TWO DIFFERENT REALITIES

An exchange in which I involved myself in the comment section on my former student's blog, My Left Shoe '04:

Why didn't Kerry run on his senate record of the past 20 years?

Truthfully I really don't care what he did in Vietnam, how he got his medals and threw them away, but then didn't throw them away, how he hated serving because of the war crimes committed, but now he is a war hero, how he was for the war on terror but now is against the war, how he voted to fund our troops before he voted against it, blah blah blah.

All I want to know is what he did as a senator, to improve this country. What did he do to keep our military strenght the strongest in the world? Things along those lines. Things that happened 30 years ago, let them go, what can he do for us today?

Anonymous

$

He's not Bush. That's enough.

Ron

$

No ron that is not enough. There has to be more than he is not Bush for me to vote for him. Can you come up with something better than he is not Bush, because if you can't that is very sad.

miller

$

No, not really.

You're right, it's very sad that we're put in the position of having to choose a slightly less corporate, slightly less hawkish, slightly less evil man to be president than Bush. But face it, Bush is so awful, what with destroying decades old alliances, driving the economy into the ground, making America much less safe by enraging Muslim populations world wide, removing important environmental protections, and much more, that there's really no choice: he's gotta go, and Kerry's the only one who can beat him.

At this point, it's simply immoral to vote for Bush, and if you don't agree, you're a fool.

Ron

$

I have to disagree with you, I believe the President has done a pretty good job up to this point.

The economy is like a roller coaster rides it goes up then it comes down. It went up during the Reagan years started to go down soon after he left off, it started to go back up during the beginning years of the Clinton administration then started to go down during the end of his administration, and now it is going back up. Whoever wins this next election will take the credit for improving the economy. If it is Bush his tax break have continued to work, if it is Kerry well the fact that he was elected turned the economy around.

miller

$

I don't know about you but I don't expect anyone else in the world to stand up and defend America. We were attacked whether you want to believe it that or not, something had to be done. I don't want my President, and this applies for Gore had he been in office, to go out and seek permission from the world to do what is needed to defend America. I feel the response was needed and was right if the world doesn't like it well too bad. Iraq under Saddam had broken every UN resolution ever placed on it, the oil for food money that was suppose to be used to help the Iraqi people was instead used to payoff UN personel and some of the countries who turned against us when we went into Iraq. I understand you disagree with that but that is fine.

miller

$

Test question

What kind of news sells, the good news or the bad?

The answer the bad news. You watch the nightly news and you are lead to believe that the whole nation of Iraq is against us. If you talk to the military personnel who have served in Iraq and they will paint a different story for you. Who am I to believe the guys who are there serving my country or someone who is just out to make some money? I prefer to believe those who are serving.

You now have to nations of free people. Afganastan and Iraq, the people there have new freedoms that they would never have had under there old govenment structures. Are they better off today than they were several years ago? Yes. Well they be better off five years from now than they are now? Yes. Would some have preferred to keep it the way it was? Yes. But, that goes with change.

miller

$

Even in our countries fight for independence there were people who wanted it to stay the same. Are we better off now because of the change? Yes.Ron I do disagree with you but I'm no fool.

miller

$

Now besides Kerry not being Bush why should I vote for him?

miller

$

Look, Miller, you seem to be a nice guy, reasonable, too. Problem is, I don't really know how to talk to you: we live in totally different realities.

You talk about the economy like it's some strange force that ebbs and flows like a river. I see it as the cumulative effect of the specific policy decisions made by corporations and the politicians that they control with campaign contributions. What does "a good job" on the economy actually mean? I mean, how do you really know if the economy is good or bad? I say it's bad because the vast majority of Americans aren't reaping the benefits of "economic growth."

I might just as easily say the same thing for the Clinton years. After all, real wages have been stagnant for two decades now, and the health care crisis continues to drown working people. When you can't make ends meet, it doesn't matter if the economy is "good" or "bad."

Ron

$

CONTINUED

Politics is all just talk in America, and you seem to be pretty good with the language.

You talk about defending America like we were fighting Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union or something. But we're not. Instead, we're dealing with the longtime effects of our "economy" eating up the people of the third world. America, and by that I mean the corporate interests that control our government, treats people as resources to be exploited.

Of course there's horrible terrorism directed against us! What else are they supposed to do? Lie back and take it?

Defending America, as you mean it, will only make things worse, only enrage already victimized populations. The only way to end the threat of terrorism is to spread America's wealth around the world, using our great might and endless supply of money to feed the hungry and heal the sick, rather than make more money off them.

Ron

$

CONTINUED

Of course, I realize that will never happen, especially as long as regular guys like you, Miller, continue to talk the deviant language of American politics.

And you ask about the news? They're speaking the same twisted words! They talk about the "economy" and "spreading freedom"and "defending America," never realizing that they're not talking about anything at all.

Like I said, Miller, you seem to be a nice guy, but you believe what they taught you in school, that the US is a light for freedom and justice in the world, yadda yadda. To some extent, that's true, but that point of view simply ignores all the awful things done in our name. I want you to face the facts, Miller. America is both good and bad, and we can go no further as a nation until we redress what's bad about us. As the Bible says, we have a rail in our eye, and we go on and on about the mote in everybody else's eyes.

Ron

$

CONTINUED

I blame Bush. I blame Gore. I blame Kerry. I blame Clinton. They're all in on it. Vote for whoever you want, Miller. It doesn't really matter, because things will go on just as they have, whatever happens.

Ron

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$