Vital Background: Ethiopia
It's a common sentiment in America, uttered in thousands of ways using various vocabulary, all expressing the same assumptions.
1. They hate us.
2. They hate us for no good reason.
3. They ought to get off our backs.
Why do they hate us so? Don't they appreciate the disaster relief and the Hollywood movies and the hand-wringing and blood-letting that we've offered over Iraq? Don't they appreciate that we're trying to help?
Well sometimes they do. Not that you'd ever learn Farsi to be able to tell. Not that our media would relay. Besides, we don't want too much of a love-fest leading to more rigorous humanitarian effort. Better to label the world ingrates so that you can support only military intervention and arms sales. Besides, defense contracting is so exciting when you see it in films like Transformers.
Hell, I can hear some radio blow-hard laughing already. We pay to see US fighter jets do their stuff in Hollywood films. Dropping missiles on some Somali fucks' houses? That's like a free show!
Well, I certainly feel better, but if you're still troubled by the prospect of other people not liking us very much, you might have the sick desire to read about something other than the free fireworks displays and general love-in that is the American presence abroad.
For example, let's meet our ally (for our warships assisted in their destruction of Somalian peace back in 2006 and 2007), Ethiopia.
Most famous as a place where people starve on television commercials, Ethiopia is actually a state in the throes of post-communist despotism. Ideology may be dead, but authoritarianism is alive and well and, freed up of any philosophy or responsibilities, it's actually thriving, able now to pursue the ageless desire of power for its own sake. It's the new world order! Nothing new, nothing orderly, and eventually, there'll be no world left! Swell.
Well, oddly enough, as we were supporting Ethiopia in its fight for freedom against Islamic extremism, they were butchering the political opposition and, though they were released last year, it seems that political chaos will still spell victory for the ruling party.
Now, the people of Ethiopia may see their oppressors allying with the United States, but they don't see the whole story. They only see the rape, disappearances, and massacres committed by Ethiopia. And they might think America hates them. But we don't. We clearly don't. We don't even know Ethiopians exist. Only a madman could think that someone hates when, in reality, we just don't care.
posted by Cüneyt @ 11:38 AM
2 Comments:
There is always the government and there are always the people. Despite what many Americans think, people are more clued up than you give them credit.
You mentioned about the whole story and here is one from my perspective.
I am Somalian by birth, and if you see the history of the horn of Africa, first it was cold war competition between US and USSR for 40 years that created so much misery to the people and so much arms inflow that yielded nothing in return.
Now this concocted war on terror business that only seems to terrorize the people rather than dealing with reality.
It amazes me you think that your leaders that are perpetrating the atrocities by financial aid or directly, have a better overall picture.
I ask you after all this death and destruction, what has been achieved. How many more people hate your country now than few years back ?
It amuses me, your leaders lecturing china about darfur, when even the spineless UN has admitted Somalia is a bigger crisis.
Ohh...... what is the point.
Ahiro, thanks for posting.
Where did you get the idea that I believed that my government had a better picture?
I apologize if my intent was obscured by my expression. I was being sarcastic, and I ask of my own government the exact same question you ask:
"What has been achieved?"
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