U.S. has lost its moral right to preach

(Hypocites in Human Rights)

Published on March 1, 2004 By EMacy In Current Events

source:Haaretz(excerpt... from Haaretz Newspaper_written by : Gideon Levy )

U.S. has lost its moral right to preach

"Last Wednesday, the U.S. State Department released its annual report on the state of human rights around the world. The chapter devoted to Israel makes the usual detailed and gloomy reading. Washington is critical of all the ills of the occupation, about which the human rights organizations and Israel have long since raised a hue and cry. On the one hand, it will now be hard to claim here that criticism of Israel emanates only from those who hate the country; now even its great friend is pointing a finger of accusation at the administrative detentions (arrest without trial), the mass demolition of houses, the light finger on the trigger, the targeted assassinations, the torture by the Shin Bet security service (which hasn't stopped, according to the report), the deprivation of freedom of movement, the uprooting of trees, and the discrimination against Israel's Arab citizens. From this partial point of view, the report is important.

The other side, however, is that the United States has by its own hand lost its moral right to preach to any country in connection with human rights. To begin with, since 1976, no fewer than 820 people - 35 percent of them blacks - have been executed in the United States. About 43.6 million Americans don't have medical insurance, among them about 8.5 million children. That in itself should stop the U.S. from speaking in the name of justice.
Second, the State Department, which authored the report, represents a state that tramples human rights more than most others. The policeman of the world is naked, especially after Sept. 11, 2001, when security in the United States became - as it is in Israel - a supreme value above all others. In the United States, exactly as in Israel, human rights have become a nuisance, an obstacle to security. According to the organization Human Rights Watch, the United States arrested about 1,000 people after the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, crassly violating their legal rights.

As for the situation in Israel: The United States bears direct responsibility for the violations of human rights in this country.
A country that launched pernicious wars of occupation, such as it did in Iraq and Afghanistan, cannot be a beacon of justice. A country that is making use, in Iraq, of veterans of the most brutal assassination units of the apartheid regime in South Africa - as the Jewish-American weekly Forward reported this week - has no moral right to talk about human rights."

Comments (Page 1)

Wahkonta Anathema

on Mar 01, 2004

It is a sad sad statement that America has no moral authority, but it is true. The only morality in choices is by those who oppose the Republicrat Party, for all who persisit in supporting known perpatuates are part of the problem.

In the 1960's as kids protested Vietnem and Nixon's continued support of it, even Preseident Nixon listened. He insisted on going into the crowd at one event and against the wishes of Secret Service, he sat and talked with the kids and asked why they believed as they did. Eventually he ended the United States involvement. Would George Bush do this? He is having them arrested as criminals for daring to disagree.

"The policeman of the world is naked, especially after Sept. 11, 2001, when security in the United States became - as it is in Israel - a supreme value above all others. In the United States, exactly as in Israel, human rights have become a nuisance, an obstacle to security." A profound and well stated truth.

As the criminal empire increases its number of victims, it requires more and more laws to criminalize its opponents. a State that has no moral basis has only force behind it law. It needs more and more and must fall under such policies. Guantanimo Bay holds American Citizens without charge, no bail, no visits, no lawyer, no trial, nothing. Prison is not for rehabilitation anymore, but for profit and slave labor, some violated year after year for no crime other than failing to appear for a appointment by ten or fifteen minutes. The fines add up the costs, and they are held in indentured servitude in perpetuity. A person who was sentenced to one year probation who is now in his fifth year of it learns not that he or she was wrong except to believe there is no interest in helping, or correcting, only in profiteering and the abject subjection of its Citizenry. There are now MILLIONS who know this and view justice as something they would have to protect themselves against this Nations Un-just Judiciary.

Power corrupts and absolute power has made us a absolutely corrupt Nation. Our solution lies in divorcing our foreign policy from Israel and Great Britain, one who is surounded by enemies of its own making, the other who has never known what friendship is, preferring to use and abuse any trust. No good can come of befriending the two most intrusive and violative Nations anywhere.

