[lit-ideas] Re: U.S. superlatives (was Victor Hanson in Iraq)
- From: "Mike Geary" <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 11:54:17 -0600
US:
The real America isn't like that. The real America is just so much wasted
potential.
Yes, Ursula, thank you. The most aggravating thing about Lawrence's
accusation that the "Left" is anti-American is that he's right -- the "Left"
is anti the America that the Right wants us to be: plutocratic, sexist,
racist, militaristic, imperialistic, fascistic, theocratic. I think there's
a better way. I think Lawrence does too. As he says: "How thoroughly
rotten to have the finest, freest, most democratic and successful culture in
the world" and to use those blessings for self-aggrandizement which is the
one and only cardinal virtue of the Right. "How depraved to have the most
powerful military" rather than the most powerful vision for the future of
mankind. "Surely all the nay-saying defeatist Leftist are right to condemn a
nation so brilliantly successful" at exploiting the resources of the earth
and its people for their own corporate and private greed.
OK, yes, I had to finish Lawrence's thoughts for him, but I'm sure that's
what he was thinking.
Besides locking away more people than any other nation -- btw, am I alone
in finding it strange that Eric would offer as support for our incarceration
rates the comments of some Brazilian friends (a country even more wracked
with economic inequity and social injustice than our own)? ah, but I'm sure
those friends are there floating around NYC in an endeavor to ameliorate the
god awful poverty of so many in Brazil -- we also find ourselves on an even
more damning list, those nations that still permit capital punishment:
a.. Afghanistan
b.. Antigua and Barbuda
c.. Bahamas
d.. Bahrain
e.. Bangladesh
f.. Barbados
g.. Belarus
h.. Belize
i.. Botswana
j.. Burundi
k.. Cameroon
l.. Chad
m.. China (People's Republic)
n.. Comoros
o.. Congo (Democratic Republic)
p.. Cuba
q.. Dominica
r.. Egypt
s.. Equatorial Guinea
t.. Eritrea
u.. Ethiopia
v.. Gabon
w.. Ghana
x.. Guatemala
y.. Guinea
z.. Guyana
aa.. India
ab.. Indonesia
ac.. Iran
ad.. Iraq
ae.. Jamaica
af.. Japan
ag.. Jordan
ah.. Kazakhstan
ai.. Korea, North
aj.. Korea, South
ak.. Kuwait
a.. Kyrgyzstan
b.. Laos
c.. Lebanon
d.. Lesotho
e.. Libya
f.. Malawi
g.. Malaysia
h.. Mongolia
i.. Nigeria
j.. Oman
k.. Pakistan
l.. Palestinian Authority
m.. Qatar
n.. Rwanda
o.. St. Kitts and Nevis
p.. St. Lucia
q.. St. Vincent and the Grenadines
r.. Saudi Arabia
s.. Sierra Leone
t.. Singapore
u.. Somalia
v.. Sudan
w.. Swaziland
x.. Syria
y.. Taiwan
z.. Tajikistan
aa.. Tanzania
ab.. Thailand
ac.. Trinidad and Tobago
ad.. Uganda
ae.. United Arab Emirates
af.. United States
ag.. Uzbekistan
ah.. Vietnam
ai.. Yemen
aj.. Zambia
ak.. Zimbabwe
Mike Geary
Memphis
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ursula Stange" <Ursula@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 9:37 AM
Subject: [lit-ideas] U.S. superlatives (was Victor Hanson in Iraq)
Lawrence Helm wrote:
Ah me, how wicked it is to be the preeminent Liberal Democracy in the
world. How thoroughly rotten to have the finest, freest, most democratic
and successful culture in the world. How degrading to have the richest
most successful economy. How depraved to have the most powerful
military. Surely all the nay-saying defeatist Leftist are right to
condemn a nation so brilliantly successful....
What a list of adjectives...preeminent, finest, freest, most democratic,
richest, brilliantly successful....
I remember that America. I learned about it in my fourth grade history
class. The real America isn't like that. The real America is just so
much wasted potential. Surely you've noticed a few inconsistencies
between the words and the reality. Surely you know that the U.S.
consistently falls near or at the bottom of lists of industrialized
nations in terms of education, health care, life expectancy. But, here
is one example where the U.S. outdoes everyone in the world...
From Reuters...
A U.S. Justice Department report released on November 30 showed that a
record 7 million people -- or one in every 32 American adults -- were
behind bars, on probation or on parole at the end of last year. Of the
total, 2.2 million were in prison or jail.
According to the International Center for Prison Studies at King's College
in London, more people are behind bars in the United States than in any
other country. China ranks second with 1.5 million prisoners, followed by
Russia with 870,000.
The U.S. incarceration rate of 737 per 100,000 people in the
highest, followed by 611 in Russia and 547 for St. Kitts and Nevis. In
contrast, the incarceration rates in many Western industrial nations range
around 100 per 100,000 people.
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/us-imprisons-more-people-than-any-other/20061209111509990004
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