Telling the truth when
everyone agrees may feel good,
but it's pretty useless.
Telling the truth is far more important
when it goes AGAINST what most people think.
So I will.
prepare to be offended by the following.
Morality does not change based on birthplace or citizenship.
Whether something is good or bad doesn't depend upon
whether it's an American doing it, nor does it depend
upon where in the world it is being done.
"This is war!"
"Right and wrong don't count right now!"
Suppose there are criminals in your town.
(This won't take much imagination for most of us.)
Now suppose that a bunch of cops with machine-guns
are barging into one house after another, at random,
looking for the crooks.
Would it be ok with you when
they showed up at your house?
Well, that sort of thing wasn't ok with
the people who wrote the Constitution.
The Fourth Amendment in particular stated
that law enforcement has no right to come into
your house without your permission, unless they
have probable cause to think that a crime is happening,
or that evidence of a crime is there.
Of course, a cop's job would be a lot easier
if he didn't have to respect individual rights.
He could barge in where ever he wanted and rummage through
everyone's stuff (contrary to the Fourth Amendment), randomly
stop people and forcibly interrogate them (contrary to the
Fifth Amendment), take peoples' stuff or punish people on
a whim, lock people up without charging them with anything
(contrary to the Fifth and Sixth Amendments), and so on.
Of course he'd be an evil fascist,
but his job would be a lot easier.
Now watch some footage of U.S. troops on Iraq.
What are they doing? Barging where ever they want,
with guns drawn no less, randomly stopping people
and forcibly interrogating them, detaining people
without charges, taking property and punishing
people without a warrant or even probable cause.
So, why is that stuff good over
there if it's bad over here?
The sad but accurate answer,
for most Americans, is that the
victims are not Americans, so their
rights don't really matter.
Ever wonder how that would feel?
Wouldn't it be swell if, for our own good, if it
was decided to send troops to drive tanks around
our cities and towns, setting up random road blocks and
check points, questioning people at random, searching
where ever they wanted, and so on?
Would you feel good about that?
would it make you feel more secure?
After all, you have nothing to hide do you?
How about if they said, "Well this is WAR on (Fill in the blank)
or this is for your own protection and safety
so we HAVE to do this!". Would that make it ok?
The American troops in Iraq violate
individual rights on a daily basis.
Of course, the excuse is that they're going
after really nasty people, and they NEED to
be able to do that stuff.
Right. And that's what every tyrant in history
has used as an excuse for depriving individuals
of their rights.
It's been the default excuse for theft, torture
and murder since the beginning of recorded history.
Committing evil in the name of combating evil
is both hypocritical and patently stupid.
Incidentally, it's also EXACTLY the same excuse
that the foreign terrorists use to justify their atrocities.
It's the creed of U.S. troops and foreign "terrorists" alike.
Once upon a time, some radical extremists
declared that they believed it was "self-evident"
that ALL men are created equal, and endowed with
certain inalienable rights.
Wouldn't you consider that a good thing?
Since then, some have opined, with good reason,
that what they MEANT back then was that all white
males are created equal.
Well, we've come pretty far since then,
but today it just means "all Americans are created equal."
How about Iraqis?
Were they out sick or didn't care enough to show up
the day inalienable rights were handed out.
Killing lots of civilians, in order to
force people into changing there ways
When Arabs do it, it's called terrorism.
When Americans do it, it's heroic and righteous.
The ones who kill civilians ALWAYS say it was necessary,
and think that the ends justify the means, or they wouldn't do it.
So do I support "our" troops. No.
The fact is, "we" don't have troops.
GOVERNMENTS have troops, and they are
always used, first and foremost, to provide
power to the governments they serve.
They certainly don't represent me, and I don't
want their "protection," if the price is the
constant violation of individual rights.
And this is true even if "our" troops only
violate the rights of people who have darker skin,
wear funny clothes, and talk funny.
I guess that makes me un-American.
November 21, 2008
by Larken Rose edited a lot by me
equal rights
