(no subject)

[mmmmjournal.livejournal.com]

Joe Heller, The Green Bay Press-Gazette (Wisconsin)

Comments

[motherginsberg.livejournal.com]

lame.

[johnraptor.livejournal.com]

Agreed

[xadmox.livejournal.com]

agreed, as well

[evildemonkitty.livejournal.com]

what sort of stupid shit was that?

[mmmmjournal.livejournal.com]

Stupid in what way?

It's a satire of the false impression the rest of the world seems to have adopted regarding America. While our troops and civilians work to help the needful in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, the rest of the world continues to consider us evil.

Their irrational hatred and ignorance of American generosity is the only thing keeping terrorism strong.

[chrisfrap.livejournal.com]

i will agree that it was not the best cartoon but it did have some potential.

[onemeatball.livejournal.com]

Their irrational hatred and ignorance of American generosity is the only thing keeping terrorism strong.

Irrational? Exactly how is that?

[mr-s-face.livejournal.com]

The comic makes a fair point, but I think it's lacking something. It seems to me to be missing the vital essence of humour.

Regarding the "false impression" you refer to, I don't think it's possible to have a true impression.

Consider: aid work in tsunami hit countries is obviously a good thing.

Removing Saddam Hussein and the Taliban were positive things. On the other hand, in said removal, tens of thousands of people died, which is obviously a bad thing. Now, US troops are occupying Iraq and are engaged in what looks suspiciously like a war with people who live there. Now, Saddam Hussein was hugely unpopular in the way that only violent dictators can be, so removing him should have given the US a huge popularity boost in Iraq. The fact that so many Iraqi's are willing to risk/lose their lives fighting US forces suggests that something is going terribly wrong over there.
In the meantime, we are left looking at Iraq and seeing US soldiers killing Iraqis, in Iraq, supposedly for the purpose of making Iraq a free, democratic nation. Meanwhile, Iraqis are killing US soldiers, in Iraq, because (presumably) they believe that the freedom offered is a sham and that somehow an election run with US assistance will elect the candidate the US government wants. To be honest, that result seems likely, especially when we look at Afghanistan.
What impression then are we supposed to take away? That the US as a political entity loves freedom?
When we see the large amounts of money in Iraqi oil, and that the profits are going to companies with connections to the Buash administration, should that give us the impression that the US loves freedom, or that the US is generous, or that the administration in charge is paying off favours?

It is hard for us to gain a true impression when the motives of the US are so clouded by its actions. If the US aims to remove dictators, why does it leave, say, Robert Mugabe in power? Why does it remove democratic leaders who happen to be an obstruction to some of its policies?

What impression is "true" then? Is the US generous with aid? Well, yes, in terms of amount spent. No, in terms of percentage of GDP spent. Is that generosity or not? Does the USA as a political entity believe in democracy? Well, when we look at the system you have at home, the electoral college arrangement means it's possible for the majority of the population to vote one way but for the other side to win. It also means that votes in different states are worth different amounts. Is that a commitment to democracy, when your own system is flawed?

Personally, the impression I get is that the USA as a political entity is concerned only with the expansion of its own power.