Sep 25 2006
“Wealth Rot”
It should not go unnoticed that the biggest cries about America’s ‘decline’ come from those with so much money they are grasping for some meaning to their life. The uber-rich, like Mel Gibson, don’t live in the real world. They live in bubbles created by their wealth and are surrounded by sychophants and fawning fans. Strangely, the Hollywood rich not only complain the loudest (Streisand, Sarandon, Robins, etc) they are also the ones who created movies and characters that define the goals and role models the rest of us believe in and strive for. How is it they cannot comprehend then?
Take Mel Gibson’s movie ‘The Patriot” – one of my all time favorite movies. It describes perfectly how evil comes upon humanity and must be faced down, and that when evil is beaten back humanity always arrives at a greater place in the end. The men and women fighting in Iraq, for the most part, see themselves (rightfully) as this generations heroes going off to face down unthinkable evil in order to change humanity. And the evil of Al Qaeda makes the ‘evil’ of Britian at the time of our revolution pale in comparison.
But these pampered whiners, who cannot do anything without seaking out some fame or accolades, feel the country is in decline when such heroism is being displayed? Is it because they are not center stage in the hero’s circle? The fact is the ‘rot’ in this country eminates from those so wealthy they have walled themselves off from reality and do not struggle at all. They don’t struggle at anything. Where is the life in having everything handed to you at your beckon call? Do they still mow the grass? Hell, did they ever have to spend a year doing homework with their kids to make sure they passed that hard class? If you cannot experience trying to fit mowing your yard into the day packed with soccer games while your weekend work sits on your desk you have not experienced life in America.
There are wealthy people with solid roots – don’t get me wrong. But too many, and the most vocal, act as if they have some special insight on American life when they have not experienced the common persons life for over a decade in many cases.
Everyone is entitled to an opinion – and a rebuttal. The war in Iraq is difficult because Al Qaeda is making it difficult. They want to win in Iraq. They have staked everything on winning in Iraq. Iran and Syria are assisting them. There is no reason to blame Bush for the tenacity of our enemy. In fact, we should be thanking him we are not, yet, facing these fanatical murderers armed with WMDs. How hard would Iraq be if there improvised WMD attacks going off there and in major cities around the world? The force of our struggle is directly porportional to the danger we face. The fact these people are still willing to die by the hundreds to beat us on any battlefied is not a measure of incompetence – for we have achieved more than any ever imagined possible in Iraq if you look back at the doom-and-gloom scenarions the left has trotted out for 4+ years.
Forget those who have succumbed to ‘wealth rot’, their legacy is they won the most toys. Many, many others will be known as the ones who made the biggest difference in the world and earned the most respect. I see my father and all his comrades who fought in WW II as the most amazing people alive. The pouters in Hollywood don’t even come close, even though they own mountains more materially. Some things cannot be weighed in dollars. And I see those risking life and limb in places all over this world has the unsung heroes of our age. And no one will disparage their image and their efforts in my mind. The least I can do is protect their backs here in the US from the whiners.
AJ,
“Forget those who have succumbed to ‘wealth rot’, their legacy is they won the most toys. Many, many others will be known as the ones who made the biggest difference in the world and earned the most respect.”
“They live in bubbles created by their wealth and are surrounded by sychophants and fawning fans.”
Well thought and well said.
“Hollywood rich …are also the ones who created movies and characters that define the goals and role models the rest of us believe in and strive for.”
This is one of the biggest problems facing western civilization. You cite one movie with a positive role model. What about the effects of all the others like “grand theft auto” etc etc etc.
“It describes perfectly how evil comes upon humanity and must be faced down, and that when evil is beaten back …”
Beating back evil is only a temporary fix that results in a worse relapse later. The solution evil to convince it to become good. Compare the end of ww1 (where the treaty of Versalles meant to punish Germany led to the horrors of ww2), to the end of ww2 (where Germany and Japan were rebuilt and helped back on their feet by a forgiving United States).
Force may be necessary to stop agression but it is not sufficent for lasting peace.
AJ4ERJ,
“Beating back evil is only a temporary fix that results in a worse relapse later. “-
Agree that beating back evil is a temporary fix, but it doesn’t have to result in a worse relapse. Agree that force is a sometimes necessary but not sufficient step. And agree with the suggestion that we must change the heart of “Hollywood”, perhaps by supporting uplifting productions.
