Who Hates Freedom?

                Who is it that truly hates our freedoms? The Islamic terrorists? Or is it somebody much more close to home? Al Qaeda has very specific stated goals, not one of which is the destruction of freedom in the US. In fact every goal stated in bin Laden's 1998 fatwa has to do with the Middle East: driving out American influence in Muslim nations, toppling of pro-Western dictatorships, and the destruction of Israel. Getting rid of American influence in a land far away from US borders is hardly a goal of getting rid of any freedom of the American people. And yet I seem to hear this 'hate our freedoms' bullshit more than I hear substantive about terrorism.

                But, after 9/11 we have seen a decline in freedom. Whether it be invasive pat downs or scanners, warrantless widespread wiretapping of phones and monitoring of internet use, or even the extrajudicial murder of citizens. But it has not been the terrorist group that has done this to the American people, but the leaders elected into office. The things the state has gotten away with using terrorism as a scare tactic has done more damage to the world than al Qaeda could ever hope to do.

                But the state is no stranger to these tactics. It merely changes boogeymen. When the USSR was the boogeyman, COINTELPRO reigned. After Pearl Harbor over 100,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese were put into internment camps. The US had made a hobby of overthrowing anyone who is not friendly enough to US interests and replacing them with puppet dictators all over the world.

                Al Qaeda is certainly a terrible organization, but we must give the US its due.

The Hypocrisy in Death

   Death has an odd effect on people. Both in the individual that died (an observation that I personally found hysterical for some reason), and the people that knew, or were aware of the person. Today Andrew Breitbart died. Yes, the jackass that screamed at a group of peacefully protesting Occupiers. Now, when you read that last sentence you more than likely had one of two reactions, especially if you were aware of Breitbart before his death and the whitewashing of his life that is sure to occur in the mainstream press: 1) you smiled slightly to yourself as you realized I also disliked Breitbart, or 2) thought me to be a horrendously callous and unfeeling individual to mock a man that died less than 24 hours ago.

   Now what if I had said the same thing after somebody like Obama died? Would you have had the same reaction? Maybe you had 1 when it came to Breitbart, yet reaction 2 when it came to Obama. You're probably telling yourself you would have had the same reaction, and I'm sure some of you could actually honestly say that (especially considering the likely readership of this blog, well other than nobody). But for the majority of people that merely divide themselves between the left and right rhetoric of this country, or, even worse, actually identify as a Democrat or Republican, you probably would be valiantly defending one's memory while denigrating the other.

   And you know what? That's fine with me. Sure, in the horrible world of politics many people have very clear cut allegiances and they will naturally defend and mock them accordingly. "But Derek," you may cry in terror and confusion at a monitor that in no way conveys this information to me, "where does hypocrisy come into all this?! Is the title of your blog misleading." I would, naturally, not actually answer you because I can't hear you (I assure you I am not rude enough to merely ignore you), but if you would please keep reading from this tangent I assure you the title will be appropriate very soon! The hypocrisy comes in when you little fuckers start bitching about the other side making fun of your side's fresh corpse while you would assuredly be doing the same to them in their situation.

   Just read some of the wonderful comments from conservatives on Matt Taibbi's blog about Breitbart's death. I particularly enjoy one user by the name of 'Gerard Van der Leun' who commented, "Die in a fire, Tabbi. Soon." Now, as I can only assume he was actually inviting Taibbi to die, and not a cat or somebody with the name Tabatha while using a nickname, I find this post absolutely hysterical. In response to Taibbi's mocking of Breitbart's death the user actually invites Taibbi to die! Other users, less hysterically, merely spoke about how disgusted they were with Taibbi. But I am sure most people complaining about any liberal criticism and joy that comes in the wake of Breitbart's death would most certainly be doing the same thing had a liberal equivalent just died. Hell, even Breitbart himself took part in this most wonderful traditions, insulting Ted Kennedy in his death.

