There is a myth that America is always on the side of the good. That some how America is special. This is often used to justify America taking horrific actions. Since the myth says America is always on the side of the good, then this is used to then try to say that people should not be critical of what America does.
Because of this, it is useful to know the true history. It is useful to know what America has actually been doing. As such, the following is offered.
"Thousands killed by US' Korean Ally"
Actually, the headline from the AP is very misleading. Pretty typical for the AP. When you read the article, you realize we are not talking about a few 'thousands'. The article estimates that we are talking about maybe the murder of a 100,000 people.
"With U.S. military officers sometimes present ... the southern army and police emptied South Korean prisons, lined up detainees and shot them in the head, dumping the bodies into hastily dug trenches. Others were thrown into abandoned mines or into the sea. Women and children were among those killed. Many victims never faced charges or trial."
We are constantly told of the horror of our enemies. We are constantly told that America is the force of good. That the actions we take are to prevent the horror of our enemies. But, stop and think about what we've done along the way ourselves. Its worth remembering the next time you hear our leaders telling us that we have to accept more horror because we are the good guys.
As I type this, the Democracy Now! newswire to the right has a headline about how the US is holding an estimated 27,000 people in overseas secret prisons. And moving them in and out of Iraqi prisons to hide them.
No comments:
Post a Comment