Aby The Liberal

Dmitri October 4th, 2007

If someone made a suggestion that Americans are violent by nature, they would of course be met with strong moral outrage, mostly from Americans. It might not considered politically correct in the Anglo-Saxon world to suggest that Americans are violent, yet political correctness can hardly cover the fact that the United States  is one of the most violent nations on earth, both by crime rates and by ideological glorification of violent pursuits. In this short piece, we will discuss in brief, the various social and political factors that are characteristic of violence in the United States, along with a brief overview of the facts and figures of violent crimes in United States. If you have any objection, agreement or argument against this article, feel free to use the comment form below.

A sarcastic cartoon by joyoftech.com on how Americans are more comfortable with violence than sexuality.

The United States has by far the largest number of people behind bars for violent crimes and one of the highest homicide rates in the world. According to the America’s FBI Crime in the United States 2005 data, violent crime rate in US was 469.2 per 100000 population as of the year 2005, the highest among industrialised countries. It must be noted that the American definition of violent crimes consitutes a smaller spectrum of crimes than European and Asian countries. The overall homicide and violent crime of US is comparable to that of disturbed East European and South-East Asian regions. Contrary to popular American arguments, 45.9% of the crimes between 1974 and 2004 are committed by whites, blacks make up a 52.1% and other races about 2%. The extent of crime in US can be best understood when it stands in a comparison with the rest of the world. The United States has less than 5% of world’s population and over 25% of the world’s population with criminal records.

There are several social and political factors which cause this crimes. One of them as explained above, is the inherent inclination of Americans towards violence. As is shown the the sarcastic cartoon above, most Americans would rather have their children watch a scene containing blood-lust and gore rather than a scene of intimacy or nudity. A human being with a slit throat or blood pouring out of its body is more acceptable than a human, hale and hearty but naked. Glorification of violence and war, are all covered by religious fundamentalist goups and very popular in the media. It is then no surprise that violence finds more social acceptability than love in United States. A point of note is that most American swearwords have a sexual theme, while a word ‘fucker’ is an insult, if one calls someone a ‘killer’ in America, it is a matter of pride.

Another cause of violence in America could be the large ownership of guns in America. Coupled with impusive behaviour and social acceptability of walking around with firearms, it is not surprise the a large proportion of violent crimes in America is because of guns. Guns in America is more acceptable and normal on kids than cellphones, many US states have laws that allow school kids to carry concealed handguns. There is also in incident where US authorities issued a gun on a 10 month old infant in Illonis state, admittedly the state with the strictest gun controls. If it were the 1700s and early 1800s, it would have been acceptable for an American to carry a gun to protect himself/herself from wild animals and predators, in today’s America it hardly makes sense. Issuing guns on 10-month old infants and untrained schoolkids is insanity, it is no surprise then that incidents in the likes of Columbine High School massacre and Virginia Tech massacre are exclusive to United States. The issue of gun control and gun related violence is so wide that it deserves an entire post on it for adequate justice.

The love of guns, social acceptability of violence and degradation of compassionate emotions, all point to the trait of Americans - they are inherently attracted to violence. Although there are people among Americans who are compassionate and kind-hearted, yet they have little voice in politics and society - one of the primary reasons for endless wars, genocides and mass violence in the annals of American history. One might ask - what has the issue of violent nature of Americans got to do with international politics? Well, one has to look at the way Americans attempt to push their way of life down the throat of third world denizens, with violent force and by portraying it as the only way of life worth living.

• Crimes , America , Sarcasm
• Comments(15)

Dmitri August 15th, 2007

Most of us aware of the history of World War 2 would be aware of the Reich Ministry of Propaganda in National Socialist (Nazi) Germany. If you wonder how the Germans could become prey to such anti-world and anti-Semitic views, it would be enlightening if we were to have a look at something new and more recent, closely similar to the policies and propaganda of third Deutsches Reich. Issued by the United States Department of Defense, the National Defense Strategy was signed by Dick Cheney (Vice President of United States) and approved by the previous US Senate. If one reads between the lines, it answers a lot of questions and doubts about how much the United States respects freedom and peace around the globe; also how international the US policies are…

On page 2 of the report, it talks about the ‘threats’ the United States faces in from its ‘adversaries’ in the international arena -

 

The US military predominates the world in traditional forms of warfare. Potential adversaries accordingly shift away from traditional military action and adopt asymmetric capabilities and methods……

• Traditional challenges are posed by states employing recognised military capablities and forces in well understood forms of military competition and conflict.

