The Apathetic America
by Paul J. Balles

Juan Cole tells the grieving American public, rightly, that "the Iraqis have two Virginia Tech-style attacks every single day."

UNICEF estimated that the sanctions against Iraq resulted in the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children under the age of 5.  Madeleine Albright said “we think the price is worth it."


John Damien says "Killing insurgents is easy and makes it feel like you are doing something, but it’s a trap."


World Vision Canada reports that "more than two million Iraqi refugees are trapped in a cycle of poverty and fear."


Evelyn Pringle wants "Americans to face the cold hard truth that nothing will be accomplished by allowing the daily carnage in Iraq to continue."

 

An Iraqi Sunni politician says that insurgency groups should unite to "reap political rewards for inflicting heavy losses on U.S. troops."

Reuters reports that "Jordan and Syria begged the international community on Tuesday to help them shoulder the burden of some 2 million Iraqi refugees"


B'Tselem, The Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories reports that 927 Palestinian children have been killed since 2000.


"The pro-Israel lobby has been remarkably successful in suppressing criticism," writes George Soros.


The movie industry continues to vilify Arabs, according to Jack Shaheen.


"These days, nobody can defend Israel's actions in the occupied territories of Palestine, writes Diane Johnstone.”Distraction rather than defense is the pro-Israel strategy."

 

 

    * Plenty of on screen Rambo violence.

    * Who gets voted out of American Idol.

    * Why Don Imus called a women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos."

    * Did Larry Birkhead father Anna Nicole Smith's baby?

    * Why a deranged Korean shot up 32 students.

    * Who's dancing with the Stars?

    * Crime Scene Investigations.

    * Will Britney Spears go into rehab again?

Will Americans ever give a damn about anything but meaningless trivia and American bloodbaths?
 

 

[this from sister station, www.atlanticfreepress.com

Comments (26)add comment

a guest: ...
...sad and true, but I think this is a fundamental problem of all countries, where all public medias are money-driven, private corporations, and thus pick (or omit) and present (sell) "news" only in terms of monetary interests; as everybody knows, bad moods and reality are bad for business, and our most important task in capitalistic democracies is to "shop" (of course, not to vote, not to care about others, not to live in peace, not to have a decent education, not to have health-care, not to have minimum wages, not to have freedom, not to have respect for other cultures, etc..., all this crap you can't privatize and sell, is only for leftist, failed states, like i.e. Venezuela).
1

April 26, 2007
a guest: guest
As long as its not affecting them personally

Them don't give a damn
2

April 26, 2007
a guest: Right so............
Americans dnt give a damn
America is no more
the land of plenty is gone
Americans dont give a damn
why should we care ...
for after all it has done
no place for freedom
a place to fear
why should I she a tear..
Americans are okay
because they dnt ever ever give a damn.


3

April 26, 2007
a guest: ...
I'm an American and I feel like an alien in my own country.We are not a sociable
people anymore.We only go out now to eat or shop.We dont frequent pubs nor do
we bowl nor do we visit others like we used to. Our culture has totally imploded
into the TV set and computer.Our corporations make us work like idiots and when
we come home,we collapse in front of the TV only to watch commercials that program us to ,in the little free time we have,go out and shop.
4

April 27, 2007
a guest: wake up so called Democratic world
I really don't know what to say, i don't know if i should talk as a Palestinian From Gaza Strip, or talk as a human being, or talk as a arab or as a muslim or as a terror, it depends on how do you see me, it depends on how do you want to see me, for me, i'm only a simple human being living in the Gaza Strip, stuck here, updated with death news and distructions, watching american idol, Oprah, Dr Phill, Greys Anatomy, Hell's Kitchen, and Lost, people, we know things about america that american don't even know sometimes, we know about america as a country of Democracy, peace and solidarity, but you are letting us down, you are letting your selves down, we love american people, but americans hates us, Bush is killing destroying every thing, and ruining every chance for human beings to communicate, and american nation are smply stand still, please people wake up, please wake up and try to care, try to share, don't walk over our dead bodies .
mrigilah@yahoo.com
00972599445344
hope to hear from any of you, i really hope to hear people telling me that we do care, i want to hear that because i know that there are many people care, but they don't know how to show, let us work togother, let us work as human beings living in the same earth, and let us simply talk and share.
5