America in decline. What would they know about America? They live in Neverland or Oz or Middle Earth. But then again Middle Earth was a pretty rough place.
My Dad was a poor boy from Oklahoma. When he went to fight in WW2 someone had to show him how to flush the toilet, because he had never seen a flush toilet before. But these folks think America is in decline. They can not imagine the poverty that the Greatest Generation over came or the obstacles.
Iraq would not even look like a war to those old boys, it would just be an over publicized skirmish.
More Strata/Bush disinformation. “The war in Iraq is dangerous
because Al Qaeda is making it difficult.”
The bulk of the resistance is native Sunni and either Strata knows it
and purposely misleads as does Bush, or doesn’t know it and should
get some better intelligence. Al Qaeda comprises perhaps 10%
of it.
The native Sunni have no intention of “chasing us to America”
if we leave. Nor will the second most populous fraction of those
who will not do our bidding, the Baathist insurgents.
Nor will the third largest sector of anti-Americans in Iraq,
the Al Sadr militia.
These all are religious nationalists and secular nationalists
whose goal has nothing to with restoring a worldwide
caliphate.
A war which stands to cost so much US life and has already done so
should not be falsely described for petty poltical purposes.
AJ,
Your critic differentiates between “native Sunnis (Baathists),” “Al Qaeda,” and the “Sadr militia.” This is a distinction without a difference. They all oppose the democritization of Iraq. And even combined, they represent a distinct minority in the country. Opposition to a “religious caliphate” was not the reason for removing Saddam. It would be, if Iraq were abandoned to Iran. Just more bogus rhetoric.
The enemy in this War is a tangled web of fascist organizations tied to Islam and spread all over the world. And each theater of this War requires different tools.
Macker is as confused as it’s possible to get, doubtlessly from absorption in Bush/Strata propaganda. Strata believes pro-Iranian Maliki is an ally and Macker believes pro-American democratizers are the majority in Iraq.
Yeah, just like pro-French Algerians were the majority there
during the French occupation.
The French retreated from Algeria after many years of
stiff resistance and the Americans will leave Iraq in the same
manner. No pro-American government will ever be allowed
to stabilize by the 90% of Iraqis who despise the US grab for
oil and its support of their enemy Israel.
Ken,
•Explain the Iraqi voter turnout.
•Explain your theory of a “US grab for oil” and how that would work in the international oil market.
• How is Israel Iraq’s enemy?”
• Do you support Israel’s right to exist?
Well actually the Iraqi population shows more optimism than we do. All the polls say so and so does the fact that they get out there and try to build a country every day. Ken sees a mob and thinks it is Iraq. That is because Saddam was his hero and he misses him. Ken loves dictators.
And of course Ken does not support Israel’s right to exists, they are Jooooooooos after all.
Macker-the election was in no way “democratic.” as the West defines it.Voters chose from religious/ethnic slates candidates they invariably did not even recognize, and anti-American slates won handily. Israel occupies Mideast land once held by Islam and as such
represents an enemy to the Islamic world. Iraq’s new government already has announced refusal to recognize Israel and since you are such a fan of the “progress” it represents, maybe you should send off
an inquiring e mail to the proper department asking the same.
I support whatever the majority of voters choose in a referendum,
once they are regathered in “Israel”/Palestine for a vote on how the region should be governed. By “they” I mean all the vanquished Palestinians who have a right to return and take part in such a vote
along with the current population.
Ken,
Iraq’s election differences prove we aren’t “forcing” our democracy on them. Good observation.
Israel is a fact, just as the US is a fact and Jordan is a fact. (Jordan was part of the Palestine Mandate and was “given” to the Arabs.
Don’t forget, the Jews were expelled from surrounding Arab lands or were made unwelcome. Until WWI, even Iraq had a large Jewish presence. And Britain flooded Palestine with Arabs. So, the cry “repatriation,” is a false attempt to rewrite history.
During the Ottoman rule (and they lost the war, remember?) Arabs were only tenants on the land now called Palestine.
Israel is a sovereign and democratic nation that must be protected fromPan-Islamic designs. And its neighbors and their western apologists must learn that fascism “will not stand.”
I say these things not to convince you, but to alert others who might read your comments.