• Disruptive challenges may come from adversaries who develop and use breakthrough technologies to negate US advantages in key operational domains.

While challenges of competition in military and technology is a normal phenomena for any country that is something on the globe, it is only the US which finds it such a serious threat that a fear and paranoia against the whole world becomes an order of the day. Any nation with a strong and powerful military is a potential threat to the United States and need to be condemned if they cannot be silenced. Such an attitude breeds a perfect excuse for Americans to have some mud slinging at Russia, China or Venezuela - countries who stand as a threat to US supremacy either because of military power or ability to influence global oil price-market mechanism. It is no surprise then, when this distrust causes China and Russia respond by revitalising their military forces and deploying their nuclear missiles on US targets - just in case….

On page 5, on the objectives about how the United States seeks to remain the only global superpower - at any cost for any country -

 

• We will have no global peer competitor and will remain unmatched in traditional military capability.

• We will maintain important advantages in other elements of national power - eg. political, economic, technological and cultural

The first one is pretty self explanatory, in short the United States wants to remain The One in the field of military strength, at any cost. If this domain is challenged or threatened, the United States needs several strategies to counter the scales it its favour; which also include a propaganda campaign against those countries. The second objective gives an insight why the United States administration sees any independent political, technological or economic power as a threat, unless they submit to US will and become mirror puppets like Australia. “We will not have anyone who can beat us, we will attack them if they even dare to think of it.”

One the same page (Page 5), the report also speaks about the challenges and vulnerabilities which would be faced by America on the path to achieve these objectives -

 

• Some allies and partners will decide not to act with us or will lack the capacity to act with us.

• Our leading position in the world affairs will continue to breed unease, a degree of resentment, and resistance.

• Our strength as a nation will continue to be challenged by those who employ a strategy of the weak using international fora, judicial process and terrorism.

So, garnering international support or seeking justice through judicial process has become something as evil as terrorism. We can understand why diplomatic and peaceful methods are as serious as terrorism for the US government, they work more effectively and convince more people than the usual violent methods employed by terrorists. It is clear now why the United States totally disregards and discredits anything which serves greater interests of the world rather than its own, like Kyoto Protocol or Global Warming Summit. It is no surprise then, when some old time allies turn away from US demands; like France did by refusing to side with the US in Gulf War II (2003) or Spain who refused to side with US in the Libyan bombings of 1986.

So much for liberty, justice and freedom of choice - these terms have relevance only in relation to American people and their interests. For the rest of the world, using these ideals is on par with terrorism and need to be countered by all means. No wonder nations like Russia, China, Venezuela, etc. have such deep rooted distrust for the United States, they are aware of these government policies. Such propaganda based government policies coupled with past experiences make these nations suspicious of every US move till they are sure of the motives.

On page 6, the points state how the United States will secure itself from the threat or ‘international fora’ and ‘judicial processes’ which could be used by other countries -

The United States cannot influence what it cannot reach. Securing strategic access to key regions, lines of communication, and the global commons:

• Promotes the security and prosperity of the United States;
• Ensures freedom of action

In short, the United States wants to access and control all lines of communication on the globe so that they can influence global opinion and obtain freedom from being responsible for its actions. In the name of ’security and prosperity of US’ of course. It never liked international scrutiny for its actions, particularly its genocides, war crimes and more recently, the secret CIA torture camps. Never mind that the the United States accused the Nazi Gestapo and Reich Ministry of Propaganda of doing the same things during World War 2 era; America is holier than thou - over and above criticism, irrespective of its actions. A dose of double standards anyone..?

Any nation that values its national interests, security and self sufficiency cannot risk getting very close by military partnerships with the United States; the US would use its national objectives to subjugate that nation to a position of weak and voiceless. It is no surprise that Australia has become a mirror for American interests and voices around the globe without any real political or military freedom of its own, much to the humour of the rest of the world. Global leaders like Hu Jintao, Vladimir Putin or Hugo Chavez are aware of this and keep the US at an arms length when dealing with military or political issues. One has to read between the lines and ‘goodwill’ propaganda to see the Fourth Reich ideals hidden in….

More Information and Resources -

• The National Defense Strategy of the United States of America - Report on March 1, 2005 by the United States Department of Defense

• America , Sarcasm
• Comments(5)