But you cant blame "Americans" for that. Blame our government all you like, hell you cant even blame our military troops (the ones not in command). Statements against American civilians is stupid, the problems isn't American people, its our corrupt government.
That government exists cause the American peoples vote no longer counts. Our government has found a way to keep the corrupt in power. Its called the Electoral College. Its taken all of the American peoples voting powers away from them.
That's the long and short of it.
Browser just deleted my epic-sized post here, so apologies if this comes off as bitter, since I'm having to recite the fucking thing for the 2nd time now.
I was originally going to respond directly to the OP, but I saw the above post and it caught my attention. It appears reflective of a popularizing state of mind in western society. The deference of responsibility on account of perceiving the power structure to be corrupt and out of touch, hence rendering one's own actions as meaningless in the face of it. Nowhere is it more readily apparent than in the wake of the onslaught of information being given to us by Snowden, in the face of an overwhelmingly indifferent public. On a regular basis we're being told of grievous abuses of illegal powers by our respective governments, a violation of our collective trust, and rarely anyone seems to care.
To follow through,
of course you can blame Americans for Guantanamo Bay. You pay taxes don't you? You rampantly devour the onslaught of frivolous products and luxuries granted by your corporatocracy, don't you? You don't take part in direct, physical civil disobedience, do you? These powers have only been taken from you because you
allowed it. Whether or not you realize it, you all continue to directly support it, despite claims of hopelessness. Through a generation of sleight of hand, manipulating the flow of information, capitalizing on apathy and the inherent flaws of the capitalist system, you had that power stolen. You are as much at fault for the actions of your government as I and my countrymen are for our own. The government exists to serve the people - not the converse. The government is a reflection of the populace it represents. If it is hijacked, corrupt, self-serving and manipulating then it is because the populace allows it to be, and hence is deserving of it. Nobody is going to
give you the power back. You have to
take it for yourselves.
Few things pain me more than having to witness this global shepherding experiment, that appears to be working all so well with the means of control currently in play. Those in the majority are so distracted by the frivolities of the economic rat race that they have no concept of what is going on around them. Those who have some inkling of an idea feel it's beyond them and are consequently indifferent. Those who are in the know feel so overwhelmed by the extent of the putrid corruption that they feel entirely helpless to act. That's the sign of our times - direct slavery turning into economic enslavement. Everything is more subtle. The means of control are working behind the curtain now, we all do our respective puppet dances, and the governmental double-speak continues to dictate the way we see the world around us.
Re: the OP. I so can't be fucked trying to write all this again, but here we go...
The proliferation of an archaic, out dated, ignorant, hate-filled, misogynistic religious ideology which preaches submission to an imaginary creator is a problem, no matter what guise it takes. The potential for abuse is rife and self-evident. Our history is filled with those abuses. The Abrahamic religions have a way of posing as religions of peace and tolerance, while in reality engendering fear, shame, intolerance and violence. Women and minorities have traditionally suffered the most for this.
Many of you appear to be mistaking Islam for an ethnicity. While I'm sure the United States' 'war on terror' and its subsequent propaganda campaign has done much to synonymize Islam with brown-skinned Arabs, we should all at least attempt to be mindful of the reality. When you take issue with Islam, it's not a xenophobic or racist position. You take issue with a backward piece of shit literature,
not a race of people. All ideas should be open to this scrutiny. Religions cannot ever be made immune to reasonable inquiry. The scientific method
must endure as the primary tool for our species to endure and develop.
Regarding the issue of immigration, the problem is that with the government opening the country's borders comes a responsibility to educate and assimilate. Most (read: all) governments are too uncoordinated to do this correctly. You cannot simply open your borders to all people - war refugees, religious fundamentalists, those with vastly different cultures - and expect something good to come of it. At best you may achieve a polycutural society, like Australia, where various ethnic groups all live together in the one place, yet tend to socialize strictly amongst themselves. Unless there is an emphasis on assimilation, immigration can never truly work.
The added danger with taking in individuals with a predisposition toward barbaric, ancient, misogynistic, ignorant, violent and highly aggressive religions is your inability to assimilate or educate them. They will flock amongst themselves, and continue to teach through their own backward, theocratic institutions. The short term solution is to stop them from coming in - but how long will that really work? Many of our countries are already mixed up. The flood gates have been opened and segregation will no longer work. So how do we work with what we have?
The government and the populace must
NEVER bend to the will of these organized religions. These archaic ideologies are best combated through intellectual enlightenment. Information and rationale is their natural enemy, hence why atheism and agnosticism has been on a steady rise since the blooming of the internet. Assimilation
must be enforced. Valid economic opportunities must be ready for the migrants. We cannot create a climate where they are treated as second class citizens, lest they start to act the part. You would be amazed at what well-equipped, reasonable people can achieve, if simply given the right opportunity and incentive.
The only problem is that we live in a society based on differential advantage, where those in power pride themselves on what they've managed to achieve on the backs of others - where they actually feel entitled to their ill-begotten status because this perverse economic environment engenders it. Where the immigration of cheap laborers seems like a solid economic idea, rather than solid cultural one. This can become a whole other ball game as I start to relate most of our social ills to this broken economic system, and the hoarding of natural resources, but let's just leave it here for now: The issue of fundamentalist Abrahamic religious ideology is just one of the many ills which is spawned through our continued, fractured state of existence. Until we start to repair our many problems at their core, we cannot expect the symptoms to start subsiding.
