Political Rant... (i promise this is the last rant today)

This is a bit incomplete in terms of all of my thoughts on the subject, but here's a rant that I wrote in response to a forwarded e-mail regarding a Plan supposedly written by Robin Williams on how to deal with the world and the problems facing the United States. I'll paste the entire e-mail so everyone can see it. (Sorry in advance for the length of the post...)

HERE'S MY RESPONSE:

I have seen this e-mail a couple of times before, and it disgusts me every time I see it. There is no arguing that there is a lot that is wrong with the world, but there’s no easy way to fix things.

We need to lead by example – raising the standards of education, healthcare, and environmental and social responsibility (I notice that the person who wrote The Plan didn’t include any ideas on how we are to become self-sufficient in terms of energy consumption) in our own country. The solutions to all of the problems that we, as a global community, are facing are not that simple, though many would like for it to be that way.

We shouldn’t stop trying to give aid to people who need it just because of corrupt governments. That only shows that we don’t have any compassion, and a world without compassion is not a place that I want to live in or raise my son in. That being said, we should not stop trying to help people in other governments escape or change their governments.

What we do need to do is stop attacking other countries and governments without a secure plan in place for how we are going to rebuild that country and turn it over to the people who live there within a reasonable timeframe. Counting on the people who live in the country that we just bombed the hell out of to greet us as liberators will not build or rebuild hospitals, electrical grids, water treatment facilities, schools, roads, or the basic structure of their government.

We can’t go around trying to spread democracy to countries and cultures which have no way of understanding what a democracy is on a fundamental level. That concept doesn’t exist in their languages or ways of thinking. You don’t change thousands of years of culture in a few months or even a few years.

The bottom line is that the world sucks right now and there is very little that any individual can do to fix it outside of living their life as an example to others: shunning hatred and bigotry, helping those less fortunate, and being thankful every day for what they have, even if they don’t have a lot.

We are all very fortunate that we live in a country that allows us the freedoms that we have. Many people have fought and died for those freedoms, and I’m very thankful for that, but I’m very disappointed that our society has become so focused on accumulating possessions and keeping track of the lives of celebrities. I hear more people talking about what Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are doing with their twins than I do about the upcoming Presidential election, which I find not only disconcerting for the lack of interest in what could potentially be a huge landmark in our country’s history, but a sad sign that reason and compassion are quickly becoming extinct where the general populous is concerned.

There’s a reason that people all over the world (and in our own country) refer to us as ‘Ugly Americans’ – we, as a society, have become very ugly. We expect everyone to respect us, but have given very little reason why they should. We demand that they speak what we refer to as English wherever we go. We don’t bother to learn any other language or about any other cultures. Why? Because we’re Americans. Why should we have to learn about other peoples or ideas? They should all want to be like us.

The world doesn’t revolve around the United States, but the person who wrote The Plan definitely thinks that it does.


HERE'S THE RESPONSE FROM MY HUSBAND TO THE PERSON THAT FORWARDED THE ORIGINAL MESSAGE (AND EVERYONE ELSE THAT IT WAS SENT TO BY THAT PERSON):
Whether you agree with the content or not, know that the attribution to Robin Williams is completely false. The only part of “The Plan” that can be attributed to Robin Williams is the last quote about the Statue of Liberty. For more information about the origins of said “Plan”, go to the following link:http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/williams.aspAnd if you say to yourself, “it doesn’t matter whether Robin Williams said it. The point is the content,” ask yourself (and be honest): would you have bothered to forward the email if Robin Williams name WASN’T attached to it?

HERE IS THE CONTENT OF THE MESSAGE THAT WAS FORWARDED:
ROBIN WILLIAMS’ PLAN… (hard to argue with this logic!)
‘I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of a plan for peace. So, here's one plan.'

1) 'The US will apologize to the world for our 'interference' in their affairs, past & present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic, Hussein, and the rest of those 'good 'ole' boys', we will never 'interfere' again.

2) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany, South Korea, the Middle East, and the Philippines. They don't want us there. We should station troops at our borders. No one allowed sneaking through holes in the fence

3) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave. We'll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of whom or where they are. They're illegal!!!!

4) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days unless given a special permit!!!! No one from terrorist nation will be allowed in. If you don't like it there, change it yourself and don't hide here. Asylum would never be available to anyone. We don't need any more cab drivers or 7-11 cashiers.

5) No foreign 'students' over age 21. The older ones are the bombers. If they don't attend classes, they get a 'D' and it's back home baby.

6) The US will make a strong effort to become self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing nonpolluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will have to cope for a while.

7) Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil. If they don't like it, we go someplace else. They can go somewhere else to sell their production. (About a week of the wells filling up the storage sites would be enough.)

8) If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not interfere.' They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need. Besides most of what we give them is stolen or given to the army. The people who need it most get very little, if anything.

9) Ship the UN Headquarters to an isolated island someplace. We don't need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, the building would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens. 10) All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can call us 'Ugly Americans' any longer. The Language we speak is ENGLISH..learn it...or LEAVE...

Now, isn't that a winner of a plan?

'The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.' She's got a baseball bat and she's yelling, 'you want a piece of me?'

If you agree with the above forward it to friends...If not, and would be amazed, DELETE it.