Sitting and drinking my morning coffee, a friend stopped by after dropping his son off at school. He drops by often. Good family friend. Very nice guy. I like him. But this morning instead of friendly conversation, he broke into an anti-American tirade claiming America has done more to destroy the world than any other country. It uses more natural resources than any other country. It has robbed countless countries of their resources, and never done anything positive in exchange. America is arrogant, a bully, selfish, rascist, abuses peoples, abuses nations, greedy, uncaring, and just plain awful to everyone.
Among nations America is the worst selfish society that has ever existed on the face of the earth. I'm sure he had more to say, but with his obvious hatred of America I knew I had heard enough. So I just tuned him out, waiting for him to finish. Got up from my chair and walked away saying "If you really believe all that, then you have been brainwashed by the left-leaning liberal media". I wanted to avoid any confrontation. He had stated his beliefs and he is entitled to those beliefs in America. America supports free speech, freedom of religion, and the right to non-violent assembly. But where did he get all those opinions ? Somewhere he must have seen and heard "trusted" sources that discussed or reinforced these ideas.
I sat concerned for a little while trying to understand how someone's views of America could be so different from my own. Of course, my thoughts immediately focused on America's education system, books, state-run media (previously MSM), newspapers, magazines, television shows, and major hollywood films. All these components are constantly creating hatred for America: textbooks, NYTimes, WaPo, Newsweek, Time, Rolling Stone, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, NPR, NEA, MTV, VH1, ACLU, History Channel, PBS, films, schools, colleges, and television shows. There's plenty more, too numerous to name them all.
I sat concerned for a little while trying to understand how someone's views of America could be so different from my own. Of course, my thoughts immediately focused on America's education system, books, state-run media (previously MSM), newspapers, magazines, television shows, and major hollywood films. All these components are constantly creating hatred for America: textbooks, NYTimes, WaPo, Newsweek, Time, Rolling Stone, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, NPR, NEA, MTV, VH1, ACLU, History Channel, PBS, films, schools, colleges, and television shows. There's plenty more, too numerous to name them all.
Here are some of the beliefs of America haters that have come directly from the media outlets mentioned above:
America is racist. Wars, slavery, and the Native American Indian population prove it.
America is no more racist than any other country in the world. In fact I argue that it is the least racist country simply because of the diversity of it's citizens, coupled with minimal racial conflicts. America still is a melting pot for the world, and has diverse flavors of cultures, religions, justice, and nationalities mixed freely in one society. Many often suggest that America should follow "experienced" world European and Asian sensibilities, sophistication, culture, and society. But Asian and European history is stained with a thousand years of brutal tyrants, constant wars, repression and exploitation of citizens and non-citizens, the dominant enslaving the subservient as the fruits of war, and the continuous saber rattling and nationalism of hundreds of tribes in constant conflict. Europe and Asia have no moral superiority. Not with their historical track record. Their current governments are socialist class systems protecting outdated historic family names and hidden shadow monarchies, and unknown levels of wealth. No outsider or commoner or immigrant need apply.
In Europe and East, the "sophisticated and cultured" French justified beheading thousands for the purpose of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. A godless secular revolution that dropped the bloody blade on tens of thousands based on the whims of one man, Robespierre. Eventually, and for everyone's benefit, finally dropping the blade on Robespierre himself. Scandinavia has no moral superiority. Vikings raped, pillaged, sacked, and murdered across Europe for hundreds of years, filling their pockets with the spoils of each destroyed European town. Italy's Romans entertained themselves with spectacles of cruelty, invasions, conquests, wars, slavery, brutality, persecution, and assimilation of other nations and cultures. England enslaved it's own commoners, paupers, the Scotts, the Irish, war captives, out-spoken citizens, and demonstrated it's ruthlessness with constant brutal war. A world where public executions and displays of spiked human body parts for all to see demonstrated justice in their "civilized" society. Any culture that watches hang, drawn, and quartered torture techniques for public entertainment has a serious morality problem. The English practiced intimidation of the weak as social theatre for all to see. The Germans illustrated their hatred and brutal genocide through 2 world wars, with gas chamber civilian exterminations and world wide war deaths of 50 million. Spain can be proud of their brutal unjustified destruction of Inca and Aztec cultures, as well as the "Spainish Inquisition", which painfully and grotesquely demonstrated that religious piety can cleanse sin with tortue as an art form. Russia, Stalin showed the world how to purge (kill!) 40 million of it's own citizens efficiently and secretly without justification.
In Asia, the Japanese Empire, brutally attacked all others as inferior cultures, savagely disfiguring captives and displaying brutal "death marches" of prisoners, while expanding the Japanese sphere of influence, land conquests, with life and death loyalty to Japan's Emperor God. China, recently, is still filled with imprisonment, slavery and ruthless treatment of it's citizens on the whim of it's dynastic emperors, and communist dictators who have killed millions. In Cambodia, Pol Pot killed millions for purely personal gain. Innocent men, women, and children died simply because the Khamer Rouge wanted them out of the way.
All of these cultures had some major beliefs in common. The reigning sovereign of their tribe is all powerful, and the citizens/non-citizens are there merely for the sovereign's pleasure. Compared to this worlds history of brutality, enslavement, war, and pillaging, America is a "pussycat". America is the only nation in history created specifically to protect and respect the liberty of it's citizens. The democracy of individual liberty is a concept missing from almost every monarch tyrant based culture in history. The efforts of the enslaved were focused and driven by the whim of the monarch, Czar, King, or Emperor. Another thing to realize about the history of all these countries, is that each nation at one time had slavery, and at another time was itself enslaved by other nations. No nation escapes the shame, guilt, and shackles of being enslaved. No nation escapes the brutal, evil, horror, and arrogance of enslaving others. Every nation made the same horrible mistake through greed, ignorance, fear, arrogance, and selfishness. Virtually every culture in history has at onetime been a slaveholder, and at another time been enslaved by another.
Looking at America's mistakes and faults over four centuries uncovers mistreatment, slavery, and discrimination against different citizen's cultures at different times. The English, Native Americans, Chinese, Irish, Black, Polish, Russian, Italian, Jewish, Japanese, and German all went through times of discrimination in America. Events on the world stage negatively influenced these discriminations and caused mistreatment by a "group-think" society in America. Rarely, however, was the discrimination a government mandate. In most cases, human rights violations were the results of ignorance and fear of the general population acting spontaneously and foolishly. In most cases time softened and corrected the discrimination, eliminating the need for some in power to exploit weaker groups. Slavery of the black population is a horrible festering sore on the body of America. Almost gone, but will never be completely erased. Slavery should have been eliminated at the creation of America in accordance with human rights values of the founders. Unfortunately some of the founders, with cruel shortsighted hypocrisy, were more focused on building a strong alliance of colonies for the common goal of winning independence and fighting England, then correcting questionable human rights violations, race inequities, or lack of liberties within some colonies. All slaves should have been released as part of the birth of the new nation.
