i guess it is time for me to finally make the leap onto the blog scene, and what a handy time to do so. now, i don't speak ill of the dead, and hopefully not of the living, but all this beatification of mr. reagan on every t.v. channel, numerous websites, and even e-mails they spoon-feed me at work...well it has just gotten me thinking i must live in an alternate universe inside my own head. because, i have nothing against the man, as a person, but his deeds speak volumes! and most americans either can't or won't remember -or never even knew about the atrocities he committed in central america, not to mention on our own soil.
does iran/contra trading arms for weapons ring any bells? or nicaraguans being killed by US trained and funded death squads? how about ollie north and mr. president's famous defense of "i don't recall"? i wish i could not recall all the dumb and hurtful things i have done. yet i have the warped capability of not being able to remember a movie i watched a few months ago, yet having sharp and clear images and soundbites playing over and over in my mind about every mistake i have ever made in the past.
selective memory, like selective hearing - presents an unbalanced view of the actual events. and americans today have a mindset of see no evil, hear no evil, don't want to know, don't burst my bubble containing the "we are the heroes" banner. if they were ever informed of the school budget cuts, tax cuts for the rich, social program cuts for the poor, NON trickle down economic policies, apartheid supporting, war supporting, cocaine importing ways of mr. reagan in the first place, then they have conveniently set those memories aside and replaced them with happy images of romance and the sprawling california ranch and a good old happy smiling cowboy. just a simple actor turned politico who stood for all things good and godly. right. well, america, you are scaring me. please wake up before november, because i really cannot survive four more years with a good ol' boy who can't pronounce "nuclear" but still attends meetings where he defends the use of smaller "nuke u lar" weapons. they are just little tiny instruments of mass destruction - no harm there, right?
our young men and innocent civilians over there are suffering and dying for oil and greed and politics, and a grudge against the "evildoers" who tried to kill his pa. but that is just too harsh a reality to bear for most of us. the sugar coating is so much prettier and more palatable.
ok, so now that you think i am a raving, right winged, tree huggin' revolutionary who would like to truly see "no child left behind" and the kids in appalachia or right here in portland not going hungry, and our natural environment preserved, and a real democracy where a majority of people actually would vote, and women and children and minorities and homeless people and all of us being valued equally...
i wonder if you'll dare to read on about my travels around the world, including this country we call "our own" (since we took it from the natives fair and square), and what i have learned from all of these experiences... judge me not, lest you wanna be judged, too. why can't we all just get along?
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