International Political Will

When an American speaks out for people of other races, other countries, other religions and other cultures that suffer from disease, starvation, extreme poverty, and even their role as “collateral damage” in Western-led wars, they are accused of being “anti-American.”

It is most evident during war. Many Americans are repulsed by the violent nature of their country’s actions and the human cost being exacted on many non-white and non-Christian populations, and they protest the war and advocate peaceful coexistence. But rather than interpreting their dissenting voices as following the teachings of the same Jesus Christ that many right-wing hawks claim to follow, such protests are labeled “un-American.”

But many loyal Americans are driven by a humanistic cause. There are no judgments about human life – there is no ranking of importance. Human life is not viewed in context of nation, race or religion.

I place myself in this category. I mourn equally for the victims of the 9/11 attacks as I do for the residents of Baghdad. I feel equal sorrow in the tragic deaths of a 16-year-old girl at a high school in Colorado and a 14-year-old Palestinian girl at her home in the Gaza Strip.

But the harsh truth in today’s jingoistic America, where religious-nationalist fervor is mixed with fear to the advantage of a few rich and powerful elites, is that value is placed on lives. That much is clear.

The tens of thousands – if not hundreds of thousands – of Iraqis and Afghanis killed over the last four years had little to do with the crimes of their own governments, much less any part of the World Trade Center Attacks. Yet they are deemed “collateral damage” by the hawkish government of the U.S. and their deaths are “necessary” in order to transform their society.

In World War II, an argument was made to use nuclear weapons because in order to “save lives,” America had to kill innocent civilians. Apparently, this had to be done twice since one nuclear weapon wasn’t sufficient to force the Japanese into acceptable submission (or more specifically, to sufficiently display America’s new weaponry to the Soviet Union.)

During the Vietnam War, General Westmoreland stated that the “Oriental doesn’t put the same high price on life as does a Westerner. Life is plentiful. Life is cheap in the Orient.” Once again, value judgments were being placed on human lives – to the detriment of non-white and non-Christian peoples.

And in Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, the news media routinely places value on Israeli lives lost while allocating little – if any – importance to those of Palestinians. Instead the Palestinian is relegated to the stereotypical role of “terrorist” and civilian deaths in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are deemed “collateral damage” – necessary in Israel’s right to “defend themselves.”

In a world that the most powerful man, President Bush, views in terms of “with us or against us,” the truly patriotic U.S. citizen must place a higher significance on American lives above all others. To do otherwise is to invite accusations of failing to adequately support fellow Americans “in a time of war.”

If we use Bush’s one-dimensional “good versus evil” worldview, placing value on non-American lives is “anti-American” – therefore the “pro-American” doesn’t value anyone but Americans.

Has a culture of fear and xenophobia turned patriotism into a blatant disregard for the life of anyone not American?

war terror terrorism religion racism media America Jesus

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