April 28, 2007
a guest: When we're taken away in shackles, who will help us?
We are conditioned from birth to be selfish, to only care about OUR this and OUR that, and the worst of all, to believe that OUR government has NEVER done wrong to any country, nation, or it's people, EVER. I LOVE my country, but I detest government and all it stands for. It is a separate part of America, for it cares nothing for the people, the history, or the standing of country, just what it can destroy, conquer, and exploit. The government isn't who we "elect" anyways. Since 1913 the elite bankers and the Congress stole we the peoples' power to create and issue OUR currency. When Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Banking Act, he gave the power of the issuance of OUR currency, to the corrupt, criminal bankers. And since that time the U.S.A. and the rest of the world has slowly been eroding into the hands of the elite globalists and bankers. Why did the Congress allow this to happen? And the Supreme Court as well? Because they BENEFIT from this criminal enterprise at the expense of we the people. Because Congress can spend as much money without restraint as possible, pouring more debt on we the people. And the Supreme Court and their judges across the nation reap the benefits of the income tax, of which there is NO LAW! We have been ripped off since 1913 from that fraud as well. Government, the media(the majority), the military, corporate entities, Wall Street, military contractors, etc., ALL benefit from the annihilation through war(mass murder), taxes, infringement on liberties, etc., of we the people. Here in America and around the globe.
6

April 28, 2007
a guest: ...
Most don't have time to care ... ie "corps making us work like idiots". Those of us that do have time and do care, try and try to tell what is really going on and they still don't care because they say there is nothing they can do anyway. Like in the movie "Bless the Beasts and the Children", they set the buffalo free but the buffalo only ran so far and started grazing again. I fear there is no hope. Most humans are susceptible to brainwashing and always will be. We are those "just dumb animals" in that movie.
7

April 28, 2007
a guest: ...
"America" as a nation-state has been quite dead for some time now. It's a brand, wholly owned by corporate interests. And Venezuela is SO dysfunctional that the people there are paying les than twenty-five cents for a gallon of gasoline.

8

April 28, 2007
a guest: ...
google bush crime family
9

April 28, 2007
a guest: ISRAEL AIN'T DONE WITH YOU AMERICA
Not YET !
10

April 28, 2007
a guest: Lion in the Rain
There is nothing worse then an ego ridden American zombie who has lost it's lover.
America has no one to blame but itself for the mess it is in, as it has allowed itself to be dumbed down to the point of no return. America is now so stupid it blows things up for the hell of it and carries on like nothing's wrong. A bully with no brains that if the rest of the world will not love it, you will at least fear it.
11

April 28, 2007
a guest: Just wait till the shithouse goes up in flames http://www.youtube.com/blogofascist
The US Government is bankrupt. The treasury has been looted. The Army is broken. There isn't a single combat brigade ready to deploy. We aren't a super power, not at all. I'd stock up on canned goods & shotguns. What a mess
12

April 28, 2007
a guest: benjamin
Okay, what exactly do you mean by "not giving a damn"? There are A LOT of folks out there who are trying their damndest to change the situation, and so I think it is unfair to simply jump to conclusions and assume that "most" Americans don't care. There are some things they CAN affect, but to expect Americans to automatically know what to do about EVERY situation overseas is naive and cruel. Also, you can't expect the entire society to suddenly morph into one big commune where everyone says "howdy-do" to everyone else. It's a BIG society, and some impersonality is inevitable. Plus, piling on issue on top of issue and expecting Americans to solve all of them is just insane. I think the problem is that Americans really ARE aware of what is happening, but the government's ability to instill FEAR is stronger than ever. Those who want change ARE out there, believe it or not.
13