How did America handle the slavery ? It took some time but it took a grassroots ground swell, started in the early 1800's, of abolitionists, southern and northern anti-slavery proponents, underground railways, Americans that were willing to fight and die, and principled actors like Lincoln and Douglas, to attack the abomination known as slavery. It also climaxed in one of the bloodiest wars in history, dividing and almost destroying America, and resulting in the deaths of 500 thousand American's. Many dismiss the costs to America of the Civil War. But history reveals that Americans sacrificed everything to eliminate slavery. It was a cancer and disgrace to the very heart of a nation based on god-given rights of liberty, justice, tolerance, and only military conflict could remove the tumor. It was bloody, it was destructive, and it was the passions of citizens on both sides that fueled the fire storm for years of fighting. Many ignore the sacrifices. The recent demands for reparations for slavery are already paid for by the deaths, costs, and results of the Civil War. Americans sacrificed themselves for a principle, freedom, and their fellow citizens. Reparations have been made and cannot apply to current populations, as most families emigrated during the 1900's and have never enslaved anyone. Many anti-slavery proponents attacked the 3/5 of a person decisions, Dred Scott laws, as an abomination against equal rights. But it is interesting to note that there were only 2 choices in that legislative vote. One, no representation for ex-slaves at all, and two, 3/5 of a person representation of slaves. The 3/5 choice was the fairest choice available, and not the goal of the foul racists. Zero representation for blacks was the goal of the foul racists. The non-racists were limited to choose 3/5 of a person.
The Native American Indian is a disappointing story in the history of America. The flood of migration from Europe, Asia, and Africa was unstoppable and it almost drown all Native American Indians. In the reality of the 1600's, 1700's, and 1800's, the American obsession with land, riches, and manifest destiny guided most decisions enriching themselves, while destroying the native population physically, emotionally, intellectually, and culturally. The Native American Indian's were treated as a race of inferiors that was an obstacle to the American dream of expanding wealth and power.
There are lots of stories of virus tainted blankets as weapons of mass destruction. To date, there is not one verifiable documented proof that the evil deed was ever done, condoned by the American government, or perpetrated by settlers on their own. There are lots of stories of slaughters of Native American Indian villages, broken treaties, mistreatment of the Native American Indians, and unfortunately many are true. So yes, America and it's settlers are guilty of murder and many human rights violations.
It should be noted that, from the beginning of time, wars, violence, and human physical conflict always occurrs during the struggle for sovereign national boundaries. Virtually every nation that is currently sovereign over it's borders, used war and violence to obtain it, and that includes the cruel destruction of any land competitors regardless of race. America is no different than any other nation in history. All nations have shown cruelty and brutality against competitors deemed enemies. That does not justify it. But thats a human condition for which we all bear guilt. It should be noted that Native American Indians fought among themselves for hundreds of years, and for the same reasons. The settlers certainly did not invent violence, war, or brutality. They were just more efficient and overwhelmed them by numbers, as the winner of all wars is.
American political/cultural diversity negatively influences the world's attitude toward America.
Attitudes toward America are based on two major types of Americans. The left-of-center urban liberal progressive and the right-of-center rural religious conservative. There are numerous flavors of each type. For now, lets just focus on the two major classifications. Both types of citizens see the actions of America through two very different prisms. Both types of citizens present a completely different world view of America's actions and motivations. Either can be considered valid points of view providing the accurate supporting facts are properly researched.
The left proponents, with a lock on state-run media, always believe the worst in America. They look for the worst in America. They accuse America of the worst. They make-up the worst about America. All left agenda is based on a worldview of non-competitive, selfish paranoia, self-loathing, and euro-influenced socialists that want to destroy capitalism and impose socialism. This progressive, collective, commune based worldview portion of society has been brainwashed by progressive slanted media their entire life. Whether it's Senator John Kerry, lying to Congress about American soldier misdeeds in Vietnam; or Rosie Odonnell, falsely accusing America of 100's of thousands Iraqi deaths it did not commit; or Jeanene Garafalo's hateful obsession accusing all conservatives of being racist; or Bill Maher expressing his belief that conservatives are just stupid, and need guidance from intellectually superior progressive liberals. All progressive ideologues incorrectly believe that anyone who disagrees with them on policies (conservatives), must be stupid, racist, redneck, ignorant, uneducated, swimming in the shallow end of the gene-pool, knuckle-draggin' Neanderthals. Conservative ideologues have a similar belief that liberals are selfish, fascististic in rule making, class society, liars, promiscuious, unemployed, godless, bent on changing the world to their oversexualized, irresponsible urges, with a guiltless view of personal responsibility. They believe morality is determined by current majority consensus selection. Nothing is sacred or constant.
Left slanted media includes ABC, NBC, CBS, CNBC, MSNBC, CNN, NPR, Time, Newsweek, New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Village Voice, most hollywood films (Oliver Stone, Woody Allen, Ron Howard, Martin Scorcese, etc.), most TV dramatic series (Law&Order, CSI), most TV talk shows (Oprah, Ellen Degenerous, Jay Leno, David Letterman, The View, Jon Stewart, Steve Colbert), most awards (Oscars, Emmys, Tonys, Grammys), most socialist European countries, and even the Noble Prizes.
The right proponents, with talk radio and cable news, always believe the truth about America. Where a lefty will always blame America first regardless of the facts. The righty will delay opinion until the facts are in. Lefties have been known to lie, mislead, and makeup facts to support their positions. Righties are uncomfortable lying or making up facts. Righties base their opinion on the facts regardless of where those facts lead. Righty media spends most of its time debunking outrageous false statements made by the left about the right, and trying to identify the facts as they really are. Right slanted media includes talk radio (Limbaugh, Ingraham, Hannity, etc.), New York Daily News, WSJ, and Fox news. Note: Fox news is trying to become less right and more centered by pro-actively presenting and seeking both sides of a story.
The premise of the far-left is that rural regions, fly over country, in America is inhabited by a mixture of characters from Deliverance, Hew Haw, Apocalypse Now, Casualties of War, Beverly Hillbillies, Mayberry, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, Eddie Gein, incest lovin', religion obsessed, mentally challenged, backward, uneducated Neanderthals. They think these ignorant knuckle-draggin' toothless cretin bigots, are centuries of social evolution behind the so-called sophisticated and worldly progressive urban liberal. Portrayed as missing links to the much preferred urban, elitist, Dinks (dual income no kids), godless, socialist, metrosexual, arrogant, college educated, trust fund, social name droppin', coke snoortin', social engineerin', sophisticated, worldly, euro-wanna-be, name-brand obsessed, plastic surgery obsessed, vain and shallow posers.
