Re: Rachel "The Human Waffle" Corrie.
Just you wait. In Bush's America the Homeland Security Dept. whatever
with its all-seeing eye will make us safe just like the old USSR.
We're already encouraged to report if our neighbors are engaged in
"suspicious" activity. We'll just need a Stalin-like figure to rule
us. Oh wait, never mind...
-Ozzy
--- In OliveStarlightOrchestra_at_yahoogroups.com, "tschibasch"
<tschibasch_at_y...> wrote:
> Yes, you were number "666", you beast.
>
> :-)
>
> Allow me to respond to what you have said...
>
> > > I think there is a similarity between Rachel Corrie and John
Walker
> > > Lindh: Both were young people from affluent backgrounds,
> >
> > Yup. Only rich kids can afford to play at being oppressed.
>
> Absolutely! These kids (or "adults", as you pointedly called them
> later in your message) came from a level of comfort and idleness,
and
> did not have to worry about getting a boring job like so many other
> folks. They wanted to 'fix the world', and their parents probably
were
> proud of their enthiusiasm and gave them the money to go travel.
>
> Let's face it: Most people, idealistic or not, do not get such
> opportunities. The option for them is to join the Peace Corps, which
> would not be acceptable to the Corries and Lindhs because they
expect
> you to WORK. ;-)
>
> I don't want to mention any names, but I know a person who had
joined
> the Peace Corps and had gone to Kenya for more than 10 years. He
left
> the USA with the knowledge that the USA and capitalism is bad, and
> that the legacy of the Western World left a terrible wound in the
> 'African Psyche'. He was a hard worker, and was going to help any
way
> he could!
>
> He married a Kenyan woman, and now lives near LA. He has told me a
lot
> about his experiences. The corruption and pettiness was more than he
> could bear. His anger about it is palpable. They could not even
> install a pipe to get clean water to a village: After paying all the
> outrageous bribes, any efforts were always upset and derailed by
> neighboring villages. People were stopping other people from getting
> ahead, if necessary by death and destruction. The end of it all is
> that nobody is ahead.
>
> These are hard times, Mike, but I still think that we need not be so
> harsh on youthful idealism. A trip to the Third World often does
> wonders to put things into perpective, by the way. I have always
> recommended that more people travel...
>
> When I was younger after graduating UCLA I went on my own to the
USSR.
> The Soviet Tourist Agency had package deals, and visitors like
myself
> had friendly tourist guides (in Iraq, they are called "minders", I
> think). I was easily able to give these folks the slip and I went
out
> on my own, using their extensive subway system. An obvious
foreigner,
> I met people and was invited back to their homes. (This was
completely
> safe! Sadly, I also accepted similar invitations in North Africa,
and
> am lucky now to still be alive...) I saw the standard of living in
the
> USSR: It was comparable to a USA family on welfare. Maybe even not
as
> good as. At that time, there was also no freedom of speech like we
> have here, though by then Gorbachev was already working on it.
>
> Later after leaving the USSR I ended up in Britain and visited
> relatives. Some of them are quite left wing... correction, ALL of
them
> are left wing! They wanted my impressions of the USSR, and I told
> them. No, no, they disagreed. They insisted that the standard of
> living in the USSR was high. High? Compared to what? Pakistan,
maybe.
> They also concluded that I had not seen the 'Real USSR', or
something
> like that. All of these opinions from people who had never been more
> than 100 miles in any direction! Never even been to France.
>
> Anyway, my point is that these folks had their idealism, their
> opinions, but lacked any resources to travel and see the world. So,
> they are more likely to be stuck that way.
>
>
> John
Received on 2003-03-28 21:05:42
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