Month: March 2010

I stopped at the red light this morning, and there it was in front of me: a Honda Civic, black, the driver – murky behind misted glass, but – obviously female.

Neither the person, nor the car, attracted my attention. It was the stickers on the trunk lid that caught my eye.

On the left side was written: “LOVE WINS”; on the right: “LIFE IS GOOD”.

While it’s refreshing, perhaps, not to be assailed by hate messages, or the usual redneck expressions of insecurity: “LEAVE THE BITCH AND COME HUNTING”, or, “MEN DO IT IN HUMMERS”, I have to admit these more positive affirmations still sat uncomfortably within my head as the black Honda took a side turn and disappeared into the dawn.

Drive through any European country and the number of bumper stickers, or other printed displays of opinion, will be glaringly obvious by their absence. There’s no law against it, and the occasional vehicle may be found carrying just such an item, but, so rarely, it’s a profound novelty.

In the Western world, at least, to display one’s feelings and emotions to all around, in such a manner, is almost uniquely American. So much so, it begs the simple question: why?

Why do so many Americans find it necessary to bare their souls in this manner. It’s as though they’re afraid the things they hold dear will be whipped away from them in an instant. That, by not declaring their beliefs, someone will assume no-one has them any more, and terminate them.

Americans are pitted against each other in a way unknown to any other civilized nation. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the bitter wrangling colloquially called a ‘political rally’, or ‘town hall meeting’, though bitterness permeates not just the political scene, but almost every aspect of society.

This negativity is at odds with a general neighborliness so much revered by the American people, and often noted by foreigners visiting these shores.

I think what made me uneasy about the black Honda’s declarations was that, like all other pronouncements, torn and flapping in the breeze behind an inordinate array of US motor vehicles, they’re just totally untrue.

Just as not doing ‘it’ in a Hummer doesn’t mean you’re not a man, and treating your wife badly will probably achieve nothing short of being brained by a frying pan, so neither does love always win, or is life constantly good – at least, not in a general, all-embracing, sense.

The car’s occupant may be convinced that love will eventually conquer the world, rather than the enormous firepower of her nation’s military, and, for her, life may well be a bed of roses, but it isn’t the case for everyone.

To publicize such an assertion is to demand others feel the same way, as if to not be so is, in some way, a weakness. But isn’t that the case with all these US bumper stickers – they’re just a declaration that, “I’m right, and you’re wrong.”

The owner of the black Honda has given no thought whatever to the lives of the many people caught up in the grimness of civil war or unrest throughout the world; the plight of the starving; the diseased without hope; those afflicted by the results of her own nation’s depleted uranium bombs.

For millions in the world life is vile, and death a blessed relief. As for love, it belongs no place there are weapons. And in America, weapons are everywhere. No-one can look down the barrel of an AK47, or a Walther P38, and love their victim.

Sadly, it’s hate, not love, that wins out every time.

The owner of the black Honda Civic is either incredibly naive, or totally self-obsessed.

Filed under: Something about wood and trees

The state of America today is aptly represented by the foul-mouthed, ignorant, knuckle-dragging, Neanderthals so heavily indoctrinated by the Limbaugh’s and Beck’s of this country, who see fit to make abusive telephone threats to politicians not prepared to do their evil bidding.

Whatever one’s opinion of Bart Stupak (and the writer has an extremely low opinion of the man) he no more deserves to be subjected to this……

Congressman Stupak, you baby-killing mother f***er… I hope you bleed out your a**, got cancer and die, you mother f***er.^[1]

……than any other human being, in America or elsewhere.

The individuals responsible for such abuse (and there were many) are obviously unfit to be members of any civilized society. Many of us hold strong viewpoints on matters political, and it’s for that exact reason democracy was invented. When a minority, of which these people are members, uses threats of violence and intimidation to procure their wishes, democracy falls apart and fascism takes over.

The abortion debate in America is wildly out of control. It has lost any credibility as a worthy movement and has, instead, become no more than a tool of the far-right; a stick to beat the opposition.

Mainly due to the involvement of megalomaniac preachers whipping up fervor among TV congregations, and certain talk-radio jocks lying through their teeth to an already fanatical audience of brain-dead punters, the issue of abortion is only useful politically as a means to split America right down the middle.

Those who hold the reins of power in this nation have used similar tactics successfully for years. Hate is a far more virulent and effective power than love, and hate has been the means of pitting one American against the other politically for generations.

Regarded logically, whatever the pros and cons of the abortion (Pro-Life) debate, support for America’s preemptive wars, large scale assassination of innocent civilians, and the blood-lust of the death penalty – all viewed by many US citizens as perfectly acceptable occupations – negates utterly the arguments these same individuals continuously voice in favor of banning abortion.

Whether one favors abortion rights, or not, it is first and foremost a decision only properly to be made by women. In the 21st century, no man should dare to express so much as an opinion on the subject.

How often do we see men at Republican rallies, declaring, “I’m Pro-Life?” Probably, after a long conversation with their compatriots on how well the Iraq war is progressing, how many Taliban were killed last week, or “Thank God we executed that evil murdering bastard in Texas, yesterday.”

It’s doubtful men will lose the power to decide what women do with their own bodies, at anytime in the near future. They could at least learn not to differentiate, though, between human life and – human life. ‘Pro-Life’ should mean exactly that.

The health care bill recently passed by the US government will save lives. Personally, the writer would choose to preserve conscious, fully functioning, life outside the womb rather than give precedence to a small bunch of fetal cells lying deep within a woman’s uterus.

Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to understand how foul-mouthed, ignorant, knuckle-dragging, Neanderthals could find it difficult to reach that sort of decision.

^{[1] “Bart Stupak Received Threatening Messages for Health Care Vote” CBS News, March 26th 2010}

Filed under: Ugh and other noises

The media today is full of the spat between America and Israel; the falling out of two close friends who can’t quite agree on what’s right and what’s wrong.

In Britain, Finance Supremo Darling (yes, that truly is his name) sweats profusely over a budget that must grip the present economic crisis by the short and curlies, while wooing voters in a general election now only weeks away.

Here, in the land once known as ‘the colonies’, three babies suffocated last year while lying in faulty slings. A million of the products are now being recalled, as the media discovers the story and parents panic.

Still, it takes the heat off Toyota.

The ‘Healthcare Debate’ rumbles on, like a runaway hearse commandeered by a corpse refusing to lie down and be buried.

One matter not hitting the headlines in the media today is climate change. Since the ill-fated summit in Copenhagen, global warming is out of fashion. Humankind is way too involved in its own petty, irrelevant, problems to bother about such issues right now. Besides, it’s not like we’re being inundated by weather issues.

Climate change can wait until the Palestinians have their own state, the British economy is back on track, babies stop being suffocated, and Americans are all endowed with free healthcare.

There was, however, one climate change story to be discovered this morning, hidden well away at the back of the BBC website. It seems an island in the Bay of Bengal, approximately two miles square, has vanished.

South Talpetti Island, a couple of miles off the Bangladeshi/Indian coast, has fallen victim to rising global sea levels and no longer exists, except perhaps as a threat to navigation.^[1]

Maybe, after all, global warming isn’t prepared to wait until human beings solve all their other issues. Like the Bengal tiger it silently stalks its oblivious prey, and one day our petty squabbles and introspection could prove our undoing.

^{[1] “Disputed Bay of Bengal island ‘vanishes’ say scientists” BBC, March 24th 2010}

Filed under: What global warming?