When discussing the war in Iraq, the person I discuss it with often tells me that they believe that this war is justified because "we are spreading democracy". I think this is a silly thing to do or say.
Western culture is a wonderfully expressive one in which we can all share what we want to with each other; it is highly adaptable to other forms of culture and other beliefs, which is one of the reasons why it has become the biggest place to immigrate to in the world. The West, which I define as Western and northern Europe and America, is a wonderful place to live and I am thankful to be from here.
However, other cultures are also just as rich and beautiful, in their own ways. This is where "we are spreading democracy" becomes moot. Not every country is suited to "democracy" (which we're not in America, btw). Not every people wants democracy. We are growing young ones, telling them that we are a beautiful democracy and how we should be thankful that we are the best country on Earth. We are feeding them the idea that they are better than other countries, and that our way of life is a step above the rest of the world. We are willfully feeding xenophobia and prejudice into the children of America, and this is a deeply wrong thing that we are doing.
If a country is not hurting it's people, not posing a threat to our nation's people, with proof intact, and is not asking for our help, then we have no business being over there. There are many countries that are asking for our help, such as nations of Africa, and we are not doing anything. There are lawless places with massacres going on, and we are doing nothing. Places like Iceland are on the verge of not being able to feed its people, and we are doing nothing. These are places asking for our help, asking for us to help them back onto their feet.
Instead, we take what help we can offer and force it upon a country that never asked for help. I can understand going into Iraq when the people were being killed by the government and there was lawlessness, but why are we there now? To asaliminate a country into a culture by force.
Fair? Just? Amazing?
That's democracy for you.
 20 Shades of Crazy · Fri Oct 31, 2008 @ 12:32am · 0 Comments |
