OPINION: America, Time To Wake Up
OPINION: America, Time To Wake Up
By I.B. Freely and D. S. Mitchell
Myths
A recent crock of bullshit that has been pedaled is that the U.S. joined the Allies in WWII because of the holocaust. America entering WWII had nothing to do with the holocaust. Almost no one knew what was going on at the time, including several levels of the German government itself. The only reason America joined, two years after the war started, I might add, was because of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The American Imagination
The vast majority of fighting by American personnel was in the South Pacific in its war against Japan. Of the 16 million men and women who served in the U. S. military during WWII, only 2 million went to Europe. For some peculiar reason the war against the Nazis in their snazzy uniforms has taken on a supersized place in the American self-image. I will remind folks it would have been hard to kill Hitler from Guam. Not that it matters much.
Beyond The Yanks
A sizeable number of historians agree that the Allies would have won the war without American involvement, but admittedly their intervention did most likely shorten the war. You would never know it from the pro-America propaganda that fills the movies and television screens. I’d like to point out that the Brits cracked the Enigma code, which provided access to all German military actions as they were issued. Furthermore, Soviet forces had stopped the Nazi’s at Leningrad and were driving hard, pushing the Nazi’s back to Germany.
Evidentially Not
America’s myths are big, and flagrantly faulty, as just demonstrated. Those myths don’t stop with the war in Europe. Every nation has its myths. Those common tales that bring a people together by a shared history. With Italy it is Romulus and Remus. In Scandinavia it is the gods of Asgard. America’s foundation myth, while more grounded is no less fictional. First, and basically one of the most foolish and destructive, is that the Founding Fathers were establishing a Christian country. They had no such plan or intention, get that straight from the get go.
The Myth Grows
Another U.S. mythology is that of Manifest Destiny. The term, Manifest Destiny was coined in 1845. Basically it was (is) the idea that the United States “is destined—by God,” to spread democracy and capitalism from coast to coast (and later, world-wide). It gave permission to politicians, greedy industrialists, gas, oil, mining companies, and other financial interests to steal land and kill native people in pursuit of that ‘God driven’ hallucination. * (and later around the world as in Egypt, Cuba, Panama, and Venezuela to name just four countries).
Beliefs and Aims Guide Action
The notion of the ‘American Dream’ is largely a 20th century invention. I looked up the phrase on Wikipedia and here is their definition. “The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, the set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, as well as an upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers.”
Big Lies
Oh, boy this is a lie perpetrated on the backs of poverty stricken Americans, as well as outsiders. This lie has persisted despite the 1930 Depression, the Dust Bowl, the Great Recession of 2008 and the pandemic. The post-war era of the 1950s brought did provide an incredible economic boom. “Thank God for Hitler” a common phrase at the time among cynical businessmen. That post WWII boom brought the most widespread economic advancement for more people of any generation in history. But, the rich don’t like to share, unless it is late in life, as idolized philanthropists such as Bill Gates, or dime tossers like John D. Rockefeller.
The Real Reagan
Since Ronald Reagan the opportunities for the average American has diminished consistently year after year. The United States has effectively lost it’s middle class. The loss of union jobs, and the manipulation of elections by use of gerrymandering, and voter suppression have narrowed the opportunities for economic advancement in the United States. It has however, cemented the idea of “meritocracy.”
The Underbelly
The real truth dramatically spotlighted by the 2020 summer Black Lives Matter protests, death statistics related to COVID-19, and murder of black Americans by police agencies across the United States demonstrates graphically that only some people are included in the American Dream and the beneficiaries of that dream has been consistently shrinking for fifty years.
Short Lived
The lie of the American Dream is based on the myth of meritocracy. “Meritocracy” seems to be the natural evolution of the American Dream theory. The idea that it is hard work and ingenuity, and nothing else, that leads to success in America. In stark contrast to the Old World of Europe where it was assumed to not be what you know, but who you were born to. A gross oversimplification of course, and at least partly true, the channels to success are a bit more open today than in times past or in distant lands.
A Heavy Burden
The total burden for future success falls on the individual. Disparities, including, but not limited to, poverty, physical and emotional disabilities, unequal educational opportunities, transportation, technological advantages, social networking, systemically favor white males. Embracing meritocracy allows the society to manipulate the story. The conclusion being that if you only worked harder and smarter, you too could have shared in the American Dream of wealth and power, but alas you failed and now you expect the government to “take care of you.” Totally ignoring the facts.
Without A Pot
The fact of the matter is, and has always been, that the key factors in success are money, education, and networking. Things that are much easier to come by when one is born with the money to buy a quality education during which networking can occur. Those born without a pot to piss in, as the old saying goes, tend to be up shit’s creek without a paddle, to coin a brand new phrase. These factors being even more evident in times of recession, unemployment and pandemics.
American Slasher
The persistent belief in the American Dream, has allowed the more conservative elements in American politics to blame issues such as unemployment, poverty, homelessness on lack of initiative and laziness on the part of the victims, despite the mountains of economic and sociological evidence to the contrary. Basically, they would like us to believe, that if you are suffering, that is “a you problem.” A very convenient excuse for the likes of Ronald Reagan and other conservatives like Mitch McConnell who are infamous for slashing the very social programs that would help alleviate such issues. As British comedian Al Murray is famous saying:
“We don’t dream in this country, because we’re awake.”
https://www.calamitypolitics.com/2021/01/18/we-share-a-dream-15739/