A good way to compare the urban vs rural is by looking at some of the social festivals. In rural America, barb-b-que is the king of all festivals. Barb-b-que, beer, country music, overalls, cowboy hats, and whole family enjoyment determines activities. In urban America, in San Francisco for example, the Up Your Alley Street Festival is the ultimate celebration of the acheivements of evolved urban man. A gay-driven public exhibition of the most vile depraved behavior imaginable. A display of uncensored public fellatio, sodomy, piss-drinkin', golden showers, masterbation, gay gang bangin', transvestites in costume, black leather S/M, and metrosexual carnival presenting the preferred amoral progressive lifestyle. Most of what happens in this circus is illegal public indecency, yet the entire city of San Francisco turns a blind eye because of the large gay community backlash. Incidentally, most traditional families that live in San Francisco, usually schedule an out-of-town vacation during the Up Your Alley festival. Must hide the children, keep them inside, and not let them out.
A progressive's morals change with populist opinion, and they prefer to be on the leading edge of urban social mores. If a behavior makes you (as left) uncomfortable, then the progressive considers that exciting and that's a good thing. He should do more of that. A conservative's morals tend to be very traditional, and are often accused of being boring and old fashioned. If a behavior makes you (as right) uncomfortable, then you probably shouldn't do it.
America tortures captives and ignores the Geneva convention.
False. America uses varying methods of persuasion (sleep depravation, water boarding, loud music, humiliation, etc.) to break down a captive's confidence and increase their will to cooperate. None of these are torture. Torture is defined as the action or practice of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment or to force them to do or say something or for the pleasure of the person inflicting the pain. None of the techniques used by America inflict severe pain, nor cause any permanent physical damage. America treats its captives better than any other nation ever has. The Gitmo Gut is the name for captives who on average gain 10-20 lbs during their incarceration at Club Gitmo. To date, out of thousands of prisoners, America has used it's most controversial water-boarding on three captives. Three captives with extensive knowledge of current and future terrorist plans, methods, financing, training camps, and weapons.
Our current enemy, Islamic terrorists, video tape decapitations and show the whole world for purposes of intimidation. These guys are so sleazy they enjoy chopping off heads. America could lower it's treatment standards to the level of the enemy, and be perfectly justified. America does not lower its standards to an enemy that prides itself on emulating a brutal 7th century barbaric culture. America does however, have the responsibility to prevent possible terrorist attacks. One prevents attacks by getting useful information from captives. If that means causing a captive discomfort for a little while to save potentially thousands of lives, its more than justified.
Seeing Abu Graib's treatment of prisoners, many were screaming "look America is torturing !". I am sorry if I disagree with America-haters that want to embarrass the military, but the treament they received in Abu Graib was humiliation techniques designed to break a captives confidence and self-respect, thus making the captive more docile and easier to control. It was humliation not torture. I venture to say that every humiliation technique demonstrated in Abu Graib is routinely used by college fraternities (hazing) and pro sports teams (male bonding). In football locker rooms across this country, kickers (smallest guy) are routinely "stuck" on a wall (velcro) wearing humiliating outfits. In the U.S. Marine Corps, marines are routinely subjected to waterboarding during their training. If waterboarding were a painful torture would the Marines subject their recruits to it ? Waterboarding is fear of drowning and not a pain based technique. Intuitively waterboarding subjects know they will not be drowned, but the natural instinct to prevent drowning causes the immediate revulsion and desire to make it stop immediately. This technique has produced significant intelligence about the enemy. Information we would not have gotten except for the success of waterboarding. Another technique to break the will of Islamist captives is to put a female soldier in a dominant role. A women controlling a leashed captive, as if walking a dog, is an effective method to shatter their male-centered worldview. It shocks them to realize that as a captive they have absolutely no control or respect. It's humiliation, embarrassment, and a destroyed ego that results in a passive cooperative prisoner. But it is not torture.
Considering the Geneva convention, the Islamic terrorists don't care what that treaty says. The people that are critical of America never hold the Islamic terrorists to the same standards. As far as the Geneva convention, it is a global set of standards by almost all nations that defines the proper treament of captives during war. It defines the treatment of uniformed soldiers fighting for a sovereign nation. Terrorists are NOT uniformed soldiers fighting for a soverign nation. This terror war is like none other. In fact, a non-uniformed soldier fighting for some religious/political warlord, living among us, more closely resembles the definition of a covert spy than a uniformed soldier. Harsh treatment of spies is common among nations. Terrorist attacks are the result of covert operatives (spys) inflicting death and destruction on innocent citizens. They usually attack the innocent and not the military. A treacherous form of covert attacks that demands the use of any and all coercion tools to protect our citizens.
America as a nation, primary purpose is capitalist greed.
When describing the business world, greed is the reason capiltalists are destroying the world. An interesting word. Greed is an intense selfish desire to acquire wealth and/or power. Now that means not only businessmen suffer from this character flaw. Hollywood epitomizes selfish acquisition. Every actor/actress is overpaid. Directors determine their salary by the expectations of the box office and commercial DVD sales. So lets say an actor, no names, will only star in a certain movie if he is paid 20 million dollars. Totally acceptable to the progressive elitist because that's what the market will bear. Professional atheletes sign 100 million dollar contracts based on how much they think he'll help the team. Totally acceptable to the progressive elitist because that's what the market will bear. Authors get multi-million dollar publisher sign-up deals before a single word is written. Their salary is based on expected book sales. Totally acceptable to the progressive elitist because that's what the market will bear. My favorite elitist hypocrite is a filmmaker creating an anti-capitalism documentry. It attacks capitalism and anyone who toils for financial profit. Yet, the anti-capitalist filmmaker keeps any capiltalist profit he makes. He even uses non-union staff to improve his bottom line. Lawyers demonstrate greed beyond any other profession. Their outrageous fee's has crippled the health care system, and created the litigate everything frame of mind. There's always a legal "deception" that can produce profits.
Many progressives claim they give alot to charity. Regardless, they find wealth for expensive houses, cars, fancy clothes, boats, exclusive resort vacations, and world travel. Kinda says it all. If a progressive elitist makes a profit, it is earned because that's what the market will bear. These same progressive elitists want salary caps on CEO's, CFO's, etc. because they think they don't deserve high salaries. For some reason, corporate America is not allowed to get what the market will bear. In terms of training, talent, and education, most CEO's and CFO's have far more formal university education than most ball players, movie stars, and authors. Most have the same number of years of training as a lawyer, who's outrageous fees are always accepted. Yet CEO's and CFO's don't deserve to be compensated for their expertise ? Makes no sense to single out business executives as being more greedy than actors, lawyers, professional ballplayers, and authors.
Let's look at the benefits of a capitalist society. A capitalist society provides profits and wealth based on how hard a person works. If your family has a strong work ethic then you will probably start out in better financial position than someone's whose family had no work ethic. Appropiate profits for appropriate effort. Any citizen that improves his financial position, by human nature will spend some of that profit for all sorts of things. Those purchases ripple through society improving everyone's financial status. A strong work ethic and capitalism equals success for almost everyone. The key is that your expected to work and sometimes work hard. But the rewards can be great. Those who avoid work and look for government entitlements place themselves in a permanent pergatory called welfare. No work leads to no personnal satisfaction, since their looking for the freebie instead of using their talents, pessimism as the world is just not fair, jealous of others successful from hard work, and an ever increasing attitude that everyone is supposed to be equal regardless of work ethic.