Thanks for the post.

Weltregierung

on Mar 01, 2004

well stated, true and shameful.

i always advise americans to wear Maple Leaf T-shirts when abroad.
So they get a chance to be taken seriously.

Also it´s good to only speak when mouth full, it´s a good way to disguise the nasal-smalltalk-accent
that is soo common.

IF THE USA DIDNT HAVE THE BIGGEST ARMY & WMD, NOBODY WOULD EVEN BE SLIGHTLY INTERESTED
IN WHAT OPINIONS ITS CITIZENS AND RULERS HAVE. ......the US would have the significance of Banghladesh.
A little rotten country with uncivilized customs, bad flooding and tornados, and a corrupt gov´t.

....cannot think of a single american product i find necessary.

cannot think of ANYTHING necessary.

( ..and hell yeah, i´ve lived there. )
Weltregierung over &out

........Old Europe speaking,

debidoll

on Mar 01, 2004

Hey, Weltregierung, since you lived here, then you must realize that not ALL Americans are close-minded, red-neck hillbillies, just like all Germans aren't Nazi skin-heads. You can hate American policies/politics/gov. all you like, but the American people? We are some nice folks over here....so please be careful with your stereotypical generalizations, DUDE.

psychx

on Mar 01, 2004

Could you imagine a world without the U.S... Weltreg you can' t think of one product that you don't see as important. Maybe the fact that your on the internet right now probably using windows or mac os which comes from where... hmm wait in the second world war and first world war for that matter what would have happened if the us did not exist hmm lets see democracy invented by the greeks, refined and almost made a standard by the U.S. but thats only democracy... Japan great country influenced greatly by the us after world war 2 and they are pretty great now... Germany has nice cars now, vicious goals in the past, we put them on the path to what they are now...
Mankind lands on the moon, a first step to the ultimate advancement of mankind to travel to another body besides earth wait didn't the U.S do that but who cares about landing on the moon right... Wait we give asylum to Albert Einstein and give him the opportunity to develop his theory on relativity... We welcome millions of immigrants at the begginning of the 20th century and because of that in essence we are all immigrants in this country.. We have spilled our share of blood but no culture is completely innocent that is the nature of man... Without the U.S. the advancement of mankind would not be where it is today not completely atleast...If you want to weigh the positives with the negatives the positives far outweigh the negatives... If I recall old europe rallying behind its american protector when they needed most and now that there interests are much different they can speak terribly of the Americans...tsk tsk wouldn't that be two-faced if one looks at a country as if it had character...I hate bush just as much as the next guy but I do not dismiss the positive impact that America has had on the world...

messybuu

on Mar 01, 2004

In the 1960's as kids protested Vietnem and Nixon's continued support of it, even Preseident Nixon listened. He insisted on going into the crowd at one event and against the wishes of Secret Service, he sat and talked with the kids and asked why they believed as they did. Eventually he ended the United States involvement. Would George Bush do this? He is having them arrested as criminals for daring to disagree.

Who has been arrested for speaking out against the war in Iraq?

Prison is not for rehabilitation anymore, but for profit and slave labor, some violated year after year for no crime other than failing to appear for a appointment by ten or fifteen minutes.

When exactly was prison for rehabilitation? I always thought its main purpose was to punish the criminals.

Power corrupts and absolute power has made us a absolutely corrupt Nation. Our solution lies in divorcing our foreign policy from Israel and Great Britain, one who is surounded by enemies of its own making, the other who has never known what friendship is, preferring to use and abuse any trust. No good can come of befriending the two most intrusive and violative Nations anywhere.

Let's look at the opposition: France and Germany.

....cannot think of a single american product i find necessary.

