The Callousness of America

This week I have had the misfortune of dealing with a very large company and was faced with a disgusting display of corporate greed.  But that is not what this particular blog is about.  This one isn't even about politics, really, although that very much comes into play.  This blog is about what I encountered when sharing my story on the company's user boards.
    Now, my problem is a legitimate one.  Individually.  Not a large one in the scheme of things, but pretty big to me, because it involves money, and more importantly, money I desperately needed and was depending on.  Having been screwed over, I did what I always do- I researched the living hell out of the problem and found that thousands more had been affected in similar and much worse ways than me.  This is an issue that involves ethics-or the lack thereof- and maybe even a practice that is illegal.  So I go onto the user boards not only to read about others having the same issue, but to warn people who were thinking of entering into an agreement with this company, and trying to warn them.  Every one of my posts was factual, well thought out, and articulate, because, well that's kinda how I roll; but also because I know that if you post a huge rant filled with unnecessary punctuation and misspelled words and incoherent sentences, you will not be taken seriously.  
    So I was my usual charming self on these posts.  While reading I came across other users who apparently have only one joy in life, which is to go on to user boards and bully people who say just about anything they don't agree with.  Mind you, I said nothing when I read these people's posts, because I was taught not to attack people I don't know.  Also, I was raised to be respectful, even when those people are pedantic pricks.  In any case, I was not surprised when the gaggle of haters descended on me like so many blood-thirsty vultures.  Their comments were essentially the same, all with the same condescending and hostile tone.  Basically, I was back in 7th grade again.  But these are not 12 year old children.  They are, presumably, adults, seeing as how they are active members of a company that would require them to be such.  My response to them, I hope, was as enlightening as a similar response would be to my children if I ever caught them acting the ways these people did.  I am sure my hope is irrational, because assholes are just assholes, and even putting up a mirror to their behavior won't change them at all.
    My experience on these boards brought to mind my largest pet peeve, the biggest gripe I have about the American people.  Callousness.  Disrespect.  The lack of consideration of others.  The lack of politeness.  Where did these qualities go?  Yes, we all have our moments when we are pushed too far and we go off on other people.  I certainly have. (But to be fair, she REALLY deserved it) However, all in all, I strive to do my best to be considerate and respectful to others.  Had I not been provoked, I would never have dreamed of randomly attacking some idiot on a user board, regardless of how much they deserved it.  Like I said, I saw these particular posters behave this way on dozens of boards and said nothing.  How did these people give themselves permission to act that way towards another person that they 1) never met, and 2) can't even see?  And you do have to give yourself permission to be an asshole.  There is something in your cognitive process that decides "Yep, it is totally ok for me to be a raging prick right now.  And after that, I think I will kick some puppies."  
    Don't get me wrong, I know that on occasion I can be a bitch.  But I need to be seriously pushed into it, and feel very strongly about something, to get me there.  This often involves me being the mother grizzly bear I am when people I love are being attacked.  Yet these people seem to do it for the sheer joy of putting other people down.  I know personally several people who do this, and I choose not to interact with them unless forced to on FB threads.  And always, ALWAYS, these people think they know more, and are smarter than they actually are.  Psychologically speaking, I know it comes from a place of feeling inferior themselves, and by bringing others down, they feel superior.  I get that.  Maybe only truly superior people can keep their mouths shut about how awesome they are and how smart they are.  I don't know.
    I single out Americans because I think we are the biggest culprits here.  It has, I think, something to do with the sense of entitlement a majority of Americans feel, like they truly are better than everyone else.  And worse, that they are more important than everyone else.  That is why we have more than enough resources for everyone in the country and then some, but we still have children starving in the streets.  Because of the entitled masses saying, "I don't care about anyone else but me, because don't you understand I am more important that you?" It has gotten to such an extreme that I don't think people like that even understand that they are not, in fact, the only person in the universe.  I truly believe that these people believe other humans are only a prop in their little life play, that it doesn't matter how you treat them, because they don't actually exist.  You know who else thinks that way?  Serial killers.
    The Internet only makes it worse.  We already had assholes who were comfortable being assholes to everyone's
    Except we know that it matters.  Especially with kids and even some adults.  Phoebe Prince, the 13 year old Irish girl who killed herself a couple of years ago, did it after reading a bunch of Facebook comments that I am betting the posters didn't even think twice about.  Maybe those kids would have told Phoebe she should kill herself right to her face, but I doubt it.  Doing it on her facebook page made it easy, because they didn't have to see face when she read the words.  Except they never saw her face again, because she hung herself.  And despite everything the law is attempting to do in her case, not much is ever going to happen to those kids, because they don't want to "ruin their lives".  It doesn't matter that the fact that they were never taught to care about other human beings helped kill that little girl.  They were just typing on a computer, right?  
   And of course we know Phoebe isn't the only one to do exactly the same thing for exactly the same reason.  Americans, in general, have stopped teaching their children the basic tenets of decency and morality.  They are being given their moral compasses from The Situation and Snookie.  I wasn't raised that way, but of course I was absolutely tortured in grade and middle school.  I can only imagine the vitriol my classmates would have come up with had Facebook been around then.  I wonder if I would have been able to live through it if it had.  I barely survived the experience, and I was very strong.  I am lucky that my experiences turned me into Teflon, but what about others who aren't as strong-willed?  Well, we know what happens to them, we see it on the news every day.  
    I see what this country is becoming and it disgusts me.  We used to be a nation of people who actually gave a damn, by and large.  In which neighbors would help neighbors and people actually cared about people other than themselves.  It will only get worse if we don't teach our future generations respect and basic common decency.  We need to teach them what we were always taught; if you don't have something nice to say, shut the hell up.  We need to teach them to be caring, giving, worthwhile human beings that would rather help a starving man than step over his body to get another buck.  That is how I raise my children, because I want to be proud of the future we are giving them.  I want to be.  I just don't know how likely it is anymore.

