America the bad

A couple of news items appeared over the wires during the past week that
should have generated outrage from coast to coast. Yet they were barely
noticed. And insofar as the "mainstream media" took notice of them, it was
only to invoke them as fuel for their anti-terror war, anti-Bush, and
ultimately anti-American crusade.
In Spain, Judge Santiago Pedraz "indicted" three American soldiers for "a
crime against the international community" in relation to the death of Jose
Couso, a Spanish reporter in Baghdad, during the initial invasion of that
city. It seems the reporter was occupying a building in which Iraqi
officials were under attack from American forces, and was caught in the
crossfire.
According to then Secretary of State Colin Powell, an investigation of the
event showed that the soldiers did not use excessive force, and were
justified in their actions. Nonetheless, Pedraz demands they "stand trial"
in Spain and has issued "warrants" for their arrest.
Similarly, American Army Spc. Mario Lozano is on the "wanted posters" in
Italy, and faces similar charges for killing an Italian Nicola Calipari, who
was in a vehicle that behaved erratically at a checkpoint in Iraq.
Although none of the Americans in question are to be extradited to the
countries where they are charged, they are limited in their worldwide
travels, since they might inadvertently end up in a nation that has a mutual
extradition treaty with Italy or Spain, and could be arrested there.
Nonetheless, the very nature of these situations is reflective of an
undeniable international contempt for America, which is increasingly
erupting into open hostility.
Reasons for this contempt are many, ranging from the long-standing disdain
Europeans have for the comparatively raw and unrefined American history and
culture, to the accompanying jealousy over America's ability, despite its
apparent social insufficiencies, to vastly eclipse the rest of the world in
technology, economics, and prosperity.
Yet among the factors that undeniably contribute to the current worldwide
hatred of this nation, its own liberal culture, and the poisonous propaganda
disseminated by the American left, add considerable fuel to the fires of
hatred burning against this country throughout the world.
Since the beginning of civilization, nations continually competed for
standing on the world scene. And in the midst of such intense rivalry, any
nation that willingly expresses scorn for itself will be gladly joined by
other nations who believe they can exalt their own standing in comparison.
For decades, the American "left" has been working tirelessly to put the
worst possible face on everything worthy in this nation's founding and
heritage. Not surprisingly, the rest of the world exuberantly joins in the
derision.
In the immediate aftermath of 9-11, worldwide "sympathy" for America was
strident and extensive. Yet in retrospect it was far more reflective of the
liberal/socialist mindset that predominates throughout most of Europe, in
which "victimhood" is perversely celebrated as some sort of virtue. Clearly,
America had been blindsided, and was reeling in horror and grief. In such a
mode, it was apparently compatible with the rest of the "civilized" world.
However, being Americans, the people of this country would not long remain
in shock, but would quickly regroup and move decisively against any and all
who were complicit in the attacks. At the very moment in which American
resolve again became evident, the nation's standing concurrently began to
ebb among the rest of the world.
More significantly however, the unceasing diatribe from the left during that
period, and ever since, has had a definite negative effect, both here at
home and abroad. Once the initial outrage over the attacks began to wane,
liberals reasserted their "worldview" in which this country, more than
Islamist hatred or any other malignancy among humanity, was to blame for the
horrendous death and destruction of the terrorist attacks.
Such a response from liberals was to be expected, since it remains
absolutely consistent with their past mischaracterization of the country.
And this is itself purely a reflection of the ongoing liberal perspective of
everything worthy in Western Civilization.
During the entirety of the conflicts in Southeast Asia, untold millions of
innocent people were brutally slaughtered in a series of genocides that
breached national borders and inflicted unimaginable misery and suffering on
that region. Yet to most liberals, the injustice of the episode was entirely
defined and encapsulated in the "My Lai" massacre, in which Vietnamese
civilians, possibly numbering in the hundreds, were killed by a wayward
American Lieutenant.
Similarly, the brutishness and wanton slaughter throughout Iraq and the
Middle East are apparently not denoted by Hussein's mass graves and the
indescribable torture and barbarism of militant Islam, but by Guantanamo and
Abu Ghraib.
This is because the media and the American left only focus on such
situations, and deliberately magnify any injustices supposedly committed
there, such as the supposed desecration of Korans by American soldiers. Yet
when it turned out that no desecrations took place, the story faded from the
headlines with little or no retraction.
Similarly, economic stratification in this country is not viewed as having
resulted from the incredible prosperity that inevitably springs from a
culture of openness, freedom, and respect for private property, but as proof
of the pillages of the "haves" from the "have nots."
As a result, a societal environment in which more wealth than the world has
ever seen is within reach to all who wish to access it, rather than being
showcased as a model of plenty, is instead fraudulently employed as proof of
greed and theft.
Nor has America's heritage been immune from leftist attacks. Their sordid
attempt to discredit the four-hundredth anniversary of the founding of the
Jamestown Colony stands as only the latest example. Rather than celebrating
this year's commemoration of the 1607 landing in Virginia as a momentous
event in the founding of our nation, liberals seek to dishonor it as an
"invasion," of the native land.
Of course, being liberals, they make no efforts at restitution to those whom
they claim were wronged. Nor do they offer to set an example by vacating
North America. Instead, they merely wag sanctimonious fingers of accusation
at their fellow countrymen and commend themselves for their moral
superiority in doing so.
But, in spite of their obvious hypocrisy, over time their venomous efforts
have taken a toll. Real Americans, who love and appreciate their country and
everything that has made it great, must rise up in defiant opposition to the
left. The window of opportunity to do so closes a little more with each
passing day.
If "heartland" Americans do not hold the country in high esteem, trumpeting
its greatness and successes while maintaining its flaws and failures in
their proper perspective, they certainly cannot expect the morally weak and
spiritually depraved throughout the rest of the world to do so.