I hate to burst somebody's "politically correct" bubble, but people are not equals. The world is full of inequities and diversity, talent/no talent, bad habits/good habits, optimism/pessimism, extrovert/introvert, born silver spoon/born without spoon, well-connected/unconnected, citizen/immigrant, strong work ethic/no work ethic, happy/miserable, educated/uneducated, creative/uncreative, and patriotic/unpatriotic. In capitalism, the overwhelming principal is how much your life improves depends on you. Your work ethic determines your success, not some socialized government saying what you can and cannot do. Any capitalist improving their life is improving the lives of all those around him. The tide lifts all boats. Capitalism, as practiced in America, is the best environment for those that start with nothing, but willing to work to improve their life.
One other aspect of capitalism rarely discussed is the growth rate of the society. America has the largest growth rate in all the developed world. European and some Asian societies have been at zero or negative population growth for years. Fixed socialized government-run solutions, one size fits all, works best for fixed size known demographic populations. Costs are more controllable and predictable when society's infrastructure, manufacturing, transportation, production, business community, and entitlements are fairly stable in size with a known set of players. America grows by leap and bounds every year, both legal and illegal. The easiest way for new citizen arrivals to participate and assimilate in America is to accept the work ethic, join the workforce, develop talents and skills, and then become as successful as efforts, talents, and skills allow. Nothing is more satisfying than a completed job well done, pride and confidence in skills, and just compensation for the effort.
America is a bully in the global community.
I prefer leader or security guard. Here are some questions you might find interesting when you research the answers:
Who protected countries from Germany in both WWI and WWII ?
Who protected UK and France in both world wars ?
Who protected Philiipines from the Japanese imperailism ?
Who protected South Korea from invading North Korean communism ?
Who tried to protect Vietnam from invading North Vietnamese communism ?
After WWI who tried to improve international relations by creating the League of Nations ?
After WWII who tried to improve international relations by creating the UN ?
Who protected W. Germany during the Berlin Air-Lift ?
Who protected the Americas from Cuba's intended missile sites ?
Who kept USSR from taking over all of Eastern Europe during the cold war ?
Who won the cold war with USSR ?
Who rebuilt Germany after WWII ?
Who rebuilt Japan after WWII ?
Who ended WWII by shocking the "no-surrender" Japanese army into the reality of "must-surrender". Forcing choice of total destruction or total surrender immediately saving millions of lives ?
Who saved Kuwait from invasion by Iraq ?
If you home is invaded, call the police, if your country is invaded, call America. Who else could you call ?
Who helped the Afghans repel Russia for 25 years ?
Who supports Isreal and believes it has a right to exist ?
Who built the Panama canal ?
Who provides billions and billions of dollars, for decades, to nations through the Foreign Aid program ?
Who contributed more in technology, medicines, space travel, inventions, and scientific breakthroughs than America ?
Who created the internet and then shared it with all nations ?
Who influenced other nations that a "democracy and free-market capitalism" will eradicate poverty faster than any other form of government ?
Who's global capitalism and consumer-based society has helped to improve conditions in all developing countries ?
Who has provided free markets for developing countries products ?
Who pays the most to support the UN ?
Who was the country that "enemies would most like to be captured by" during any war ? America.
Who forgave Germany and Japan for WWII ? If not, peace would be as unfair and unstable as the peace treaties of WWI ?
If America did not proactively support liberty, freedom, human rights, and democracy around the world. Who would ? Who could ?
If America did not take on "world hall monitor" and policing responsibilities. Who would ? Who could ?
Why is America always one of the first to provide aid and comfort during crisis and catastrophes around the world ?
Why is America usually the most generous to needy countries during crisis.
Why are Americans the most generous to almost every charity.
America is monstrous for using the atomic bomb twice to end WWII.
This is perhaps one of the most infuriating beliefs held by many. To understand why these bombs were dropped, you only need to look at the historical perspective in which the action was taken. Japan was a formidable military power who captured island after island, and was driven by a desire for more land. Japan is really a very small island country and only military action could expand it's footprint. Once America joined the war, it was America and the Japanese that fought bloody costly battles over the islands and in the seas. For each island freed, America and Japan lost ten of thousands casualties. Japanese soldiers never surrender, they fight till their last breath, and refuse to be shamed by surrendering. This war ethic is formidable. Every island freed was far more costly than expected. Finally the battles will be fought over the island of Japan itself. The invasion effort always begins with conventional bombing of major cities. The week before the atomic bombs were dropped, Japanese casualties were about 100,00 men, women, and children from conventional bombing. If this is dragged out for months, millions of Japanese will die. America must look at landing soldiers for an invasion. America knows that Japan will never surrender, and we will be fighting the bloodiest battle for years. Estimates say that both America and Japan will lose about 1 million before the battle of Japan is over, and the Japanese will fight even harder for their beloved island of Japan.
A new weapon appears in America. A bomb that can reduce entire cities to rubble, and kill all the inhabitants. America is currently causing 100,00 Japanese casualties every week with conventional bombing, and this is before a single American sets foot on the island of Japan. To reduce casualties on both sides we need to make Japan surrender. To reduce casualties, America does not want to be fighting hand-to-hand with Japanese defending their homeland. What if America demonstrates to the Japanese that they and their beloved country would be completely destroyed unless they surrender. Atomic bomb is just an exponentially more efficient conventional bomb. We dropped a bomb on Hiroshima because it was a city that was relatively untouched by the war so far. All resulting damage was caused by the atomic bomb. Hiroshima had headquarters for some major military administration, and a various collection of sites that directly produce armaments for the Japanese war machine. Bomb is dropped, Hiroshima is completely gone! This shocked the Japanese, but surveys indicate only 50% of Japanese military are willing to surrender to protect their homeland. Let's keep fighting! We dropped another bomb on Nagasaki. Bomb is dropped, Nagasaki is completely gone! Surveys indicate that now at least 75% of the military is now willing to surrender to save their homeland. At this point Japanese Emperor and military leaders surrender before all of Japan is gone.
The casualties of the 2 atomic bombs is about 200-250 thousand. That's equal to about 2 weeks of conventional bombing of cities. A land invasion would have required weeks of conventional bombing, and then the land invasion would begin. Casualties would be enormous on both sides. But the horror that Hiroshima and Nagasaki demonstrated was that the Japanese cannot win the war, and the longer they fight the more lives are wasted, and if no surrender, then the island of Japan would become a desolate pile of ash.
They surrendered, saved their island, and saved 2 million Japanese and American soldiers from certain death. America's new weapons were a "BIG stick" against Japan and it forced them to surrender. That is something that Japan does not do. Japan made the right decision, for the right reasons. America released a sigh of relieve as land invasion was no longer needed. I shudder to think about how many more casualties would have occurred if these atomic weapons were not available or were not used.
