How is acknowledging that our ME foreign policy has influenced how the muslim extremists feel about the USA..?

Question

"blame America first"?

What is wrong with acknowledging that we have made mistakes in the past and taking the blame for that?

Answer 1

Allow me please....
To George Bush, Dick Cheney, Daniel Pipes, and their soulless war-mongering compadres, I proudly admit that I support the Palestinians (and their democratically elected Hamas leaders) in their struggle against their brutal Israeli oppressors. In fact, consider me a member of the so-called Fifth Column identified by Pipes. I abhor virtually all of the foreign and domestic policies the Machiavellian disciples of Strauss have implemented through wielding their ill-gotten power and influence. However, the United States is as much my country as it is theirs. I fully intend to remain here and work persistently against them by continuing to tenaciously pursue human rights and social justice for humanity, not simply for a select few in the United States and Israel.

Quoting the eloquent and infamous words of the incredibly articulate Mr. Cheney, I say, "**** you!" to their malignant cabal. While this nefarious faction and its loyalists may consider me a traitor, I refuse to pledge allegiance to a pack of criminals who have hijacked the government of the people of the United States. If it is treason to dissent against corrupt thieves and murderers who have shredded our sacred Constitution, I stand guilty as charged.

Consider the following:

1. According to the 1990 US Census, 91.6% of Americans were Christians. By 2000, the percentage had decreased to 85%. We 42 million “heathens” represent a pretty significant portion of the population.

2. Many of the Western Europeans who settled the original thirteen colonies fled their nations of origin to evade religious persecution and state-imposed religions.

3. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, two of our most prominent Founding Fathers, were Deists. Washington and Jefferson were not particularly religious but tended more toward Deism than Christianity.

4. Thomas Paine, whose writings were a powerful catalyst for the American Revolution, vehemently attacked Christianity in one of his polemical works and refused to embrace Christianity, even on his death-bed.

5. God is not mentioned in our Constitution. The Declaration of Independence simply mentions "Nature's God" and a "Creator", neither of which specifically imply a Christian god.

6. Per the Treaty of Tripoli, endorsed by President John Adams and ratified unanimously by the US Senate in 1797: "As the Government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion..."

7. If Christians lay claim to the United States as their nation, that means they bear the sole responsibility for the evils of slavery, the virtual annihilation of the Native Americans, and the many acts of state terror perpetrated by the US military and CIA over the years.

8. In 1864, the equivalent of today's Religious Right cowed Congress into passing legislation mandating that the US begin stamping "In God We Trust" on several of our coins. Besides caving to the powerful influence of Christian fundamentalists, our federal government also recognized the psychological boost the power of Christian symbolism would give them after the blow to their authority rendered by the Civil War.

9. McCarthy-inspired anti-Communist hysteria motivated Eisenhower to sign Public Law 140 in 1956. Going forward, all US coins and paper money bore the propagandistic slogan "In God We Trust" to reassure Americans that we were better than the godless Communists. The same year, the words "under God" were added to the Pledge of Allegiance. It took 180 years for this Christian nation to fully embrace its identity. Or perhaps it simply took our plutocratic rulers that long to recognize the power of spiritual coercion….

As an aside, the original motto on the United States was E Pluribus Unum (Latin for “Out of many, one”), which obviously encourages more unity and cohesion than an exclusionary national motto dedicated to a god worshipped by one segment of the population.

Sleeping like babies….

Aside from the power of radical Christianity to subjugate the masses, this disturbing perversion of healthy spirituality does come with an added “benefit”. It enables its devotees to support politicians who rob from the poor to give to the rich, who wage murderous and imperialist wars to enrich the military industrial complex, and who allow their corporate collaborators to blatantly abuse employees, consumers, and the environment. Thanks to the salve provided to their consciences by "knowing" they live in a Christian, morally superior nation (not to mention the security provided by their "guaranteed blissful after-life"), the mélange of groups and people comprising the extreme Religious Right can swear their allegiance to a group of monstrous human beings without feeling a twinge of guilt.

