Atlas Shrugged: The Mocking

Monday, November 29, 2010

By The Way

We, the United States of America, murdered tens of thousands of people. We tortured, raped and blew the damn place up. Then we reelected the torturers, murderers and rapists-by-proxy into office. When their terms expired and we elected a new president, he refused to prosecute our murderers for their crimes.

It is inevitable that people will hate us, will try to expose us to judgement and ridicule. Will blow us up if they have the opportunity. We killed and then we went shopping.

We are not going to be rich and powerful forever. When we fall the rest of the world will not mourn our passing. They won't talk about how moral we are, how we just want to do good. They won't debate whether or not we deserve to be embarrassed before the world.

We killed people and we walked away scot-free. We don't even have the grace to feel guilty for what we've done. We are indignant when others criticize us or try to harm us. We think that everyone should just forget about it and continue to treat us with respect, admiration and envy.

Actions always have consequences. Sometimes they affect you, sometimes someone else, but actions always have consequences.

8 comments:

Downpuppy said...

A lovely declaration of faith.

Of course, the consequences don't always fall on the malefactors, or even the enablers.

Jennifer said...

"Actions always have consequences. Sometimes they affect you, sometimes someone else, but actions always have consequences." -- with this statement, I highly think of "Karma", many believed this will happen anytime and you cannot really foresee it coming.

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Anonymous said...

Actions always have consequences. Intentions don't. I think this is something that the greater mass of my countryfolk don't get. Our literature, art, history and theology all tell us that intentions matter, that who you are "inside" matters. Our children's books and our adult fiction are full of this. And yet its basically a lie. Actions speak louder than words. Always have, always will. We are known around the world as a careless people who smash things up and forget, instantly (if we ever knew) what was done in our name.

aimai

Susan of Texas said...

Yes, it isn't enough to mean well. We have to do the right thing.

nate said...

I saw Elliot Spitzer interviewing that American born cleric we've put out a hit on (I'm not a professional blogger, I can't be bothered to look up names and whatnot).

Spitzer was fuming about the attempted package bombs and the cleric replied, "You're bombing the people in Yemen. What did you think they'd send you, chocolates?"

Spitzer self-righteously denounced the guy as evil and said he hoped he'd burn in hell or something. Being the liberal on the show and all.

fish said...

Spitzer has always been a neocon nut on foreign policy. He was only a leftwing darling when he was mixing it up with Wall St.

Anonymous said...

I think we were already starting to see that, given the bust that Mr. Obama's recent trip to Asia turned to be.

I always thought we would pay for the arrogance and bellicosity of the last ten years, the day we started to show any weakness. Ironic that it's all the arrogance and bellicosity which helped weaken us in the first place...

Yep, what goes around comes around. Blew our shot to do it right. ANd it ain't gonna be pretty....

Wilson said...

"We are known around the world as a careless people who smash things up and forget, instantly (if we ever knew) what was done in our name."

We are also known around the world for our generous and giving spirit and for being a beacon for those less fortunate or downtrodden. Or are those endless lines at the majority of our embassies all over the world for visas and immigration just my imagination?

Yes, we are all of those terrible things Susan declaimed and actions do have consequences, but we as a people are not just the sum total of the worst we have to offer.

Torture is evil and we as a nation and a people have been guilty since the moment we arrived on these shores bringing that then accepted practice with us. We murdered in the hundreds of thousands of Native Americans without pity or shame, raping and stealing land without regard for any consequences. We have murdered in the millions by proxy throughout our militant history if not by direct action during declared wars. So has Great Britain, so has Germany, so has France, Russia, China, India, etc.

And yet we are more than our bloodthirsty history would suggest and the ideals that came to make this country in the beginning, still hold true today, if somewhat tattered and worn. We may be just an idiotic tyrannical infant nation but we are not the first nor last throughout history and few have reached the pinnacles of prosperity, success, achievements and monuments to all of mankind that the United States has made.