America only does what's in it's own best interest, could care less about other countries.
This is a really an inaccurate statement. In fact the opposite is true. America has often undertaken difficult and costly actions, losing blood and treasure, to protect others. Phillipines, Korea, France, UK, Germany, Japan all have benefitted from the selfless actions of America. Can anyone show when UK, France, Spain, Italy, or Germany have taken actions purely to benefit some other country and not benefit themselves ? America has produced more inventions and scientific discoveries than any other nation. The capitalist system provides rewards for hard work. Whether your a college educated scientist, doctor, lawyer, chemist, biologist, or a talented entertainer, or a gifted athelete, or just a small player in the big scheme of things, advancement and rewards are always provided. If you work hard and do something "right" then you will be awarded accordingly. America has produced more medical innovations and vaccinations than any other country in the world. Except for Vietnam, which is an embarrassment to the US military caused by poor management by LBJ, when the US military commits to helping others it has always resulted in a better life and future for the countries and the peoples it tries to help.
America is no more racist than any other country in the world. In fact I argue that it is the least racist country simply because of the diversity of it's citizens, coupled with minimal racial conflicts. America still is a melting pot for the world, and has diverse flavors of cultures, religions, justice, and nationalities mixed freely in one society. Many often suggest that America should follow "experienced" world European and Asian sensibilities, sophistication, culture, and society. But Asian and European history is stained with a thousand years of brutal tyrants, constant wars, repression and exploitation of citizens and non-citizens, the dominant enslaving the subservient as the fruits of war, and the continuous saber rattling and nationalism of hundreds of tribes in constant conflict. Europe and Asia have no moral superiority. Not with their historical track record. Their current governments are socialist class systems protecting outdated historic family names and hidden shadow monarchies, and unknown levels of wealth. No outsider or commoner or immigrant need apply.
In Europe and East, the "sophisticated and cultured" French justified beheading thousands for the purpose of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. A godless secular revolution that dropped the bloody blade on tens of thousands based on the whims of one man, Robespierre. Eventually, and for everyone's benefit, finally dropping the blade on Robespierre himself. Scandinavia has no moral superiority. Vikings raped, pillaged, sacked, and murdered across Europe for hundreds of years, filling their pockets with the spoils of each destroyed European town. Italy's Romans entertained themselves with spectacles of cruelty, invasions, conquests, wars, slavery, brutality, persecution, and assimilation of other nations and cultures. England enslaved it's own commoners, paupers, the Scotts, the Irish, war captives, out-spoken citizens, and demonstrated it's ruthlessness with constant brutal war. A world where public executions and displays of spiked human body parts for all to see demonstrated justice in their "civilized" society. Any culture that watches hang, drawn, and quartered torture techniques for public entertainment has a serious morality problem. The English practiced intimidation of the weak as social theatre for all to see. The Germans illustrated their hatred and brutal genocide through 2 world wars, with gas chamber civilian exterminations and world wide war deaths of 50 million. Spain can be proud of their brutal unjustified destruction of Inca and Aztec cultures, as well as the "Spainish Inquisition", which painfully and grotesquely demonstrated that religious piety can cleanse sin with tortue as an art form. Russia, Stalin showed the world how to purge (kill!) 40 million of it's own citizens efficiently and secretly without justification.
In Asia, the Japanese Empire, brutally attacked all others as inferior cultures, savagely disfiguring captives and displaying brutal "death marches" of prisoners, while expanding the Japanese sphere of influence, land conquests, with life and death loyalty to Japan's Emperor God. China, recently, is still filled with imprisonment, slavery and ruthless treatment of it's citizens on the whim of it's dynastic emperors, and communist dictators who have killed millions. In Cambodia, Pol Pot killed millions for purely personal gain. Innocent men, women, and children died simply because the Khamer Rouge wanted them out of the way.
All of these cultures had some major beliefs in common. The reigning sovereign of their tribe is all powerful, and the citizens/non-citizens are there merely for the sovereign's pleasure. Compared to this worlds history of brutality, enslavement, war, and pillaging, America is a "pussycat". America is the only nation in history created specifically to protect and respect the liberty of it's citizens. The democracy of individual liberty is a concept missing from almost every monarch tyrant based culture in history. The efforts of the enslaved were focused and driven by the whim of the monarch, Czar, King, or Emperor. Another thing to realize about the history of all these countries, is that each nation at one time had slavery, and at another time was itself enslaved by other nations. No nation escapes the shame, guilt, and shackles of being enslaved. No nation escapes the brutal, evil, horror, and arrogance of enslaving others. Every nation made the same horrible mistake through greed, ignorance, fear, arrogance, and selfishness. Virtually every culture in history has at onetime been a slaveholder, and at another time been enslaved by another.
Looking at America's mistakes and faults over four centuries uncovers mistreatment, slavery, and discrimination against different citizen's cultures at different times. The English, Native Americans, Chinese, Irish, Black, Polish, Russian, Italian, Jewish, Japanese, and German all went through times of discrimination in America. Events on the world stage negatively influenced these discriminations and caused mistreatment by a "group-think" society in America. Rarely, however, was the discrimination a government mandate. In most cases, human rights violations were the results of ignorance and fear of the general population acting spontaneously and foolishly. In most cases time softened and corrected the discrimination, eliminating the need for some in power to exploit weaker groups. Slavery of the black population is a horrible festering sore on the body of America. Almost gone, but will never be completely erased. Slavery should have been eliminated at the creation of America in accordance with human rights values of the founders. Unfortunately some of the founders, with cruel shortsighted hypocrisy, were more focused on building a strong alliance of colonies for the common goal of winning independence and fighting England, then correcting questionable human rights violations, race inequities, or lack of liberties within some colonies. All slaves should have been released as part of the birth of the new nation.
How did America handle the slavery ? It took some time but it took a grassroots ground swell, started in the early 1800's, of abolitionists, southern and northern anti-slavery proponents, underground railways, Americans that were willing to fight and die, and principled actors like Lincoln and Douglas, to attack the abomination known as slavery. It also climaxed in one of the bloodiest wars in history, dividing and almost destroying America, and resulting in the deaths of 500 thousand American's. Many dismiss the costs to America of the Civil War. But history reveals that Americans sacrificed everything to eliminate slavery. It was a cancer and disgrace to the very heart of a nation based on god-given rights of liberty, justice, tolerance, and only military conflict could remove the tumor. It was bloody, it was destructive, and it was the passions of citizens on both sides that fueled the fire storm for years of fighting. Many ignore the sacrifices. The recent demands for reparations for slavery are already paid for by the deaths, costs, and results of the Civil War. Americans sacrificed themselves for a principle, freedom, and their fellow citizens. Reparations have been made and cannot apply to current populations, as most families emigrated during the 1900's and have never enslaved anyone. Many anti-slavery proponents attacked the 3/5 of a person decisions, Dred Scott laws, as an abomination against equal rights. But it is interesting to note that there were only 2 choices in that legislative vote. One, no representation for ex-slaves at all, and two, 3/5 of a person representation of slaves. The 3/5 choice was the fairest choice available, and not the goal of the foul racists. Zero representation for blacks was the goal of the foul racists. The non-racists were limited to choose 3/5 of a person.
