Cenorship, Disdain, and Parallels

Lastnight I came to the realization that Big Brother is watching me. I was on MySpace and did a double take at my page. I wasnt sure if I was seeing things b/c I had a headache or if I was just tired. Well it turned out to be neither of those two assumptions. To make sure I checked the page that contains all my pictures and sure enough I wasnt going crazy. The good people at MySpace took it upon themselves to erase one of the pictures I had on there. The picture in question was my main picture. Apparently, a picture of me wearing a tshirt w/ President George Bush on it and the words "International Terrorist" is offensive material. At first I didnt know what to think. But then I came to the conclusion that it is to be expected by a site that is under the umbrella of Rupert Murdoch (FOXNews...Need I say more?). I am tempted to put the picture back up. But Im sure that the good people at MySpace will swoop in and censor my page yet again. It never ceases to amaze me the lack of self expression in this country. That is the problem. I believe that George Bush is an evil man. How can so many people support such a man? Lets not even get into his coke habit or his drinking. But purely on his political record. I cannot understand for the life of me how people can entrust him w/ the power of the Presidency of the United States. It is mind boggling to me. It is times like this that I cant believe that I live in the United States. Bush and his party have single handedly screwed the people of this country. Unless your a white Evangelical Christian male good luck. Now that I think about it that sounds like the prerequistes for the KKK...Interesting how that works? Back to my shirt, I informed one of my friends out in California about the happs on MySpace and she wants to take action. I dont know that I want to be the poster child for this. Dont get me wrong, censorship in any medium is wrong in my view. Voltaire once said, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it". But Ive been thinking about it all day and I do think something must be done. Anyone that has been on MySpace knows that there are pictures on there that are a lot worse than the picture I had. Ive seen pages where there were half naked women. How about doing something about that? But the colored kid w/ the shirt of The Evil Man gets canned after a few days. Censorship in this country is so biased. In college I wrote a piece on censorship for the PreLaw Society Journal, in my research I found interesting precedents and incidents. For example, in 1990 the Baltimore Museum of Art acquired a piece entitled "Terrorist". After the attacks on 9/11 they removed the piece "out of respect for visitor's sensitivities", and was later reinstalled. My problem w/ this is that it was not removed after the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City. I guess in 1995 people were not sensitive to white males blowing up a building in what was the worst attack on American soil till 9/11. Or take the example of the Dallas Morning News newspaper pulling The Boondocks of Thanksgiving 2001 b/c the strip's main character Huey Freeman was saying grace at Thanksgiving dinner in which he said, "…in this time of war against Osama bin Laden and the oppressive Taliban regime, we are thankful that our leader isn’t the spoiled son of a powerful politician from a wealthy oil family who is supported by religious fundamentalists, operates through clandestine organizations, has no respect for the democratic electorate process, bombs innocents and uses war to deny people their civil liberties. Amen." The Boondocks is politically close to Doonesberry, but Doonesberry never gets pulled. Did the strip say anything that wasnt true?
Through this I have learned that we will never truly be an open and free society. We have no standing anymore to point and criticize other countries' systems of government b/c we are no better. There is no American Dream. It is just an illusion . Democracy is not the answer to the world's problems. Yet every politician hustles democracy to every corner of the earth like its cocaine and its the fix that every brown country needs. Im interested to see what they will do w/ the nations of Venezuela and Bolivia w/ their popularly elected Socialist governments. Maybe they will resort to the Monroe Doctrine and implement the Sphere of Influence. I applaud any South American leader that stands up to the US and doesnt back down. Wheather it be Castro, Chavez, or Morales.
I read an interesting article in this month's Maxim (not a reputable source, I know) that acknowledged the rising threats to the lessening powergrip of the US. Among the 10 listed half were Asian. China being #1, North Korea #4, India #6, Pakistan #7, and Japan #8. I believe that within my lifetime that Asia will be powerseat in this world. Then what will white America do? I say white America b/c they really are the only people in this country that have any power, well except Oprah, but she doesnt really count. India in and of itself will rival the US soon. The boom it has seen in the last 15 years since the conversion to free markets is astounding. Not to mention the investing by foreign companies such as Microsoft that will slow the brain drain. Plus, we (Indians) are not too bougie to take jobs that Americans are too proud to do. So you can whine and complain about "your" jobs going to those "towelheads", but keep in mind that the technology w/in the computer you are using would not be available if it were not for those "towelheads". You can whine and complain that the people at McDonalds should learn English so that you can get that heart attack quicker. Without those workers the US economy would collapse. Are you going to pay to teach them English? How do you know they are not trying to learn? If youre going to complain, why dont you work there? Didnt think so....Keep in mind that unless youre part of the Sioux, Navajo, or some other Indian tribe, your family at one point were immigrants and had to learn English. How many generations does someone have to live in the US before they are no longer considered "immigrants"?
I dont hate the US and I am not "unpatriotic", I just see things from a different angle. Its not unpatriotic to speak your mind or disagree w/ things that are so inherently wrong. Speaking of unpatriotic, I have to say something about the yellow ribbons. What is the point of them? "Support Our Troops", huh? Support them in what? Killing innocent people that look like me? No thanks. I wonder if there are cars in Baghdad that have magnets that say "Support Our Insurgency". Werent the forfathers of this country considered "insurgents"? I know, I know the troops are just doing what the Draft Dodger ordered. But seriously, when you join the United States Army you have to be aware that you are going to be killing brownies. I cant get behind a fad of putting a yellow ribbon on my car to show my support b/c I thought from day 1 that this war was wrong. And now its like Malcolm X once said, "The chickens are coming home to roost".
On a lighter note, I was looking at my cousin's wedding pictures and it struck me the parallels between Indian culture and African American culture as far as family. I saw my aunts (ammais, for my Kerala heads) sitting all in a row and my cousins going to each of them to get their blessing and in made me think of large black families and the reverance for the older generation. For my generation there is no two ways about paying deference to the older generation. Just like in African American culture the older generation that fought in the Civil Rights Movement demands the respect from the youth of their respective families. They endured a lot just like the older Indian generation that lived under British rule. Both populouses gained their freedom through similar methods, non-violence, based upon Mahatma Gandhi's (Gandhiji for my Indian heads) teachings. Both were raped of their assets, subjected to unthinkable expectations, and enslaved (Indians in Trinidad and other parts of the Caribbean, among other places). The lesson that I took out of this parallel is that as a global society there is historically more that joins us than seperates us.