Racism, Xenophobia and other Family Values
Every October 14th, we celebrate a saintly adventurer, discoverer, and patriot — the fellow who captained three ships (N, P, and SM) on something blue in ninety-two. Chris was the first to introduce indigenous pagans to prayer, piety, and punishment. The lucky savages gratefully reciprocated by sharing chests of valuable souvenirs with their newfound European friends, thereby swearing obeisance to Spain’s Queen and to the Holy See.
Thus begins a series of classes taught in the same rigid way, using the same flattering vocabulary to parrot a consistent and seamless account of the planet’s most exceptional 50-state solution — if you ignore a short list of possible lapses, when “mistakes were made”:
Five of the current nine Supreme Court Justices are Catholic, though only five percent of Blacks in the United States are Catholic.
What of the exiled, exterminated, ethnically cleansed, bombed to the Stone Age, kicked out, sold out, disappeared, abducted, drowned, burned, staked, flayed, shot, cut, mutilated, poisoned, lynched?
Disinherited, segregated (red-lined, green-lined, whitewashed, burned down/burned up, Jim Crowed, New-Jim-Crowed), barracked, detained, imprisoned, interred, gentrified, gerrymandered…
To the victors go the spoils and the lucrative future contracts with docile “American modeled democracy” certified governments
A manifest destiny extending from Atlantic to Pacific, spanning two continents between those oceans — what could possibly get in the way? The Big Lie, made coherent from myriad little cherry-picked lies, gets repeated over the centuries to justify a penchant for an overwhelming use of force for Truth, Justice, and the American Way.
Empires rape, plunder, pillage, trample, and torture with rabid impunity. But reserve those words for your real or imagined foes. To the victors go the spoils and the lucrative future contracts with docile “American modeled democracy” certified governments — preferably administered by puppet regimes. The U.S. just told Venezuela to clear out the chambers of government, make clear the way for its next puppet.
The United States expanded rapidly from thirteen States to fifty. Genocide happens. Slavery happens. The Electoral College is still a backstop that assures our elites that the Constitution has their respective backs. The Constitution in its “original” form is still revered by Originalists in our supreme judiciary. Five of the current nine Supreme Court Justices are Catholic, though only five percent of Blacks in the United States are Catholic.
Prepare to be collaterally killed, maimed, blinded, starved, bombed, tear-gassed, napalmed, carpeted with white-phosphorus, terrorized, shot at a whim, desecrated and cursed if you buck the Empire.
Unexploded explodable bombs still kill in Laos, the most bombed country on the planet.
What you don’t know can kill children and many other living things.
Thanks for reading.
billziegler1947 
A powerful post, Bill. What did the people of Laos do wrong to deserve the wrath of our gods?
While we regard ourselves as civilized beings, we are, in fact, a brutal and savage species. As your post reveals, humanity’s so-called progress is built on violence, destruction, and death. The consequences of such behavior are now unraveling before our eyes. Tragically, those blinded by greed and power cannot see their folly. Like Pontius Pilate, they have washed their hands of all responsibility for the existential crises–and they are legion–that our species now face.
Blessings.
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Thank *you* for powerful words too, Rosaliene. Whenever I hear the word “drone” I always think of someone at a computer screen 10,000 miles away from the drone, working a “joystick” that ticks a kill count. The CIA “Secret War” in Laos was one of many conducted by the war criminals, the perpetrators never convicted in that vast geopolitical nightmare in Southeast Asia. Of course, it was preceded by much of the same and continued with much of the same. In 1975 I was naive enough to think that at least *some* lessons might have been learned. Seems not. Only the technological capability of their toys has changed. The perpetrators are still perpetrating. The only thing I seem able to do is to write about it and to vote against them. Thanks so much for reading!
https://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/how-us-secret-war-laos-still-happening-today
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It pains me to say, and perhaps I’ll live to regret the day, but I wonder — aside from the collateral damages, could it be that people have the government they deserve? By deliberately submitting to the rule of another, to willfully participate in their game, to surrender one’s autonomy, to become a voluntary agent of the brute. Themselves assuming the role of tyrants over the earth and its creatures, all while calling themselves civilized as they consume the flesh, fat, and excretions of sentient earthlings. Yes, I think so. As for my part, I will obey our masters only as far as keeps me free to walk the streets and only within the bounds my morality. Forgive me, but I can see it no other way beyond pretending; they have, in fact, the government they deserve. My sympathies are to those and only those who practice non-violence in every aspect possible, the rest be damned.
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I’m calling myself an “eyegalitarianist” — acknowledging the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness at the eye-contact level. All the borders, walls, death camps/slaughterhouses, political entities… all arbitrary points of division maintained by force for agendas, interests, religious hegemony and all the other blind faiths out there. Most advanced technologies are first funded for military purposes, such as artificial limbs and drones. There are undetonated cluster bombs in Laos that cost $3.00 to manufacture, but that cost $1,000 to disarm.
Votes give us what we deserve, but that system is also micro-gamed by well funded dark agencies. One dark agent, one thousand votes. Right now my eyes are on Venezuela.