The Native American Indian is a disappointing story in the history of America. The flood of migration from Europe, Asia, and Africa was unstoppable and it almost drown all Native American Indians. In the reality of the 1600's, 1700's, and 1800's, the American obsession with land, riches, and manifest destiny guided most decisions enriching themselves, while destroying the native population physically, emotionally, intellectually, and culturally. The Native American Indian's were treated as a race of inferiors that was an obstacle to the American dream of expanding wealth and power.
There are lots of stories of virus tainted blankets as weapons of mass destruction. To date, there is not one verifiable documented proof that the evil deed was ever done, condoned by the American government, or perpetrated by settlers on their own. There are lots of stories of slaughters of Native American Indian villages, broken treaties, mistreatment of the Native American Indians, and unfortunately many are true. So yes, America and it's settlers are guilty of murder and many human rights violations.
It should be noted that, from the beginning of time, wars, violence, and human physical conflict always occurrs during the struggle for sovereign national boundaries. Virtually every nation that is currently sovereign over it's borders, used war and violence to obtain it, and that includes the cruel destruction of any land competitors regardless of race. America is no different than any other nation in history. All nations have shown cruelty and brutality against competitors deemed enemies. That does not justify it. But thats a human condition for which we all bear guilt. It should be noted that Native American Indians fought among themselves for hundreds of years, and for the same reasons. The settlers certainly did not invent violence, war, or brutality. They were just more efficient and overwhelmed them by numbers, as the winner of all wars is.
American political/cultural diversity negatively influences the world's attitude toward America.
Attitudes toward America are based on two major types of Americans. The left-of-center urban liberal progressive and the right-of-center rural religious conservative. There are numerous flavors of each type. For now, lets just focus on the two major classifications. Both types of citizens see the actions of America through two very different prisms. Both types of citizens present a completely different world view of America's actions and motivations. Either can be considered valid points of view providing the accurate supporting facts are properly researched.
The left proponents, with a lock on state-run media, always believe the worst in America. They look for the worst in America. They accuse America of the worst. They make-up the worst about America. All left agenda is based on a worldview of non-competitive, selfish paranoia, self-loathing, and euro-influenced socialists that want to destroy capitalism and impose socialism. This progressive, collective, commune based worldview portion of society has been brainwashed by progressive slanted media their entire life. Whether it's Senator John Kerry, lying to Congress about American soldier misdeeds in Vietnam; or Rosie Odonnell, falsely accusing America of 100's of thousands Iraqi deaths it did not commit; or Jeanene Garafalo's hateful obsession accusing all conservatives of being racist; or Bill Maher expressing his belief that conservatives are just stupid, and need guidance from intellectually superior progressive liberals. All progressive ideologues incorrectly believe that anyone who disagrees with them on policies (conservatives), must be stupid, racist, redneck, ignorant, uneducated, swimming in the shallow end of the gene-pool, knuckle-draggin' Neanderthals. Conservative ideologues have a similar belief that liberals are selfish, fascististic in rule making, class society, liars, promiscuious, unemployed, godless, bent on changing the world to their oversexualized, irresponsible urges, with a guiltless view of personal responsibility. They believe morality is determined by current majority consensus selection. Nothing is sacred or constant.
Left slanted media includes ABC, NBC, CBS, CNBC, MSNBC, CNN, NPR, Time, Newsweek, New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Village Voice, most hollywood films (Oliver Stone, Woody Allen, Ron Howard, Martin Scorcese, etc.), most TV dramatic series (Law&Order, CSI), most TV talk shows (Oprah, Ellen Degenerous, Jay Leno, David Letterman, The View, Jon Stewart, Steve Colbert), most awards (Oscars, Emmys, Tonys, Grammys), most socialist European countries, and even the Noble Prizes.
The right proponents, with talk radio and cable news, always believe the truth about America. Where a lefty will always blame America first regardless of the facts. The righty will delay opinion until the facts are in. Lefties have been known to lie, mislead, and makeup facts to support their positions. Righties are uncomfortable lying or making up facts. Righties base their opinion on the facts regardless of where those facts lead. Righty media spends most of its time debunking outrageous false statements made by the left about the right, and trying to identify the facts as they really are. Right slanted media includes talk radio (Limbaugh, Ingraham, Hannity, etc.), New York Daily News, WSJ, and Fox news. Note: Fox news is trying to become less right and more centered by pro-actively presenting and seeking both sides of a story.
The premise of the far-left is that rural regions, fly over country, in America is inhabited by a mixture of characters from Deliverance, Hew Haw, Apocalypse Now, Casualties of War, Beverly Hillbillies, Mayberry, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, Eddie Gein, incest lovin', religion obsessed, mentally challenged, backward, uneducated Neanderthals. They think these ignorant knuckle-draggin' toothless cretin bigots, are centuries of social evolution behind the so-called sophisticated and worldly progressive urban liberal. Portrayed as missing links to the much preferred urban, elitist, Dinks (dual income no kids), godless, socialist, metrosexual, arrogant, college educated, trust fund, social name droppin', coke snoortin', social engineerin', sophisticated, worldly, euro-wanna-be, name-brand obsessed, plastic surgery obsessed, vain and shallow posers.
A good way to compare the urban vs rural is by looking at some of the social festivals. In rural America, barb-b-que is the king of all festivals. Barb-b-que, beer, country music, overalls, cowboy hats, and whole family enjoyment determines activities. In urban America, in San Francisco for example, the Up Your Alley Street Festival is the ultimate celebration of the acheivements of evolved urban man. A gay-driven public exhibition of the most vile depraved behavior imaginable. A display of uncensored public fellatio, sodomy, piss-drinkin', golden showers, masterbation, gay gang bangin', transvestites in costume, black leather S/M, and metrosexual carnival presenting the preferred amoral progressive lifestyle. Most of what happens in this circus is illegal public indecency, yet the entire city of San Francisco turns a blind eye because of the large gay community backlash. Incidentally, most traditional families that live in San Francisco, usually schedule an out-of-town vacation during the Up Your Alley festival. Must hide the children, keep them inside, and not let them out.
A progressive's morals change with populist opinion, and they prefer to be on the leading edge of urban social mores. If a behavior makes you (as left) uncomfortable, then the progressive considers that exciting and that's a good thing. He should do more of that. A conservative's morals tend to be very traditional, and are often accused of being boring and old fashioned. If a behavior makes you (as right) uncomfortable, then you probably shouldn't do it.
America tortures captives and ignores the Geneva convention.
