a number of mosques in the United States preaching that Muslims should not only "always oppose" infidels "in every way," but "hate them for their religion ... for Allah's sake," that democracy "is responsible for all the horrible wars of the 20th century," that Shia and other non-Wahhabi Muslims were infidels, etc."
[thanks wikipedia.]
While there are these mosques in the U.S., they are even more prevalent in and throughout Europe and Asia. The expansion and spreading of their teaching is primarily funded by the revenue received from the oil exports of Saudi Arabia. Who requires the most oil? We do. Interesting. So? What do these refugees think of us when we preach our message of freedom and democracy? They think we are selfish, hypocritical. And its true. "A man cannot serve two masters." A country cannot serve two masters. Either we work towards an end that would see the saving of many lives, or we focus on our lives, and how we can become more comfortable..if that is possible.
It's a choice. The government cannot please our consumeristic, selfish citizens, while at the same time living up to its duty as a world power. I'm not naive enough to think that anyone will be willing to give up their comfort for the lives of others who reside permanent discomfort. I'm not naive enough to think that anyone will be willing to to turn off "The Real Housewives of Orange County" to think about the real problems that face our world. I'm not naive enough to think that people will turn off all the noise that they consciously surround themselves with to listen to the cries of help that are being suppressed by evil regimes throughout a large part of our world. I'm not naive enough to think that people will give up the luxuries that go along with freedom to help release the escalating number of slaves that are are in bondage throughout this world. I'm not naive enough to think that people will stop worrying about whether or not their water is filtered, or whether they should get the FIJI water bottles or the Aquafina, without worrying about the people of Fiji, many of whom have water that is unfit to drink. Maybe I am naive enough to wish it.
One of the biggest trials facing our government will be convincing the residents of the United States that many of the world's problems are due in part to our rejection of simple living. Even if they decide to be bold enough to tell the American public, they will surely not be heard. And even if we did listen, we wouldn't believe it, because nothing is ever OUR fault. No, only our government can be blamed. The citizen is always right, ironically, like the customer. Perhaps we've developed that little trait due to our time in the shopping malls. But, that's only our response if the accusations are heard. But, they won't be. No, we'll be too busy drowning out the noise with our ipods, our HD 1080 TVs, our guitar hero and Rock Band games.
And life will go on.
For us.
For a while.
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