its time to examine our own inhumanity...

everybody is up in arms in one way or another now that the "torture memos" have been released and we know what we already knew all along...that the united states utilized illegal and disgustingly inhumane methods against a perceived enemy. well...no shit. on one hand, the right-wing blowhards have it right (although it is amusing that their moral absolutism disappears whenever they are committing immoral acts) in that we shouldn't be so shocked over this...and often times our outrage becomes somewhat partisan (afterall...we all know democratic presidents have presided over abuses of human rights...but we didn't seem to get too pissed off about it until a nutbag republican bragged about it). and in reality, this really isn't even much different than what the united states has done for pretty much its entire existence in one way or another. hell, it isn't even the first time the united states has openly bragged about frighteningly inhumane and immoral behavior. of course to understand that would require more than the most cursory understanding of your own nation's history...something entirely lacking in the majority of the american populace, and seemingly even moreso in the halls of power.

but I guess at least before we could pretend we were above it...that we weren't involved in the same sort of behavior we so often condemned in our enemies. and in a sense wanting to believe you are above it can be a good thing in the same way that lionizing past leaders can be a good thing...it gives you something to shoot for. but if there is a lesson in this sad chapter of our history (and the book is becoming rather lengthy at this point), it is that our use of this ridiculous exceptionalist mythology stunts the growth of a society over time. when you teach your young and convince yourself that you do no wrong...eventually everything becomes right as long as you are the actor. and so you get textbooks in your schools that omit the horrors of our past, that dedicate two paragraphs to the eradication of this nations first peoples...and even then call it "relocation," "manifest destiny," or "the indian wars" because then we can ignore that our nation, while born of high ideals and beautiful imagery, was built upon crimes against humanity. by focusing only on the good, especially the mythological good, we are condemning ourselves to forever repeating the same storyline...surprised and feigned outrage at yet another example of our failure to live up to the standards we set for others.

which is why I now struggle with the question of prosecution of individuals involved in the decision making process and those carrying out the orders. I worry that it will become just another excuse to push it under the rug and for us, in the future, to simply act as though this episode was a abheration when it wasn't. and we will never learn the full truth as to how and why this happened. and in another generation, we will begin the process anew. would that not simply be adding to the tragedy? are we not better off, for once, trying to learn from this...about our systems and ourselves and how we might actually reach for the ideals we espouse?

blame me...I will wear it...