False. America uses varying methods of persuasion (sleep depravation, water boarding, loud music, humiliation, etc.) to break down a captive's confidence and increase their will to cooperate. None of these are torture. Torture is defined as the action or practice of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment or to force them to do or say something or for the pleasure of the person inflicting the pain. None of the techniques used by America inflict severe pain, nor cause any permanent physical damage. America treats its captives better than any other nation ever has. The Gitmo Gut is the name for captives who on average gain 10-20 lbs during their incarceration at Club Gitmo. To date, out of thousands of prisoners, America has used it's most controversial water-boarding on three captives. Three captives with extensive knowledge of current and future terrorist plans, methods, financing, training camps, and weapons.
Our current enemy, Islamic terrorists, video tape decapitations and show the whole world for purposes of intimidation. These guys are so sleazy they enjoy chopping off heads. America could lower it's treatment standards to the level of the enemy, and be perfectly justified. America does not lower its standards to an enemy that prides itself on emulating a brutal 7th century barbaric culture. America does however, have the responsibility to prevent possible terrorist attacks. One prevents attacks by getting useful information from captives. If that means causing a captive discomfort for a little while to save potentially thousands of lives, its more than justified.
Seeing Abu Graib's treatment of prisoners, many were screaming "look America is torturing !". I am sorry if I disagree with America-haters that want to embarrass the military, but the treament they received in Abu Graib was humiliation techniques designed to break a captives confidence and self-respect, thus making the captive more docile and easier to control. It was humliation not torture. I venture to say that every humiliation technique demonstrated in Abu Graib is routinely used by college fraternities (hazing) and pro sports teams (male bonding). In football locker rooms across this country, kickers (smallest guy) are routinely "stuck" on a wall (velcro) wearing humiliating outfits. In the U.S. Marine Corps, marines are routinely subjected to waterboarding during their training. If waterboarding were a painful torture would the Marines subject their recruits to it ? Waterboarding is fear of drowning and not a pain based technique. Intuitively waterboarding subjects know they will not be drowned, but the natural instinct to prevent drowning causes the immediate revulsion and desire to make it stop immediately. This technique has produced significant intelligence about the enemy. Information we would not have gotten except for the success of waterboarding. Another technique to break the will of Islamist captives is to put a female soldier in a dominant role. A women controlling a leashed captive, as if walking a dog, is an effective method to shatter their male-centered worldview. It shocks them to realize that as a captive they have absolutely no control or respect. It's humiliation, embarrassment, and a destroyed ego that results in a passive cooperative prisoner. But it is not torture.
Considering the Geneva convention, the Islamic terrorists don't care what that treaty says. The people that are critical of America never hold the Islamic terrorists to the same standards. As far as the Geneva convention, it is a global set of standards by almost all nations that defines the proper treament of captives during war. It defines the treatment of uniformed soldiers fighting for a sovereign nation. Terrorists are NOT uniformed soldiers fighting for a soverign nation. This terror war is like none other. In fact, a non-uniformed soldier fighting for some religious/political warlord, living among us, more closely resembles the definition of a covert spy than a uniformed soldier. Harsh treatment of spies is common among nations. Terrorist attacks are the result of covert operatives (spys) inflicting death and destruction on innocent citizens. They usually attack the innocent and not the military. A treacherous form of covert attacks that demands the use of any and all coercion tools to protect our citizens.
America as a nation, primary purpose is capitalist greed.
When describing the business world, greed is the reason capiltalists are destroying the world. An interesting word. Greed is an intense selfish desire to acquire wealth and/or power. Now that means not only businessmen suffer from this character flaw. Hollywood epitomizes selfish acquisition. Every actor/actress is overpaid. Directors determine their salary by the expectations of the box office and commercial DVD sales. So lets say an actor, no names, will only star in a certain movie if he is paid 20 million dollars. Totally acceptable to the progressive elitist because that's what the market will bear. Professional atheletes sign 100 million dollar contracts based on how much they think he'll help the team. Totally acceptable to the progressive elitist because that's what the market will bear. Authors get multi-million dollar publisher sign-up deals before a single word is written. Their salary is based on expected book sales. Totally acceptable to the progressive elitist because that's what the market will bear. My favorite elitist hypocrite is a filmmaker creating an anti-capitalism documentry. It attacks capitalism and anyone who toils for financial profit. Yet, the anti-capitalist filmmaker keeps any capiltalist profit he makes. He even uses non-union staff to improve his bottom line. Lawyers demonstrate greed beyond any other profession. Their outrageous fee's has crippled the health care system, and created the litigate everything frame of mind. There's always a legal "deception" that can produce profits.
Many progressives claim they give alot to charity. Regardless, they find wealth for expensive houses, cars, fancy clothes, boats, exclusive resort vacations, and world travel. Kinda says it all. If a progressive elitist makes a profit, it is earned because that's what the market will bear. These same progressive elitists want salary caps on CEO's, CFO's, etc. because they think they don't deserve high salaries. For some reason, corporate America is not allowed to get what the market will bear. In terms of training, talent, and education, most CEO's and CFO's have far more formal university education than most ball players, movie stars, and authors. Most have the same number of years of training as a lawyer, who's outrageous fees are always accepted. Yet CEO's and CFO's don't deserve to be compensated for their expertise ? Makes no sense to single out business executives as being more greedy than actors, lawyers, professional ballplayers, and authors.
Let's look at the benefits of a capitalist society. A capitalist society provides profits and wealth based on how hard a person works. If your family has a strong work ethic then you will probably start out in better financial position than someone's whose family had no work ethic. Appropiate profits for appropriate effort. Any citizen that improves his financial position, by human nature will spend some of that profit for all sorts of things. Those purchases ripple through society improving everyone's financial status. A strong work ethic and capitalism equals success for almost everyone. The key is that your expected to work and sometimes work hard. But the rewards can be great. Those who avoid work and look for government entitlements place themselves in a permanent pergatory called welfare. No work leads to no personnal satisfaction, since their looking for the freebie instead of using their talents, pessimism as the world is just not fair, jealous of others successful from hard work, and an ever increasing attitude that everyone is supposed to be equal regardless of work ethic.
I hate to burst somebody's "politically correct" bubble, but people are not equals. The world is full of inequities and diversity, talent/no talent, bad habits/good habits, optimism/pessimism, extrovert/introvert, born silver spoon/born without spoon, well-connected/unconnected, citizen/immigrant, strong work ethic/no work ethic, happy/miserable, educated/uneducated, creative/uncreative, and patriotic/unpatriotic. In capitalism, the overwhelming principal is how much your life improves depends on you. Your work ethic determines your success, not some socialized government saying what you can and cannot do. Any capitalist improving their life is improving the lives of all those around him. The tide lifts all boats. Capitalism, as practiced in America, is the best environment for those that start with nothing, but willing to work to improve their life.