   So let them have their fun. Sure, defend the decaying bastards if you truly think the criticism in unwarranted, but don't pretend to be above such a thing. If you hate a person in life, you should hate them in death. They are nothing more than the sum total of their lives, and now that it's over you are essentially guaranteed that you aren't going to magically like the person.  Are you a bastard for mocking a man in life and death? Eh, probably. But you know what? Andrew Brightbart lived as a fucking intolerable scum-fucker, and his death merely cemented him as a fucking intolerable scum-fucker for all eternity. If saying that makes me a bastard, then fuck it.

The Fictional City

I once read about a city.  A fictional city where nearly the entire population lived in comfort, and happiness.  However, after reaching a certain age they had to visit a certain individual once every so often.  This certain individual was what made everyone's lives so good in the city, because as long as this one individual suffered, the city would continue to be near perfect.  Some decided to leave the city afterwards, not being able to live with what their happiness depended on, while others would stay.

                Many people in my class at the time reacted in revulsion.  The idea that one person's suffering so greatly merely for others to be happy seemed to be wrong.  This was a simple thought experiment used to determine whether utilitarianism is a valid moral philosophy.  Many people rejected this idea in this thought experiment, yet seem to have little problem living in our current world.

                If a single individual suffering greatly for the happiness of others is wrong, then why not speak against our current world, in which a much greater number suffer for the pleasure of the rest of the population?  Why not speak against corporations using third world workers, adults as well as children, for incredibly low pay to create extremely popular and expensive products?  Why not speak against starvation when there is more than enough food to feed every person?  The list goes on and on.  But most importantly, why can't they put the parallel between the fictional city and the real world together?

The Lies We Must Overcome

As I progressed through the public school system I, like every child growing into an adult, experienced a major paradigm shift.  I no longer believe the state to be benevolent, all-knowing or even well-meaning.  However, the public school system, naturally, did its best to prevent this.

                As we progress throughout history in a US History class (the last strictly history class in my high school career), the textbooks create a very odd view of history, one in which all major issues and controversies are behind us.  Gone are the days of workers struggling for fair pay and safe working conditions, of racism, of sexism, of rampant inequality.  These things were issues that America conquered, and no longer plague the great country.  It makes it seem as if all of US history is merely working to the end point that is today.

                This creates an image of the world highly disconnected from reality.  Any person seriously looking at the state of the United States knows this to be false.  Inequality not only persists, but continues to grow, with the richest people being richer than ever.  Racism, while not acceptable in most cases publicly anymore, persists in the system greatly, especially when it comes to incarceration and execution.  Feminism is still viewed as some sort of insane philosophy by the mainstream.  Certainly this cannot be the ideal future that textbooks seem to portray.

                Another telling aspect of our textbooks are what they don't tell the students.  We never learn about the USA's more shady operations.  We get maybe a brief passage about various scandals such as Watergate in which the powerful go free in cases where the average man would have been jailed.  We hear nothing about America's love for overthrowing democracies that threaten US interests, especially when nationalization of industries ever comes up.   We hear nothing about the vicious dictatorships and regimes we prop up that massacre their people.  So much is left out that would allow people to have a better view of the actual history, and reality of the USA.

                It is only through research and reading outside of my classes that I was able to learn anything of the actual workings of the state.  However, I ironically became interested in Marxism through my World History AP class.  All my life I had been at least somewhat ignorant of what Marxism and Communism meant.  I knew they were the 'bad guys' in the form of the Soviet Union, which I certainly agree with, but I do disagree with the US being the 'good guys'.  It was in the pages of that textbook that I read about wokers owning the means to production, owning their own labor.  And that is where it all began.  I knew I agreed with that economically, but where would I exist socially?  Certainly I rejected the strong hand of the state that the so-called Communist states used.  This lead to my interest in politics, and my finding of my poltitical home in Anarcho-Communism.

                I do not expect this to be a revelation for most people that will end up reading this.  I used this more as a form of therapy, getting some of the thoughts that have been plaguing me recently out of my head.  Hopefully this blog will be less shitty in the future.