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Oh my, my… Bill, you could not be more right. Just imagine how much more evolved and advanced in many virtues humanity would hold if we — at least in the Western Hemisphere — had listened to Marcus Tullius Cicero over 2,000 years ago:
Aside from his glaring anti-Semitism and a few other faults Greco-Roman aristocrats proudly flaunted, I’d say Cicero was pretty damn prophetic and spot on. 😉
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“Nescire autem quid ante quam natus sis acciderit, id est semper esse puerum. Quid enim est aetas hominis, nisi ea memoria rerum veterum cum superiorum aetate contexitur?” (Cicero’s original. Not entirely, since Latin is all upper case).
Quite literally an orator for the ages. Two years of Latin was mandatory at the high school I attended — about two millennia ago as I recall. More recently, I refreshed my Latin and still manage to keep it alive. An early introduction to inflected languages too. Both German and Latin have tap roots to Proto Indoeuropean: one branch stretching north of the Alps, the other to the south. Unexpected commonalities exist between the Germanic and the Romance of course.
I like to refer to the Mediterranean as Middle Earth — central for all those Greco-Roman seafarers 🙂
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Well Bill, clearly I am going to have to make you my go-to-guy for any necessary philology with and during my endeavors into the historiography and historicity of Antiquity of the Mediterranean, or rather “Middle Earth.” 😉
Reading your About page Bill with great intrigue and curiosity I see that we are both (former?) educators with some topics in common and adoration for the immense value of advanced, more comprehensive history, specifically I think its various cultural-vernacular influences over time. I think I shall be able to excuse your mistake of current residence. 😁😉 A very dear ex-g/f of mine is from Owensboro, KY. I am a little familiar with portions of the Hillbilly state. hehehe
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I shall clear some room on the bookshelf for Middle-Earth Studies, perhaps next to Middle-English and Mittelhochdeutsch.
Thanks for not only visiting my About Page, but reading it with intrigue and curiosity: two characteristics, Professor, that we certainly share.
“Now for something completely different” has always been my modus operandi, the roads less traveled my life plan — Professional iconoclasm too. 🙂
I’m also always looking for patterns in “the immense value of advanced, more comprehensive history, specifically I think its various cultural-vernacular influences over time.”
I’ve also been known for my “mistake of current residence.” — such as living in the only other “K” State, Kansas: Kansas State to be precise. It’s where I got my first Masters (Geography) and taught physical geography and climatology while a TA. It became a springboard to Germany (exchange student ’71 to ’73).
Another thing I’ve been good at is riding a sine wave with decade-long intervals:
’73 to ’83 programming ancient computers, one such was manufactured in ’72.
’83 to ’93 death of my first wife Jeanne, single parenthood, meeting second wife Lisa, completion of second Masters (German) and Ohio Teaching Certificate (German, Geography, English),
’93 to ’03 teaching and programming.
’04 to ’14 Lisa suffers botched surgery, nearly dies, recovers, teaching and translating
’19 updating About Page.
🙂
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I must admit Bill, you have a delightful CV… both academic, professional, and personal. My goodness, a vault of priceless memories and exposures of a life well lived. ❤ 🙂
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Thank you for the enormously encouraging and uplifting words, kind Sir!
“Some forks in the road had sent me careening off a cliff, I’ve kept stumbling on to climb completely different cliffs” — according to my autobiographer. 🙂
We’ve lived in the same house and in the same Owensville exurb since 1987. What gives with that?
In the 19th Century half the population of Cincinnati spoke German. I once counted eight William Zieglers in our telephone directory — the first mayor was a David Ziegler, a Hessian who worked for Washington during America’s first presumption. I taught at a German-American School here that just celebrated its 50th anniversary — was there for 22 years and contrived some methodologies and heuristics discussed on this very blog:
https://billziegler1947.com/category/german-2/
Wishing you well in whatever Owensville exurb you presently inhabit 🙂 🙂
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‘Antlantic to the pacific’-“ gee, the traffic is sure terrific- oh there’s no place like home for the holidays”so the carpenters crooned. Or we can kick it 80’s rap/crap oh Chrissy ooo sailed that ocean blue. With three ships true he killed millions who showed friendships Palm not aware of the coming wrong…. or “the day the universe changed” in Portugal. “…And let’s be fair to him was planning on handing out Christianity with the beads.” Oh no no no what we do not know can harm the children 😉 (catholic jab unfortunately well earned at this point). Or we must invade Iraq? Well duh but thus h guy? Comes to power hen not pres then but cia Director bush wants him there but now is mad he’s not on board? Awwww shucks how alliances shift. Oh wait you didn’t mention Afghanistan my bad.!.
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Hello Starman, Thanks for the ditty 🙂 Actually, it does indeed play right into the narrative that no unnecessary violence took place, but that some unavoidable mistakes happened. And it didn’t stop in California or in Texas where so many cities have Spanish names. What gives with that? The Monroe Doctrine still gets referenced as an umbrella clause that “protects” them from outside influence (in exchange for installing a puppet president and the access of the United Corporations of America to all their resources in perpetuity. Of course, Venezuela is different (even though they have all those fossil fuels). No problem with catholic jabs, I poke at them all the time here 🙂
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Heralding from the land that once claimed a dubious Empire as it’s own; the land that saw scope for money making by way of globalizing the cottage industry that was the West African slave trade; the land that sent those poor, wretched souls west to the then New Lands where they would be humiliated and humbled only to be key elements of industry such as tobacco and cotton that, in turn, would make the British industrial revolution the first of it’s kind worldwide I unequivocally agree with your every word, Sir. My country will never be one I could bring myself to be proud of. Crimes against humanity remain unforgiven in my book.