One other aspect of capitalism rarely discussed is the growth rate of the society. America has the largest growth rate in all the developed world. European and some Asian societies have been at zero or negative population growth for years. Fixed socialized government-run solutions, one size fits all, works best for fixed size known demographic populations. Costs are more controllable and predictable when society's infrastructure, manufacturing, transportation, production, business community, and entitlements are fairly stable in size with a known set of players. America grows by leap and bounds every year, both legal and illegal. The easiest way for new citizen arrivals to participate and assimilate in America is to accept the work ethic, join the workforce, develop talents and skills, and then become as successful as efforts, talents, and skills allow. Nothing is more satisfying than a completed job well done, pride and confidence in skills, and just compensation for the effort.
America is a bully in the global community.
I prefer leader or security guard. Here are some questions you might find interesting when you research the answers:
Who protected countries from Germany in both WWI and WWII ?
Who protected UK and France in both world wars ?
Who protected Philiipines from the Japanese imperailism ?
Who protected South Korea from invading North Korean communism ?
Who tried to protect Vietnam from invading North Vietnamese communism ?
After WWI who tried to improve international relations by creating the League of Nations ?
After WWII who tried to improve international relations by creating the UN ?
Who protected W. Germany during the Berlin Air-Lift ?
Who protected the Americas from Cuba's intended missile sites ?
Who kept USSR from taking over all of Eastern Europe during the cold war ?
Who won the cold war with USSR ?
Who rebuilt Germany after WWII ?
Who rebuilt Japan after WWII ?
Who ended WWII by shocking the "no-surrender" Japanese army into the reality of "must-surrender". Forcing choice of total destruction or total surrender immediately saving millions of lives ?
Who saved Kuwait from invasion by Iraq ?
If you home is invaded, call the police, if your country is invaded, call America. Who else could you call ?
Who helped the Afghans repel Russia for 25 years ?
Who supports Isreal and believes it has a right to exist ?
Who built the Panama canal ?
Who provides billions and billions of dollars, for decades, to nations through the Foreign Aid program ?
Who contributed more in technology, medicines, space travel, inventions, and scientific breakthroughs than America ?
Who created the internet and then shared it with all nations ?
Who influenced other nations that a "democracy and free-market capitalism" will eradicate poverty faster than any other form of government ?
Who's global capitalism and consumer-based society has helped to improve conditions in all developing countries ?
Who has provided free markets for developing countries products ?
Who pays the most to support the UN ?
Who was the country that "enemies would most like to be captured by" during any war ? America.
Who forgave Germany and Japan for WWII ? If not, peace would be as unfair and unstable as the peace treaties of WWI ?
If America did not proactively support liberty, freedom, human rights, and democracy around the world. Who would ? Who could ?
If America did not take on "world hall monitor" and policing responsibilities. Who would ? Who could ?
Why is America always one of the first to provide aid and comfort during crisis and catastrophes around the world ?
Why is America usually the most generous to needy countries during crisis.
Why are Americans the most generous to almost every charity.
America is monstrous for using the atomic bomb twice to end WWII.
This is perhaps one of the most infuriating beliefs held by many. To understand why these bombs were dropped, you only need to look at the historical perspective in which the action was taken. Japan was a formidable military power who captured island after island, and was driven by a desire for more land. Japan is really a very small island country and only military action could expand it's footprint. Once America joined the war, it was America and the Japanese that fought bloody costly battles over the islands and in the seas. For each island freed, America and Japan lost ten of thousands casualties. Japanese soldiers never surrender, they fight till their last breath, and refuse to be shamed by surrendering. This war ethic is formidable. Every island freed was far more costly than expected. Finally the battles will be fought over the island of Japan itself. The invasion effort always begins with conventional bombing of major cities. The week before the atomic bombs were dropped, Japanese casualties were about 100,00 men, women, and children from conventional bombing. If this is dragged out for months, millions of Japanese will die. America must look at landing soldiers for an invasion. America knows that Japan will never surrender, and we will be fighting the bloodiest battle for years. Estimates say that both America and Japan will lose about 1 million before the battle of Japan is over, and the Japanese will fight even harder for their beloved island of Japan.
A new weapon appears in America. A bomb that can reduce entire cities to rubble, and kill all the inhabitants. America is currently causing 100,00 Japanese casualties every week with conventional bombing, and this is before a single American sets foot on the island of Japan. To reduce casualties on both sides we need to make Japan surrender. To reduce casualties, America does not want to be fighting hand-to-hand with Japanese defending their homeland. What if America demonstrates to the Japanese that they and their beloved country would be completely destroyed unless they surrender. Atomic bomb is just an exponentially more efficient conventional bomb. We dropped a bomb on Hiroshima because it was a city that was relatively untouched by the war so far. All resulting damage was caused by the atomic bomb. Hiroshima had headquarters for some major military administration, and a various collection of sites that directly produce armaments for the Japanese war machine. Bomb is dropped, Hiroshima is completely gone! This shocked the Japanese, but surveys indicate only 50% of Japanese military are willing to surrender to protect their homeland. Let's keep fighting! We dropped another bomb on Nagasaki. Bomb is dropped, Nagasaki is completely gone! Surveys indicate that now at least 75% of the military is now willing to surrender to save their homeland. At this point Japanese Emperor and military leaders surrender before all of Japan is gone.
The casualties of the 2 atomic bombs is about 200-250 thousand. That's equal to about 2 weeks of conventional bombing of cities. A land invasion would have required weeks of conventional bombing, and then the land invasion would begin. Casualties would be enormous on both sides. But the horror that Hiroshima and Nagasaki demonstrated was that the Japanese cannot win the war, and the longer they fight the more lives are wasted, and if no surrender, then the island of Japan would become a desolate pile of ash.
They surrendered, saved their island, and saved 2 million Japanese and American soldiers from certain death. America's new weapons were a "BIG stick" against Japan and it forced them to surrender. That is something that Japan does not do. Japan made the right decision, for the right reasons. America released a sigh of relieve as land invasion was no longer needed. I shudder to think about how many more casualties would have occurred if these atomic weapons were not available or were not used.
America only does what's in it's own best interest, could care less about other countries.
This is a really an inaccurate statement. In fact the opposite is true. America has often undertaken difficult and costly actions, losing blood and treasure, to protect others. Phillipines, Korea, France, UK, Germany, Japan all have benefitted from the selfless actions of America. Can anyone show when UK, France, Spain, Italy, or Germany have taken actions purely to benefit some other country and not benefit themselves ? America has produced more inventions and scientific discoveries than any other nation. The capitalist system provides rewards for hard work. Whether your a college educated scientist, doctor, lawyer, chemist, biologist, or a talented entertainer, or a gifted athelete, or just a small player in the big scheme of things, advancement and rewards are always provided. If you work hard and do something "right" then you will be awarded accordingly. America has produced more medical innovations and vaccinations than any other country in the world. Except for Vietnam, which is an embarrassment to the US military caused by poor management by LBJ, when the US military commits to helping others it has always resulted in a better life and future for the countries and the peoples it tries to help.