As many of my antagonists have pointed out, I am not without limitations (and I do not claim to be). Remaining in the United States to wage a non-violent struggle for human rights and social justice virtually assures that I will be a party to enabling the US war machine and corporatocracy in some way. Besides the fact that I pay federal taxes (fairly unavoidable for a working class family person), buy some products from grossly corrupt corporations (albeit as few as possible), and have my share of personal spiritual struggles, my other glaring sin is the hostility I harbor toward the enemies of humanity sitting atop the throne of power in our nation. However, even Jesus himself directed outrage at the money-changers and legalistic religious leaders of his day. If someone of his moral capacity directed anger at the corrupt establishment, who am I to presume I could overcome my rancor against the malevolent forces comprising the United States ruling elite? If their numerous crimes against humanity were not fanning the flames of my anger, I would no longer be breathing. My challenges are to prevent my ire from evolving into festering hatred or desire for revenge and to strive to maintain constructive anger (which motivates me to seek justice and positive change). That is a challenge to which I can rise, despite my human short-comings.

Please excuse my use of profanity above, but it felt so good to echo Cheney's choice sentiments back to him and his unwholesome cohorts. Meanwhile, send Satan a postcard on his vacation. Our imperialistic rulers do not need him to perpetrate their acts of profound moral depravity. They glide on the momentum generated by fanatical followers who believe they have the market cornered on morality and that Jesus will soon return to Earth as the ultimate WMD.

Answer 2

You need to understand what the Muslim extremists don't like about America is freedom, choice, and the right to be or not to be religious.
To be free thinkers or to follow. The U.S. (both Parties) are pushing the one world order program and the Muslim extremists definitely aren't going for it.

Answer 3

If America is a truly responsible nation, it will bear the brunt of any blame, whether founded or unfounded. Because no one is blameless. Even the most altruistic intentions will affect some country or group negatively. America should understand this, and take responsibility for it's actions. Whether it's blame or praise, America should be mature enough to take it with a grain of salt. Otherwise, it will never learn from it's mistakes.

Answer 4

It's not. People who react that way are just feeling so frustrated by what they perceive as verbal attacks on our country that they begin to see them where they weren't meant.

Luckily the USA is strong enough to be able to calmly look at our actions, and mature enough to recognize that NO country (not even us) will be right every time, and--hopefully--smart enough to make appropriate changes when necessary, based on that information.

Remember what a huge percent of YA users (of all parties) are fairly young, and so not as strong, mature, or smart as the country as a whole can and should be.

Answer 5

Of course we have made mistakes. Our policies of "an enemy of our enemy is our friend" of the eighty's and early ninety's led to arming and helping dirt bags that only resurfaced and bit us on the azz at a later time.
Bottom line concerning the Middle East - Nothing, BUT NOTHING, can justify the indiscriminate slaughter of thousands of innocent men, women and children regardless of the grievance.
"Blame America first" is not usually applied to people who point out our mistakes - it is only when these mistakes of ours are used to try and justify the tactics used by the Islamic extremists. There can be no justifying their cowardly terror tactics against innocent civilians - none what so ever.

Answer 6

I think our middle east policy should be shoot first, ask questions later.
they lie to us right to our face, they have hated euro/white man for ages.. an america is evil spawn of britian in thier eyes

its not our policy thats wrong, but actually THIER policy..

what are you abula bula steph?
get with the program!

Answer 7

'Christian' America is 231 years old. Islam is almost 1500 years old. The acknowledgment is moot. Islam does not now and never has had any regard for 'infidels'.

The extremism is not a surprise, just a mere repercussion.

Answer 8

What? There is no reasoning with the Muslim extremists...they understand violence-so let's give them some

Answer 9

There is nothing wrong with acknowledging our mistakes. we should do it more often and not be in a state of denial. The government calls repercusions of our actions blowback.

Answer 10

That is the rhetoric from the right wing echo chamber. but by that logic if you hit you finger with a hammer, you just keep doing it so as not to cut and run, or blame the hammer first. What sacres me is that so many can't see through it. but they just want so hard to believe.

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and consciencious stupidity."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Answer 11

If you weren't blaming America, you would have said "...acknowledge our mistakes and take RESPONSIBILITY for our actions" not BLAME for our actions.