Posted by
on Monday, July 23, 2007 2:05:02 AM
Hello friends, Joe P. Reagan here and there is one question on my mind today. World, why do you hate the USA?
At
five o'clock yesterday, like millions of other Americans I happily fled
my office and looked forward to a nice weekend of solace and relaxation
at home. Fortunately for me, my "Lumbergh" didn't catch me as I was
making an exit from the office.
Driving home, I turned on the
evening radio as is my custom. There was an interesting talk program
playing, reviewing the details of America's war on Iraq. The figures
were staggering; many thousands dead, no real progress, and upwards of
$1 trillion dollars wasted, money that could have gone to feed hungry,
bring medicine to the destitute, or I don't know, anything else that
doesn't involve death.
Mulling over the war and such in my mind,
I grabbed the remote and flicked on the television. I had several hours
of down time before my friends came over for Friday Night poker at
Joe's. Channel-surfing, I happened by Fox News. As if they knew I had
been a sinful backslider by listening to liberal radio, the news people
quickly reminded me why the troops in Iraq are necessary, and more
importantly, my duty as an American.
A context was quickly
painted as to why Vladmir Putin is plotting our demise, Arab terrorists
are working to destroy our way of life and our allies were not fully
trustworthy. A context was painted into what my duties as an American
citizen are to be, to my country.
The take home message was
this. The world hates America, because they hate freedom. What defines
American freedom? It is our conservative roots and values. It is our
way of life. It is our economy and commercial markets. As a citizen, I
am apparently supposed to listen to my elected leaders, to send a
unified message to all who would stand in the the peace of American
democracy. It can be no other way, America stands united -as one and
without question- behind its leaders, right?

From
my thoughts, there was one other thing that rang crystal clear in my
mind from the news last night, and please excuse me. Fox News, and our
current administration, is full of bull.
My name is Joe Reagan and I'm a very conservative Republican.
If
the path to independence and democracy was the American economy -having
a McDonald's on every corner and a mall in every suburb- Iraq should be
a Utopia. When I went backpacking last year with friends, I shouldn't
have had to receive a "travel warning and scenario map" in case of
confrontation from my travel agent. The world would embrace the
American policy, -gun in one hand and McDonald's sack in the other-
as we spread democracy and dollar. Why on Earth aren't things working
out in such a way?
This became my question to have answered by who are always the best sources. The everyday, normal, non-pundit people around me.
As
mentioned, I'm a Republican, a very conservative one at that. My circle
of friends tend to be something of what you'd call pricks, at times
caring more about their portfolios than anything else. These are the
type of guys who don't give much thought to things outside of their
small work-every-day, oversee company progress, and drive a nice car
home routine.
So as is our custom most Friday nights, we all
met up at my place for our standard poker, have a few drinks and talk
about guy stuff routine. Still being a bit reflective about the calls
and comments from the program earlier (it was really good), I decided
to throw a slight curve-ball into the evening.
"Guys," I asked
my well-dressed poker buddies, "why does the world hate the USA?".
Right off the bat,there was some laughter and all-too well knowing
looks. Ol' Joe was ready to make some funny about current US policy.
After
some off-handed jokes and being punished with the "chug of death" for
bringing up politics during poker, the guys saw that I was being dead
serious. I actually wanted to hear this answered by my conservative
circle of friends. Why is the world against the USA? Is it our seeming
ignorance, our apathy, our wars...our economy and freedom?
My
buddy "Ted" quickly spoke up and gave what was most likely the greatest
ignorant-buddy speech of all time. He's a big, burly guy, originally
from Georgia and has the mannerisms of John Goodman.
He
boomed, and I'm trying to quote as accurately as possible: "That's too
easy. We are hated because we're Americans. We drive nice cars, we have
a stable society. We have democracy. They don't and they never will
until we give it to them."
Without realizing it, Ted revealed a
great truth. His answer, though heart-felt, was naive. Despite what
some believe, the world doesn't necessarily hate our freedom or our way
of life. As is human nature, the majority of people want peace, quiet,
safety and happiness for their loved ones. That is a major part of
human nature.
Right now I believe there is a "public" image, a
global one, of America. I think there is an image of an America,
unified behind its leaders who have taken disastrous and wasteful
actions over the past years. An America that overthrows leaders, tries
to implement societal change by guns and markets, and thinks the world
owes it a favor and thanks in the process.
Modern media helps
feed that very image to the world, leaders continue to "act" on that
image and make it a reality, and everyday working joes like my
friends and I sit around, play poker, and occasionally bring it up as
a talking point on Friday nights.
And that's where we are at
today, friends. I sit, Joe P. Reagan, with the news telling me what to
think in the background and all while submitting an editorial to
ShoutWire. I'm one of 300 million Americans. That 300 million of 7
billion people worldwide. All in a planet, together, a drop in in a
seemingly infinite universe.
I am here as a human, a man, with
my unique ideas, my life, and my experiences that none can never fully
know. I have friends that I love dearly -despite how ignorant some of
them may be- and a daily routine just like any other person on this
Earth. I love peace, stability and freedom. I am betting you do too, in
a life that is just as full of routine, experiences and good friends.
So
as we sit here -our lives traveling together on this planet for what is
only a relatively brief portion of time- my point today is this. There
is no reason why the world should hate America, there is no reason why
Americans should hate or fear the world. Ones who would try to make us
believe such things, no matter who they may be, either missed out on
hugs in their childhood, or have a twisted agenda against the progress
of mankind as a whole.
=Joe P. Reagan=
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