In biblical parlance, the United States is an iniquitous country. Our citizenry is superficial, callous, ignorant, bellicose, greedy, selfish and oblivious to the very real horrors confronting humanity in today's world. Our collective attention rises merely to the banal plateau of shopping and entertainment. There is little or no national concern for what is occuring in Iraq, Darfur, the entire African sub-continent; barely even for the declining quality of life of the average citizen. Only recently have some of us given credence to the scientific community's inescapable conclusion that global warming is real.
In an era of unprecidented ability to transmit and receive information, Americans seem to epitomize the "monkey trilogy", see, hear, speak no evil. We have turned a blind eye to our own humanity and as a result, we can see no one else's humanity. George Bush is the perfect president for these times and these Americans. We, like him, have elevated incuriouness and unawareness to sacramental status.
It is unclear why so many of us are so "proud to be an American". Pride in what? Your SUV, you mortgaged home, your dyslexic, dysfunctional, self-centered children? Perhaps you're proud of our educational system that has plummeted to frightening depths. Do you take pride in an economy that more resembles feudal Europe than the promise of "rising boats" that gave hope to the generations in the post WWII boom? If your pride is merely predicated on the fact that you were born in America, you truly are mindless.
There is one shining source of pride in which one may bask as an American. Against all odds and a fascist regime, we still have the right and the obligation to question authority and express our dissent against the abuses of power. This last election illustrated the effectiveness of dissent. Take pride in your right of dissent and exercize it.
We are a culture in decline, but not because of abortion rights, women's rights, or gay rights. At our own peril we ignore human rights. If there were a god, she would be quite disappointed in us and probably more inclined to blast America than bless America. Ribet....ribet