April 28, 2007
a guest: this article is an insult
WHO EVER WROTE THIS PIECE OF TOILET PAPER NEEDS TO GET THEIR HEAD OUT OF THEIR RECTUM, THE ONLY REASON AMERICANS DO NOT CARE IS BECAUSE MEDIA OUTLETS LIKE THIS WOULD RATHER CREATE HATE INSTEAD OF INFORM OTHER AMERICANS. NO ONE KNOWS WHAT GOES ON THAT THIS MENTAL MIDGET WRITES ABOUT IS BECAUSE THERE IS NO MENTION OF IT IN THE LAMESTREAM MEDIA AND I WILL BET MY LIFE THAT THE AUTHOR OF THIS TOILET PAPER ARTICLE WANTS NOTHING MORE THAN A CUSHIER JOB IN THE LAMESTREAM WITH MORE MONEY


if not, why such harshness towards people who are hypnotized and asleep.....can you really blame the USA or just keep kicking and punching its passed out body?


14

April 28, 2007
a guest: You forgot soccer... http://americanjourney.blogspot.com/
Where is the outrage? Where are our rights? What will it take for Americans to wake up? Probably a shortage of potato chips and Pepsi?
15

April 28, 2007
a guest: What would American concern look like?
I beg to differ. The country has never been this politicized. Strangers in parking lots discuss together what our government is doing to our country.

Bear in mind, that the megaphones have been seized by the party in power. Every act of protest is denigrated, ignored, under reported. Fifteen million Americans were in the street to stop the Iraq war, back when protest was considered anti-patriotic. Still the protests were reported as some quaint aberration.

I have listened to good Republicans choke with rage while talking about what this administration is doing to this country. With television, newspaper and radio almost completely in the hands of the neocons, how do you expect "the people" to be heard? They're not asleep. They have been silenced.

16

April 29, 2007
a guest: Been Here Before
They said the Germans in the 1930's waited for the one overstep by the Nazis which would wake up the population to the reality of their government. That overstep never came. Everything was executed so artfully and incrementally that by the time most people woke up, it was way too late.
Goebbels and Riefenstahl were brilliant but they look like amateurs compared to what we're up against today. We're gonna need all the luck we can get. God bless the internet.
17

April 29, 2007
a guest: Who benefits? http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?&isbn=0-595-38523-0
Only Israel benefits from these endless Middle East wars. Iraq is the beginning. As we commit war-crimes in Baghdad, the US gov't commits treason at home by opening mail, eliminating habeas corpus, using the judiciary to steal private lands, banning books like "America Deceived" from Amazon and Wikipedia, conducting warrantless wiretaps and engaging in illegal wars on behalf of AIPAC's 'money-men'. Soon, another US false-flag operation will occur (sinking of an Aircraft Carrier by Mossad) and the US will invade Iran.. Then we'll invade Syria, then Saudi Arabia, then Lebanon (again) then ....
Final link (before Google Books bends to gov't demands and censors the title):
http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?&isbn=0-595-38523-0
18

April 29, 2007
a guest: The Apathetic American http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/1453/1/
Give me freedom or give me death? Forget all that old-fashioned stuff. I don't much care about freedom (I'm not sure I ever really had it, and, if I did, I didn't know what it was, what it was good for, or how to keep it. The commercials never told me.). And I certainly don't want death (leave that to all the brave, patriotic, easily brainwashed youngsters who enlisted). Keep things simple. I like it better that way. It's what my teachers taught me. Taught me good. Just give me a new, bigger SUV (so I can complain about higher gas prices) and a 62 inch HD plasma screen so I can watch Rush, FOX, and Homer. I'll be happy as a clam. Is that boiling water I'm hearing?
19

April 29, 2007
a guest: ...
Land of the cowards home of the slaves. Do, re, me, me, me, me, me ........ All planned by design. Give them Starbuck's, Lexus', trinkets and baubles, lies, deceits, a false economy ready to implode, and the latest whatever makes me feel good pharma pill and all is well for the average American. Soon it is all going to come home to roost then the just may wake up from thier slumber. Guest
20

April 29, 2007
a guest: the chicken comes home to roost
"political discussion"?
"the issues"?
"action"?

are you kidding?
this is a joke....right?

