Retribution 4-17-13

"The men the American people admire the most extravagantly are the greatest liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth."
- H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)
American journalist, editor, essayist

Monday, April 15. Runners are running towards their intended goal... the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Then, a bomb goes off, seconds later another bomb. In the aftermath people are seen running to and fro to escape the carnage. These images brought the bloody mess to people's homes through T.V. All there... for the world to see.

The aftermath of what government officials called a "terrorist act", was 3 killed and 170+ wounded. I can say with the deepest empathy that I mourn the loss of life. However, I can say even more truthfully that this "attack" (if you'll allow me to call it that) doesn't affect me.

As it was Patriots Day, the anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775, it meant more to Maine and Massachusetts. It meant little to me. I'm no patriot nor am I into the jingoistic hype. Most or if anybody reads this will think I'm un-American. Perhaps it's due to me being incarcerated, some might even think I'm a "Muslim" or a fanatic of some "terrorist" organization. An assertion of such couldn't be farther from the truth. Now it's been labeled a massacre! Like... seriously? 3 people die and it's a massacre? It's a slap in the face to people killed in a REAL massacre. Politicians and pundits alike declare that "terrorizing" Americans wouldn't phase them. People act like if "terrorism" is something new. A recent book I read, A Short History of Progress", enlightened me to this fact. Quoting a portion, "Patriotism may indeed be, as Dr. Johnson said, "the last refuge of a scoundrel", but it's also the tyrant's first resort. People afraid of outsiders are easily manipulated [...]. In times of war or crisis, power is easily stolen from the many by [page missing]

* Iraqi women now widows: 2 million (with many forced into prostitution)

* Iraqis driven from their home: 4.5 million

* November 2005, U.S. Marines murdered 24 unarmed civilians in the city of Haditha and then blamed it on "insurgents".

* 2006 in Ishaqi in central Iraq, "U.S. troops executed at least 10 Iraqi civilians including a woman in her 70s and a 5-month-old infant, then called in an airstrike to destroy the evidence" (McClatchy newspaper). [2]

This should be enough to make any human boil over with indignation of such atrocities. But the "not in our land" attitude has prevailed and many Americans feel safe. Swallowing your own medicine can be bitter. Americans shouldn't feel surprised or shocked about the event that unfolded in Boston. I in NO way condone or practice terrorism. I merely say that for every cause there's an effect. I liken this to what Malcolm X said on December 1 about JFK, that the assassination was a case of "chickens coming home to roost". [3] Yes... we don't hear much of that nowadays. The two party system and political climate is not only stifling but controlled with an iron fist. Somehow this "democracy" is the best in the world.

In sum, people should look real hard at who's calling who a terrorist. Facts are facts and even though they get construed and distorted, it's up to those that know to untie them from the grasp of those that have no care for them. Adolf Hitler once gleefully exclaimed, "What luck for the rulers that people do not think." [4] I tell you, dear reader... do seek the truth.

"All truth passes through three stages, first, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self evident."

- Arthur Schopenhauer
(1778-1860)