Anywhere But Here

Trey Smith

Consider this scenario: the Mexican government receives intelligence that a known narco-terrorist is holed up in a house in Arizona. They fly a drone over downtown Phoenix, fire on the building, completely destroying it and killing their target along with a handful of American civilians. How would we react? Fox so-called News would be calling for a return of the Mexican-American War!

What if a known terrorist affiliated with Basque Separatists was riding in a car down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, and a Spanish drone flying above the city launched a hell-fire missile - obliterating the car, killing and injuring dozens of nearby civilians, and leaving a giant crater in the middle of a busy Manhattan street. Do you really think Americans would say, "Well, those drone things sure are a nice, tidy way to fight terrorists"?
~ from Obama Breaks the Golden Rule on Drones by Thom Hartmann ~

I've written a lot recently which references American Exceptionalism. Hartmann's two scenarios above underscore this point. Too many of my fellow countrymen see absolutely NOTHING wrong with such acts, so long as they occur somewhere else! Yet, if these acts occurred here, these same people would go completely ape shit!!

Why the different reactions to the same basic actions? It is because a good number of Americans think they are better than everyone else. They think they are more moral than everyone else. They think they are more kind and compassionate than everyone else.

When you think you are kinder, more moral and better than all the other beings on this planet, it provides you with a sense of complete superiority. Like a parent, you sometimes have to discipline your children when they talk back or don't do what you want them to do. You have to teach them a lesson by employing tough love.

So, as the planetary parent, the US is entitled -- some believe we are authorized by Gawd -- to burnish the whip and the stick. We have to beat everyone else into shape. If that means killing innocents along the way, so be it. Parents are NOT to be questioned!