"Americans don't give a damn!"

...and "they" never did.


...aren't the above mutually canceling concepts?
...isn't that kinda, um, how "we" got here in the first place?
...while rome burned,
...while africans were enslaved
...while women were treated as social property
...while politicians enrich themselves
...while the academic world "deconstructed" "truth"
...while native populations were slaughtered
...while yet another iraqi is slaughtered
...while another mistaken soldier is maimed for the lie of nationalism
...and so on and so forth...

...kinda 200 some-odd years late...ya think?
....ain't nuthin new here....
unless you intend armed insurrection.....
democracy < freedom....
not being nihilistic nor cynical....

supposing the "sheeple" are indeed "awakening" [?] I guess "things" may get better....

..but I suppose no such thing.
It never was a matter of "awakening"....
It was always a matter of honesty and having the integrity to call the truth for what it is....and then stand by it...at all costs...

Humanity [or whatever one would like to call it] has always gone out of it's way to AVOID reality...

gods?
ism's?
law?
ethnicity?
etc etc

I suppose now that "we" have turned the corner where access to knowledge/technology and the methodologies of how to employ them is open to all we will be seeing no end of bizzare horrors....

You may continue the "noble experiment". It will not work.
FREEDOM IS NOT OPTIONAL. [and neither is reason...but we won't go there...]

You could avocate withholding the extortive payment called taxes.
You could avocate civil disobedience towards "authority"
you could attempt to recruit the "police" to act on both principle and according to the "ahem" "laws" and arrest ALL POLITICIANS....

....but that would be hazardous....on a personal level



"If there are degrees of evil, it is hard to say who is the more contemptible: the brute who assumes the right to force the mind of others or the moral degenerate who grants to others the right to force his mind. That is the moral absolute one does not leave open to debate. I do not grant the terms of reason to men who propose to deprive me of reason. I do not enter discussions with neighbors who think they can forbid me to think. I do not place my moral sanction upon a murderer's wish to kill me. When a man attempts to deal with me by force, I answer him?by force.
[galt via rand]

I was not the one to invent lies: they were created in a society divided by class and each of us inherited lies when we were born. It is not by refusing to lie that we will abolish lies: it is by eradicating class by any means necessary.
--- Sartre

This is why I say it?s the ballot or the bullet. It?s liberty or it?s death. It?s freedom for everybody or freedom for nobody. America today finds herself in a unique situation. Historically, revolutions are bloody. Oh, yes, they are. They haven?t never had a blood-less revolution, or a non-violent revolution. That don?t happen even in Hollywood. You don?t have a revolution in which you love your enemy, and you don?t have a revolution in which you are begging the system of exploitation to integrate you into it. Revolutions overturn systems. Revolutions destroy systems.

A revolution is bloody, but America is in a unique position. She?s the only country in history in a position actually to become involved in a blood-less revolution. The -- The Russian revolution was bloody; Chinese revolution was bloody; French revolution was bloody; Cuban revolution was bloody; and there was nothing more bloody then the American Revolution. But today this country can become involved in a revolution that won?t take bloodshed. All she?s got to do is give the black man in this country everything that?s due him -- everything.

So it?s the -- it's the ballot or the bullet. Today our people can see that we?re faced with a government conspiracy. This government has failed us. The senators who are filibustering concerning your and my rights, that's the government. Don?t say it?s Southern senators. This is the government; this is a government filibuster. It?s not a segregationist filibuster. It?s a government filibuster. Any kind of activity that takes place on the floor of the Congress or the Senate, that's the government. Any kind of dilly-dallying, that?s the government. Any kind of pussy-footing, that?s the government. Any kind of act that?s designed to delay or deprive you and me right now of getting full rights, that?s the government that's responsible. And any time you find the government involved in a conspiracy to violate the citizenship or the civil rights of a people, then you are wasting your time going to that government expecting redress. Instead, you have to take that government to the World Court and accuse it of genocide and all of the other crimes that it is guilty of today.

