The Average Joe
Given the fact that we are far more similar than dissimilar to one another, it boggles the mind to consider how easy it is for a human to come to hate an entire civilization that they themselves have no first hand knowledge of.
Because the media tells us they’re our enemy.
I was raised during the Cold War, a time when it was better to be dead than Red. One can only imagine what Ivan in the street was told about their deadly adversary, the American pig.
We weren’t taught to hate the Soviets as much as we were taught to fear them. Halfway around the world lurked this ‘empire of evil’ that possessed enough nuclear firepower to kill every man woman and child ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH, six times.
Having this capability wasn’t the scary part as we had an edge, a numerical superiority in the arms race…as meaningless as this actually was.
There’s a perverse kind of comfort in the knowledge that you can hit them harder than they can hit you even if there was no winner in the end.
No, the scary part was the possibility that the other side might attempt the ‘unthinkable’. Theoretically, in the game called nuclear annihilation, the first one to push the button wins…
by (hopefully) knocking out ‘most’ of the enemies counterattack capabilities in that crucial ‘first strike’.
As I matured I began to look at this situation a bit differently. Put yourself in the other guy’s shoes and walk around in his head for a while. Ivan in the street wasn’t any more anxious to die than I was and he wouldn’t have any more choice/say in launching a first strike than I would. He was no more a mindless zombie than I was and in all likelihood, his day was pretty much like mine.
Getup, go to work, do whatever it takes to get through the shift, go home, eat dinner, relax for a while, maybe go hang out with our pals, then it’s home to bed so you can repeat the routine the following day.
Guess what? This is a pretty typical day for humans all over the planet. Okay, for most people, the ones that don’t have a foreign army of occupation busting their balls as they go about the above routine.
No monsters, no mindless zombies just average people who are just like you that are trying to get by, just like you.
So where are all the crazed berserkers, these insane murderers of women and children? You won’t find them on the streets or even underground. You’ll find them plotting in the world’s oval offices.
Every government has as it’s primary function the defense of the nation. If there’s nothing to defend the people from there’s not much legitimacy in their ceaseless demand for more taxes.
When put in this perspective it becomes clear who the real terrorists are.
Thanks for letting me inside your head,
Gegner
Because the media tells us they’re our enemy.
I was raised during the Cold War, a time when it was better to be dead than Red. One can only imagine what Ivan in the street was told about their deadly adversary, the American pig.
We weren’t taught to hate the Soviets as much as we were taught to fear them. Halfway around the world lurked this ‘empire of evil’ that possessed enough nuclear firepower to kill every man woman and child ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH, six times.
Having this capability wasn’t the scary part as we had an edge, a numerical superiority in the arms race…as meaningless as this actually was.
There’s a perverse kind of comfort in the knowledge that you can hit them harder than they can hit you even if there was no winner in the end.
No, the scary part was the possibility that the other side might attempt the ‘unthinkable’. Theoretically, in the game called nuclear annihilation, the first one to push the button wins…
by (hopefully) knocking out ‘most’ of the enemies counterattack capabilities in that crucial ‘first strike’.
As I matured I began to look at this situation a bit differently. Put yourself in the other guy’s shoes and walk around in his head for a while. Ivan in the street wasn’t any more anxious to die than I was and he wouldn’t have any more choice/say in launching a first strike than I would. He was no more a mindless zombie than I was and in all likelihood, his day was pretty much like mine.
Getup, go to work, do whatever it takes to get through the shift, go home, eat dinner, relax for a while, maybe go hang out with our pals, then it’s home to bed so you can repeat the routine the following day.
Guess what? This is a pretty typical day for humans all over the planet. Okay, for most people, the ones that don’t have a foreign army of occupation busting their balls as they go about the above routine.
No monsters, no mindless zombies just average people who are just like you that are trying to get by, just like you.
So where are all the crazed berserkers, these insane murderers of women and children? You won’t find them on the streets or even underground. You’ll find them plotting in the world’s oval offices.
Every government has as it’s primary function the defense of the nation. If there’s nothing to defend the people from there’s not much legitimacy in their ceaseless demand for more taxes.
When put in this perspective it becomes clear who the real terrorists are.
Thanks for letting me inside your head,
Gegner
posted by Gegner at 10:05 PM
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