Freedom
So, it's Independence Day. The airwaves and our skies are filled with expressions of pride in the United States and what it stands for in terms of freedom. We've been conditioned all our lives, not only by media but by our media influenced families and friends to believe that the US stands for freedom all over the world. Our country is filled with people who came here looking for the opportunity to live in a society where they could practice any religion, or no religion, where there was a fairly elected President, where they could work hard and prosper.
When our government sends our soldiers out to die, what is it in the name of? Not America, freedom. We don't kill others to convert them but to free them, right? Well, not according to George Clooney, if I could make heads or tails out of Syriana. But what I'm getting so far, from this film and from another great film, Lord of War, with Nicholas Cage, is that our government needs to be looked at as an arms corporation. Donald Sutherland, in Oliver Stone's JFK comments that the primary organizing principle of any government is war.
In Syriana, we see an arab prince commenting that if their country won't buy enough arms they are faced with embargoes and being called terrorists. In Lord of War, we see the arms dealer get off in the end because they are needed to get small weapons sold in Africa and elsewhere. We pay big money for oil and we need it back. What we offer up are guns and rifles and grenades and land-mines and rocket launchers.... it goes on and on. We enforce our monopolies on all this stuff as we do our others, the copyrights, with any force necessary.
How free are our choices, even as Americans, when we get all our news from corporate-owned sources? I read recently in Rolling Stone (RS 1002) how Bush not only stole the 2000 election, but the 2004 election as well, by focusing on critical states, mostly Ohio in 2004 and thwarting the electorate on a precinct by precinct basis and also by installing right-wing zealots as Secretaries of State, particularly in "battle ground states". Heard much about this? Seems like it should be a pretty big story when some 11 key precincts have results that differ so dramatically from exit polls that pollsters can't explain it... all going inexplicably to Bush.
Why don't the media cover stories like this, or stories about arms dealers, or the laws passed every day rolling back our rights to enjoy copyrighted material, essentially, all material? Why doesn't the media talk about how Americans who venture outside into the real world out there are embarrassed and mortified to see how we are perceived around the world?
Sure, we have freedoms here, freedom to shop at any Wal-mart we want, eat at any McDonalds we like, as long as we have the gas to get there. And don't worry, Bush will make sure you do. Do you have the freedom to lead a good life, a simple life, a healthy and balanced life? Kind of. It's hard, cause the government wants you working and consuming. If you try to slow down and enjoy your life, and listen to your heart and body and soul, you'll find freedom curtailed.
When our government sends our soldiers out to die, what is it in the name of? Not America, freedom. We don't kill others to convert them but to free them, right? Well, not according to George Clooney, if I could make heads or tails out of Syriana. But what I'm getting so far, from this film and from another great film, Lord of War, with Nicholas Cage, is that our government needs to be looked at as an arms corporation. Donald Sutherland, in Oliver Stone's JFK comments that the primary organizing principle of any government is war.
In Syriana, we see an arab prince commenting that if their country won't buy enough arms they are faced with embargoes and being called terrorists. In Lord of War, we see the arms dealer get off in the end because they are needed to get small weapons sold in Africa and elsewhere. We pay big money for oil and we need it back. What we offer up are guns and rifles and grenades and land-mines and rocket launchers.... it goes on and on. We enforce our monopolies on all this stuff as we do our others, the copyrights, with any force necessary.
How free are our choices, even as Americans, when we get all our news from corporate-owned sources? I read recently in Rolling Stone (RS 1002) how Bush not only stole the 2000 election, but the 2004 election as well, by focusing on critical states, mostly Ohio in 2004 and thwarting the electorate on a precinct by precinct basis and also by installing right-wing zealots as Secretaries of State, particularly in "battle ground states". Heard much about this? Seems like it should be a pretty big story when some 11 key precincts have results that differ so dramatically from exit polls that pollsters can't explain it... all going inexplicably to Bush.
Why don't the media cover stories like this, or stories about arms dealers, or the laws passed every day rolling back our rights to enjoy copyrighted material, essentially, all material? Why doesn't the media talk about how Americans who venture outside into the real world out there are embarrassed and mortified to see how we are perceived around the world?
Sure, we have freedoms here, freedom to shop at any Wal-mart we want, eat at any McDonalds we like, as long as we have the gas to get there. And don't worry, Bush will make sure you do. Do you have the freedom to lead a good life, a simple life, a healthy and balanced life? Kind of. It's hard, cause the government wants you working and consuming. If you try to slow down and enjoy your life, and listen to your heart and body and soul, you'll find freedom curtailed.
posted by Intervision at 8:54 AM
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