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Rant #82
(published Early, 2002)
A Rebuttal for the "Airborne Fucking Ranger"
by Georgia Blake

We hear it all the time, this "can't we all just get along" shit. We hear it whenever one group has a cause that they need other groups to understand (Hello Diane Sawyer, Rosie O'Donnell and the whole gay adoption cause) We are taught to be politically correct, and our politicians take pains to make sure they don't say anything discriminatory. But lately we're hearing the other side of the coin presented to us in a much more pious light. Those goddamned Arab, religious Muslim fucking fanatics fucked us up. Let's go kick the ass of those evil freaks who would dare to something so horrific to American civilians on American soil, no less! Let's go terrorize those terrorist bastards but, try to understand that Islam is a Religion of Peace. (Vote for Me) Is it just me, or is anybody else confused?

Let me get this straight; it's NOT O.K. to kill a gay man because you dislike and don't understand his way of life, but it IS O.K. to go bomb the shit out of an Arab nation because you dislike and don't understand their religious or political beliefs? Perhaps I would see this differently if we were only targeting terrorists, and in particular the terrorists groups that slammed a plane through glass and metal in an effort to get to some sort of utopian heaven where they would be surrounded by great food and good looking, submissive women for all eternity.

You see I'm not disputing that September 11th was a horrific day, or that I will ever forget where I was when I heard the news, or even that the world needs to make a unified stand to show these Holy Crusaders that we disagree with their methods. I am disputing the idea that "we need to break a few ethnic eggs to make a peace omelet". I guess I just don't understand the logic behind that, as a matter of fact I don't think there is any logic, just a bunch of righteous arrogance.

To think that our not bombing the shit out of these people would make America a war-zone is pure idiocy. Did anybody else pay attention to the numerous greedy nations lining up behind America asking him to fill their coffers with anti-terrorism dollars? We don't have to drop bombs and kick teeth in to remain a world superpower! America has deep enough pockets to ensure his standing, and the right type of politicians to guarantee this standing of the nation. (People who know first-hand how to exchange money for favors.)

Now I know I'm not the first person in the world who has been upset by the way the world works, or even the first person to be upset that this sudden patriotic belief that all terrorists are evil, and America is The Greatest Nation in The World is being shoved down my throat by car salesman and the President alike. The towers fall and I'm supposed to mourn by purchasing a new Ford SUV or agreeing that my friends should go "kick Saddam Hussein's ass" because America doesn't like him still? The way I see it, he didn't knock those towers down so why should I have to worry about losing people I love in some ground war that has absolutely no direct connection to the events that sparked this American Aggression?

Ultimately, however, the problem I have with this situation is a much more profound one. You see, just as I recall September 11th in detail, I also recall Columbine High School. I remember how horrified the nation was that a couple of pampered, white, suburban boys took it upon themselves to shoot up a school full of people who just didn't understand them, don't you? You see the men who orchestrated the attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon, correctly or incorrectly, believed that they were fighting the good fight, Those high school boys were just pissed off. Even though the body count was lower, Columbine bothered me much more, and still does. It seemed so empty, so senseless and meaningless. I mean it was just a couple of kids who thought that they would be hero's for all the tragically oppressed, misunderstood high school students in the nation, and who have become infamously immortal in their death. You see, if I think that Columbine was a tragic event, then it follows that I have to think America's actions are also tragically mistaken. Should I see the parallel and find the same righteous indignation that America has puffed himself up with in the hearts of these two kids? And more importantly, does that make it right?

Our airborne ranger friend says that if there "isn't something worth fighting for we shouldn't be here in the first place". I want to know what it is that we are fighting for here, and if we are fighting for justice, shouldn't we be fighting the people who wronged us? So what are we as American's fighting for? Ideals that have been shoved down our throat, ideals that your supposed to accept because your American, ideals that you learned from the television set? Do these ideals tell you it's O.K. to go fuck somebody up because you simply don't like them?

If Our Airborne Ranger cares to tell us what it's like to watch somebody's face blown off, to kill someone, to hold his best friend in his lap as he takes his last breath of air, he can then tell us how violence is O.K. for the sake of violence. He can tell us how similar the inspiration and peace of this death is to watching a desert sunset. Getting into a fight over a girl is not the same as stepping on a landmine. War is not as simple as making an omelet out of ethnic eggs, simply because those eggs are human beings just like you, and just like me.

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