The War on Fear

I don't expect anything I'm about to write to be popular, but as per usual, I honestly don't care.  I understand what seems to clear to me based on actual fact seems entirely different to someone else, who, of course, is equally positive they are right, whether they have fact behind them or not.  
    Now, I have been vocal to some about my reservations on how our President has gone about the business of running our country.  I firmly believe that if the day the South Carolina Congressman who called him a liar in open Congress had been bitch-slapped into the next century by our leader, then we would be living in a much different climate.  Metaphorically speaking, of course.  Literally speaking, we'd still be screwed when it comes to the actual climate.  But that's another blog.  When Obama chose to remain silent and turn the other cheek to such a shocking display of disrespect, it told the Republicans (and the future Tea Party) all they needed to know.  They could control this upstart black man.  And they did.  
    Maybe I am just a sucker for the dark horse, but I read these editorials or read what former friends write and I get so angry at the self-imposed cloud of ignorance.  I hear words like "socialist", "Marxist", "Hitler", "dictator" and it makes me want to punch something.  I get that all presidents face something very close to this, but this is the only time in history in which a Speaker of the House was permitted to slam a sitting President on national TV after a State of the Union speech.  The only time in history a President has been mocked and insulted in open Congress.  And by far the only President who has been so thoroughly bootstrapped by the opposing side.  People lay the blame at the man's feet but it does not belong there.  It belongs at the feet of the Congress and the Republicans who would, and actually have killed bills that were theirs to start with.  Yes.  Obama has proposed bills almost verbatim to that of Republicans, and they have been shot down, with an insult thrown in for good measure.  This is how America "gets things done" now.  
   What prompted me to write at this moment is the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012.  Constitutionalists are lathering themselves up into a libertarian froth over it, and while I could understand why if they were even remotely accurate about their complaints, for the most part, they are not.  The NDAA is a bill that is passed every year and has been for 49 years.  This year, the controversy is the part that, people believe anyway, gives the President the power to detain anyone he damn well feels like it on even "the flimsiest hint of terrorism" (this was from a Tea Party radio personality Dr. Laura Roth, who is a dingbat).  The controversy, to them, is that this includes US citizens.  This addition to the NDAA is an obvious response to the US traitor that everyone was so upset about earlier in the year who was "assassinated" (because if you're foreign, it's execution, but if you were born in the US, even if you have disavowed all citizenship, it is an assassination).  However, because I like to know the truth and not just be fed things that are designed to make me scared and pliable, I actually looked it up.  The actual, 568 page bill.  
   First off, I want to make clear that while I very much think the Constitution needs to be overhauled and redesigned for the current time period, I am very protective of the right to due process and everything that comes with it.  Although, that, too is horribly abused by our citizenry, it is supposed to be our protection against overzealous government agencies.  I stress supposed to be.  People- even people I deeply respect- see this bill as the end of our civil liberties and the end of civilization as we know it.  It's not.  Here are the facts.
     In 2002, President Bush signed the AUMF, or the Authorization of Military Force, against Iraq (the country that had nothing to do with the terrorist attack, just to be clear). This, along with the Patriot Act, is the background for the new provisions in the NDAA. The problem the people I mention have is the provision in which they think the act allows the President carte blanch when detaining terrorist suspects.  Again, this is not the case.  First of all, the government has had this power since the Patriot Act was signed.  The provision includes US citizens, and that's where things supposedly get hairy.  However, this is the exact wording of that provision:


    "The NDAA text affirms the President's authority to detain, via the Armed Forces, includes any person "who was part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners," under the law of war, "without trial, until the end of the hostilities authorized by the [AUMF] ..

It goes on to make this point clear:

     "Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect existing law or authorities relating to the detention of United States citizens, lawful resident aliens of the United States, or any other persons who are captured or arrested in the United States"

This is not carte blancheal-Qaeda or Taliban.  This is clearly stated.  Further, if you are an American citizen who is plotting against America, you are guilty of treason, in which case you have said goodbye to your civil liberties anyway.  Also, the penalty is death, usually.  It always has been.  