I feel the same way about Europe. *munching down on a croissant listening to Rammstein*

debidoll

on Mar 02, 2004

Hey, I'm not so sure I get what you mean. My husband has been here (he moved from Europe in 2002) for almost 2 years, and as much as he hates, hates, HATES American policies, the war, and George Bush, he says that there is not one thing bad that he can say about the American people themselves, and that no matter where you go in the world, people are people, and though the language may be different, we are all generally the same. Even his parents who came for a visit recently, who have the same viewpoint about American policies etc, had nothing but nice things to say about the people themselves, friendly, thoughtful, and generous to a fault. In their words, "God truly did bless America, ....but he forgot about the food."

(maybe it was my cooking....

).

Yep......my guess is there's arrogant people all over the world.......some Belgian's perhaps?

messybuu

on Mar 02, 2004

Debidol_try to see it from our ( Our= transplanted Americans or ex-residents of the USA , who choose to live in N. Europe)
point of view_how would YOU respond if you didn't live in America, if you didn't have the American media/brainwashing and you saw what was happening now from this side of the water. Plus, although tourism by Yanks is way down here_in years past I recollect behaviour as described by Weltreg_the Ugly American is a real stereotype and usually arrogance_abundant arrogance is their MO for seeing all of Europe in 10 days.

If people in America are suffering from evil American brainwashing, then one can assume that people in Europe are suffering from evil pro-European anti-American brainwashing.

Also, I don't see anybody except the anti-Americans acting as if they are superior. I also see only the anti-Americans blowing problems in America out of proportion while conveniently remaining silent about problems in their countries.

Sometimes I wonder if this guy I know was serious when he said that others focus on America's problems so they won't have to acknowledge how they're being screwed by their own government.

messybuu

on Mar 02, 2004

I just want to note that I know that it's not only Europeans that hate America lest someone thinks I'm forgetting about the other places in the world.

EMacy

on Mar 03, 2004

Oh you mean there are other places in the world? Who says Euro people hate Americans?and why is that always thrown into " tricky situations...ie: America's disgusting human rights abuses.

Yeah, I am sick of this place Brad_you all think alike. I'll check it out. Cheers. I certainly don't fit in here, eh?

Debidoll_we are on the same page...it's hard to critcize policies of the government without nationalistic values being drug out.

Baby.
I am American too but don't take facts and make it a personal attack of an entire continent pitted against another. People here are just the same as people there_ but we critcize our government freely, without getting nationalistic about it.

The topic is human right's records for 2003. I oppose the death penalty.

messybuu

on Mar 03, 2004

I am American too but don't take facts and make it a personal attack of an entire continent pitted against another. People here are just the same as people there_ but we critcize our government freely, without getting nationalistic about it.

I'm not attacking Europe. I know and respect many Europeans that are honest enough to admit that although the U.S. has problems, their own countries have problems just as bad. They also don't accuse Americans of being brainwashed (if that's not a personal attack against an entire nation, then I don't know what is).

EMacy

on Mar 04, 2004

By brainwashed I mean:
The Federal Communications Commission, led by Michael ("my religion is the market") Powell, is fixing to remove the last remaining barriers against concentration of media.
This means one company can own all the radio stations, television stations, newspapers and cable systems in any given area. Presently, 10 companies own over 90 percent of the media outlets. Bill Kovach of the Committee of Concerned Journalists and Tom Rosenstiel of the Project for Excellence in Journalism say these are the most sweeping changes in the rules that govern ownership of American media since the 1940s.
( ----Get this-->

The ownership rules were put in place after we had seen how totalitarian governments use domination of the media to goad their countries into war.

We already know what happens when the free market zealots remove restrictions on ownership. In 1996, the FCC eliminated its rules on radio ownership. Conglomerates now own hundreds of stations around the country. One company, Clear Channel, owns more than 1,200 stations, and there are 30 percent fewer station owners than there were before 1996. The result is less local news and local programming, since the formats are programmed at headquarters. Clear Channel owns as many as six or seven stations in a market, broadcasting generic country, generic pop, generic oldies, etc. http://www.sltrib.com/2003/feb/02032003/commenta/25802.asp ( source link Salt Lake City Trib_Feb. 03, 2003 )
Americans don't even know what's happening around them........
I am not discussing the very much In Place European Union Who Has No Constituition_ however I understand your need to distance yourself from the facts that America's human rights record is atrocious.
I'm afraid many Euro people believe American's as a whole_ to be totally brainwashed, sorry_to break the news.

