an anniversary of some sort (and a rant)
I've been back in San Francisco for two months now, today. Since returning to Fortress America, I feel like I've been undergoing some sort of re-education process, a kind of brainwashing from the media in this country. I watch TV "news" programs where guests are gently and consistently reminded to not say anything too negative about the president. There is so little diversity in dialogue here, even among those from other countries: they too seem to speak only in the language of the American monoculture. I have memories of meeting people in the Netherlands, a country where 5.7% of the population is Muslim, and hearing opinions that are not allowed to even be secretly whispered aloud within the US. Has everyone in America simply stopped questioning why large numbers of people in the world want to blow up US cities? Does anyone care? Not that I can tell.
Right after September 11, I remember a friend saying that he thought this might be the opportunity for America to fundamentally change, his hope was that it would serve as a kind of cultural reset. But in retrospect that seems like such a naive wish, when in fact the worst of all possible outcomes seems to be happening: America has closed itself off, locked the doors, and is dropping more bombs than ever. Shocking and unbelievable stupidity.
Robert McNamara pointed out, in Fog of War, that empathy with the enemy was required for victory. But in the current political climate of America, empathy seems to be akin to treason. The mainstream media does not touch questions of American foreign policy of the last 50 years. If the mainstream media is a kind of collective mind of the country, representing its interests, desires, debates, fears, neuroses, and dialogues, then the American mind has no memory and no curiosity. Its fitting that these qualities should be embodied in Bush, after all, they say every country gets the leader it deserves.