So those of us whose political, and economic, and social philosophy is Black Nationalism have become involved in the civil rights struggle. We have injected ourselves into the civil rights struggle, and we intend to expand it from the level of civil rights to the level of human rights. As long as you're -- As long as you're fighting on the level of civil rights, you?re under Uncle Sam?s jurisdiction. You?re going to his court expecting him to correct the problem. He created the problem. He?s the criminal. You don?t take your case to the criminal; you take your criminal to court.

[Uncle Sam...] and still has the audacity or the nerve to stand up and represent himself as the leader of the free world. Not only is he a crook, he?s a hypocrite. There he is standing up in front of other people, Uncle Sam, with the blood of your and mine mothers and fathers on his hands, with the blood dripping down his jaws like a bloody-jawed wolf, and still got the nerve to point his finger at other countries. You can?t even get civil rights legislation. And this man has got the nerve to stand up and talk about South Africa, or talk about Nazi Germany, or talk about [unclear]. Nah, no more days like those.

It?ll be the -- the ballot or it?ll be the bullet. It?ll be liberty or it?ll be death. And if you?re not ready to pay that price don?t use the word freedom in your vocabulary. [brother Malcolm]

...as I said: "amerikKkans" didn't define their principles then and this is the consequence....

...and the sheep look up.

...who is john galt?
21

April 29, 2007
a guest: ...
one need only look to the history of this grand country to find in what diretion we are heading. control is the way are going,total unadulterated control....
22

April 29, 2007
a guest: ...
I can send this out to my coworkers and they will all agree that this is sad but true. But five minutes later, we're all talking about B Spears bald head and the latest movie. If I try to bring the discussion back around to the war or how we are being lied to by our government, I am basically ignored. I don't know how to wake people up. I can't even do it by suggesting that our government may be guilty of mass murder! It's like people are in a hypnotic trance!
23

April 29, 2007
a guest: Apathy of Blindness http://www.roage.com
It is not a matter of apathy. Americans are being made to suffer because they are not permitted to know the truth. No matter how convincing, subtle or persuasive an element of truth is presented to them, they are not allowed to see it. One does not find the truth, the truth find them. Until we understand how we remain blinded then we will remain confused. The most dangerous aspect of that confusion is that those that are the most confused are not even permitted to recognize the fact that they are confused. Confused?

See my site: http://www.roage.com and lookup the article titled "The Golden Chainsaw of Power" on the contents page in the blog section. You will understand why people in America are the way they are.
Cheers,
Roage
24

April 29, 2007
a guest: ......
Let's burn it all down.
25

April 29, 2007
a guest: ...
I would agree, most Americans don't care very much. The war simply doesn't effect them, its something they only see on TV. We haven't even been asked to sacrifice much financially, since it will take years for the borrowed and printed money that pays for it to come back to haunt us.

However, a large number of Americans DO care. Its probably about 40% of us. Of those people, some still support the war. Some support it because they believe Bush (remember that many Americans do work rather hard, and simply don't have time to track down the information they need to have an informed opinion), and some support it because they think pulling out now would make things even worse.

Most of the people who don't care don't think they have any way of altering our government's course, so why should they care? What can they do about it? Even of those who do care, most don't know what they can really do to help. The US government has long since stopped acting in its people's best interests (mostly, it still does on some issues of course). Frankly, I have no idea what to do about it either. Our government's entire foreign policy needs to change drastically. The only presidential canidate for 2008 who seems to agree with me is Ron Paul of Texas, and he's a long shot.

-G
26

April 29, 2007

 

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