Solitair

on Mar 04, 2004

Everyone has a right to preach. It's called free speech and believe it or not it's a basic human right. This article however points out that (in some peoples opinions) the US has lost any moral authority to preach about such human right abuses.

As for all the comments about Europeans, we're NOT a single body. We don't hate Americans. We don't feel our way is better or superior. We have far more disagreements with each other than with the US. We have a much wider diversity of government types, laws, behaviour and acceptable behaviour than the US. The important thing is that this huge diversity allows us to see other peoples points of view and to find ways of living together in a single unit (EU). Unlike the US we HAVE to get on with foreign countries, we HAVE to respect their rights, we HAVE to compromise when we don't agree, we HAVE to overcome our fear of foreigners. If we don't then our entire EU system falls down. This gives us a very unique perspective on international politics.

It in no way makes us superior. We have many problems. Many individual countries break human right laws. Thankfully we have something called the European Court of Justice which has authority over ALL EU countries on this. This is our fall back, our safety net. Any country joining the EU MUST accept this body as the ultimate legal authority. This is what stops any country making laws which contravene human rights. We have lived through 2 world wars on our territory. We've seen what normal people can do to each other and it has horrified us. We are therefore very focussed on the human rights of individuals and anything which takes away from that is a serious offense. It does tend to make EU governments fairly socially and environmentally focussed. Looking after our minorities and not alienating people towards them is crucial to avoiding any repeat of the last 100 years.

The bottom line is that the EU celebrates and learns from it's diversity. Diversity in opinions, desires, goals are all part of it. You don't get two sided polar debates in the EU (unlike American politics) because there are so many faces and aspects within Europe. This is what gives us the moral authority to comment on China's or the US's human right abuses. We do so in the full knowledge that this is not the entire story of who or what these countries are. We do so in the full knowledge that we ourselves are not perfect. We do so waiting for people (whether from within or outside of Europe) to comment on and enrich our knowledge.

So please point out any human rights abuse the EU is guilty of, but don't shoot the original poster for rightly highlighting the US's history of tacit ascecnt to Israeli human rights abuse in the Middle East.

Paul.

psychx

on Mar 04, 2004

e.macy your viewpoint is one sided you speak like every other european or foreigner who has something against the u.s. your viewpoint is the same. If what I say is really nothing more than "NAnana boo boo" it is still facts... I mean I know the negative aspects as well all the wars and operations that aren't as publicized and media driven that have happened in the past. The truth is I hate our current gov't and I hate the money they accept, the special interests they have an affinity with and most of all I hate the fact that they have destroyed our foreign policy. I completely agree with Brad and I think that some Europeans have become a little arrogant and have some how forgotten all the positive things the U.S. has done and just remember the negatives. I mean no actual country is completely sin free. We all have had a bloody past and bloody history. Humanity has always been chaotic and this era is the most enlightened we have ever been. The U.S. has had a huge role in human rights although not without a struggle of our own rights. Democracy which the U.S. pretty much propelled has influenced many different gov't's which I think is the most positive thing the U.S. has done. E.Macy all I am saying is try to look at it from both sides of the argument first otherwise your opinion is biased... We should all try to meet at the middle but ofcourse this will not happen anytime soon.

psychx

on Mar 04, 2004

He should watch bowling for columbine if anything we have more access to information than any other country except for maybe japan... which is not european...

EMacy

on Mar 04, 2004

Solitair:
THANK YOU!!!!!!for saying what I could never state, so honestly and complete_ being a foreigner myself, I can't say " my land" you have encapsuled the difference! Thank you...*kiss*
I can sleep better, Solitair_humanity lives in pockets here
and there.
Cheers.

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