    What I am personally upset with is that, yet again, the blame gets placed at Obama's feet and he is called a dictator.  Here is another fact: Obama did not want this provision included under any circumstances.  When it was proposed, he said he would veto it if it reached his desk.  The response?  Congress said they would not vote on the bill extending unemployment and several other desperately needed programs.  They, once again, held American interests hostage to get their way.  Our Congress, by definition, are terrorists.  They just do not hold guns, they hold pens.  So Obama has no choice to agree.  But when he signs, he states very clearly he does not agree with this provision. This is what he said at the signing:

   "Ultimately, I decided to sign this bill not only because of the critically important services it provides for our forces and their families and the national security programs it authorizes, but also because the Congress revised provisions that otherwise would have jeopardized the safety, security, and liberty of the American people. Moving forward, my Administration will interpret and implement the provisions described below in a manner that best preserves the flexibility on which our safety depends and upholds the values on which this country was founded."

   I could expound on this even more, but this is my main point.  We, the American people, are to blame.  When we vote for a President, it really doesn't matter.  Most people don't understand how the Electoral College works, and I honestly wish I didn't, because it depresses me.  If you need any further evidence that American is NOT a democracy and never has been, read up on the Electoral College.  Suffice it to say, voting for a President makes you feel like you are taking charge of your government, but really it's not up to you.  Or me.  However, that is not the case when it comes to the Senate and the Congress.  We, as a people, really do vote them in.  In 2010, the Tea Party invaded the Congress like a Mongolian horde, only with more pillaging.  And we allowed that to happen.  In 2008, same thing.  What no one seems to understand is that the President's power is extremely limited.  He can only do what the Congress allows him to do, which is painfully obvious looking back over the past three years.  American voters give the Congress that power.  And they use it to attack and destroy the fabric of our society, all in the name of good old-fashioned money.  

   People are afraid.  They are terrified.  They want someone to blame and because they are sheep, they blame the one person who actually doesn't shoulder most of it.  Polls show that Congress has a 16% approval rating, as opposed to Obama's 42%.  That is supposed to show that there is some sanity out there somewhere, but all I read or hear about is how Obama has failed in all his promises and has destroyed America (when he inherited a destroyed America) and how they just can't wait for that socialist dictator to go away so we can get down to "fixing America".  It is fear that drives the ignorance.  No one wants America to turn into a police state, or lose our civil rights, or basically turn into other countries that have done that (and often have better run governments for it, but that's beside the point).  We are in no danger of that actually happening, but that is the message these groups are spreading because fear makes people nice and pliable, and makes them vote any way they are told.  Which brings me to what I am afraid of.

   I am deathly afraid of what the next few years will bring.  Fear makes people turn to religion, which in and of itself isn't necessarily negative, but it often leads to overzealous, dangerous religious people taking power, historically speaking.  Looking at the GOP potentials, almost all of them do little else but spout about God, and religion, and the moral fiber of America and what they will do to "restore America to morality".  I, personally, do not want anyone deciding what is moral and what is not.  Because unfortunately, a great deal of our laws reflect a stance on morality.  What is right and what is wrong.  But these people, some of whom are truly terrifying, think anyone who does not think the way they do is wrong.  They want to not only blur the line of separation of church and state, they want to eradicate it.  The very thing that led to the founding of our country they want to destroy, and nobody even blinks.  Nobody calls foul and waves the Constitution around like a banner at this idea.  

   I'm afraid because I can see a future in which the corrupt Congress and a zealot President join together and I can see what will happen.  I may not agree with a whole lot of Obama's tactics, but he is the only thing standing in the way right now of that happening.  The Conservatives and the Republicans have an agenda.  Right now, even with his limitations, Obama can still prevent that agenda from being realized.  But if we- and by we I mean the Electoral College- elect a President with the same agenda, this country will no longer even slightly resemble the country our Founding Fathers fought for.  There will be freedom of religion, in practice even if not by mandate.  Social programs in their current form- programs over 60% of us desperately need- will not exist.  Immigrants will be deported by the millions and there will be no one to take the jobs they leave behind, because despite what everyone loves to think, illegal immigrants work jobs that none of us would take.  Because of this the economy would suffer even more (this has already occurred in Georgia) Abortion would become illegal.  Homosexuality would be banned-again in spirit and practice if not by mandate.  Health care for the poor would be non-existent.  Would the more extreme things happen?  For example, would we start lynching people if they were pagans, like me?  I don't know.  Far worse things have happened here, and not that long ago.  

   I'm tired, and I've rambled, but I don't care.  All I ask if for people to take charge of their own information, and not someone else's version of the truth.  Don't be spoonfed someone else's ideas.  Don't be afraid because someone else tells you you should be.  And, for the love of everything good and holy, stop blaming the wrong people for what is the fault of others.