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Seeds of imperium found root rapidly in the soil here and spread invasively to the Pacific. The “human resources” crammed into cargo holds were yanked from African soil all the way to their cultural taproots. Exploiting the ocean currents that kept those cargotainers flowing with plunder marks the centuries-long circular “trade” chain.
The American Empire sticks its holy crusader flag, leaving many crime scenes in its wake. Each crime sanitized for a G-rated celebration of heroes, patriots, God-fearing, democracy “nurturing” model that stamps its Procrustean standards of American Exceptionalism. The “special” relationship between US and UK winks and nods with a mutual understanding of how the game is played.
It is my privilege to engage with you in exposing the dark deeds that fester beneath the Sugarcane icing that empires slather over the planet. Every page of every history book that is studiously sanitized should have an accompanying leaf that reveals a mere statement of actual facts.
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I am rather taken with the entirety of your riposte, Bill. Especially so, ‘…exposing the dark deeds that fester beneath the Sugarcane icing that empires slather over the planet’ . A fine summation if ever there was one. Your American Empire puts that which was once a British Empire to shame. It has a thing called panache. A panache envied by those it does business with however blind to the true motives or not they might be. The ugly, red-coated latter would swap religion for diamonds by way of gentle enslaving, whereas the fully fledged, far cleverer than its long since dismissed ‘father’, the American version sweet talks and consumes.
In many ways the American example has created a worthy form of wealth in the places it travels to; whereas the Brits never gave a tuppeny toss for the locals. In saying all that, one must never overlook that when push comes to shove and need’s must, America retains the ‘trump’ card. Always has.
The America, the artistic aspect that I personally watched in envy from afar back in the late sixties/early seventies is the one I…looking for the right word…got it…the one I ‘cherish’ the memory of was where artistic endeavour won out, be it music, literature, surreal art’s evolution into something glorious etc. against all the odds from the political elite. She still, unlike this land I am unfortunately super-glued to, has my respect, a respect that’s screaming out for centre ground to be discovered (re-discovered?), yet respect, nonetheless.
Was the American art of all sorts and sizes born upon the return home from Paris, pre wartimes dark clouds of the likes of Hemingway, F Scott Fitzgerald, Man Ray, Henry Miller, Ezra Pound, Lee Miller and a whole host of others who had made Montparnasse there Parisian home? It was said they came to Paris because they believed their ‘native land was a cultural sink.’ Perhaps all ‘native’ lands had earned such a dull tag when compared to Paris back then? Whatever, that, for the main part unconnected group set the bar for new generations to raise.
I drift…apologies…Winston Churchill during WW2 was advised that the cost of the war was draining the exchequer and that the art budget must be axed. Churchills reply when dismissing said advice, ‘Then what are fighting for?’
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Many thanks for sharing this wide-swath perspective, Mike — a long view from a considered perspective. Panache it is. The blood that flowed and the bones chewed to the marrow by the “settlers” and armies clearing everything in the way to make manifest the destiny — all in an astonishingly short time. A mere two centuries long in 1976. Not much time for Jimmy Carter — our last decent President — to enact programs to take a long view at solving social problems. Sustainability, negotiations rather than war, Apartheid avoidance. Intensely ironic that he is still around.
A panoply of rapid-fire events occurring simultaneously over the entire geography and every point of the compass. Eventually sewn together into a solid quilt of 50 “states” with the all so familiar interlocking boundaries.
The British Empire fanned out from a small set of geographies and joined in with a few other European colony-minded enterprises to take on the rather large planet. The American Empire got large *before* taking over the planet. The wand was passed about the time we were being born.
The 60s/70s is a formative period we share. I sense we’ve both shown a thumb or so (1,000?) to what was about to happen in the 80s. Literature gives better guidance and a closer grasp at truth than the concocted and refurbished propaganda soundbites that drone on, that penetrate us, then resound as earworms.
Taking on pursuits upon the roads much lesser traveled but rooted more deeply into the past. Mythologies built on folly but denying each folly to the last breath.
Churchill exists in an eternally resounded stream of endlessly looping quotes, doesn’t he? I won’t get started on where Trump exists 🙂 I won’t get started on Brexit-existence either: something that I also follow closely. 🙂
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Having traveled around Laos several times during my years of living in SE Asia, I must say the Laotian people are the kindest and most gentle to be found on our planet. As an ‘American’, I felt like a piece of shit being there (although on the guilt level a few rungs above the way I felt traveling in Vietnam), but the locals were always welcoming and harbored no malice toward American citizens because of the atrocities our government had wrought on their homes and lands. As @mikesteeden said, our lack of willingness to learn from history is beyond measure.
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