American People don´t know dissent

The other night I was visiting with three of my uncles. One is a die-ard fisherman, retired. The other two are academians. One has a PhD. in Social Sciences and how things like land redistribution affect society, and the other an art historian and university professor in Barcelona. As it usually happens, the conversation turned to politics. First there were the necessary Chavez talks. Then things turned to the U.S. Now I’m not one to be easily driven to defend the United States of America. And I think it unnecessary to tell you why, but some of the things that one of my uncles said really pissed me off.

He said that we’re a bunch of pushovers. That we had absolutely no balls as a people to stand up for ourselves in the face of corruption. He said that we were blinded be greed and cheap materialism. I interrupted and said that he was generalizing, that I felt a movement brewing of people who wanted to spend their money more wisely.

His reply was a bit like some of the conspiracy theories we’ve all heard before. Why is the Bush’s and the bin Laden´s family relationship not a big question mark for the “American People?” How come we don’t freak out about the war, no weapons of mass destruction, Guantanamo, Enron, you name it. Why aren’t we standing in the front lawn of the White House demanding to know why there were no remains of the plain that hit the Pentagon? Sure we’ve all heard these things, they are on CNN and 60 Minutes too.

I left that night feeling annoyed with my uncle, feeling that he generalized in a way that any self-respecting academian would not dare to. I went to sleep feeling slighted and disrespected.

Then I woke up the next day and thought about it again. He is fucking right! Why don’t we strike and ask hard questions and stand up and wait for the goddamned response? Why do we watch the ENRON debacle transpire as if it was another episode of Seinfeld, knowing that the sons of bitches helped to steal the elections? Why don’t we panic at the thought that our nation is completely fucking bankrupted and going full steam ahead into a deeper abyss of debt that our grandchildren won’t finish paying? Why don’t we cry when our schools absolutely suck and we have the ability to send men to the moon?

Are we so fucking cheap that all we care about is stuff?

You think I’m being dramatic? Check for yourself.

Do feel like you know what’s going on? If you do let me know.