Archive for the ‘Other’ Category
Page 1 of 2 1 2
Viewing Options List View Grid View

Why Does The World Seem To Hate Us?

This is post #4 in a series called “Dark Clouds In Our Future”

america

It seems sometimes as if almost every country on the planet, including those that are supposedly allies, are out to see the US destroyed. People cheer anything that seems like it could be a blow to the United States. There are even growing numbers on groups within the United States that seem to hate our way of life and want us to collapse.

Ever wondered why that is?

I have heard some of the, in my opinion, overly simplistic and outright incorrect answers given to us by the mainstream. Here are a few I have heard -

  • They hate us for our freedom.
  • They are jealous of what we have.
  • They just don’t understand us.
  • They are backwards.

There are others as well, but they typically seem to fall into one of those four categories for the most part.

Are these true? Do people around the world really hate us because “they are backwards” or “they are jealous?” Or could it be that there are some legitimate reasons why many of the people around the world have a problem with us?

——-
Now, I should stop here and say that there are some cases where the above statements are true. Those who would choose to kill or destroy us in the name of their religion are certainly backwards and misguided. There may also be those who are truly jealous of America (although this doesn’t really seem to be the case). And I don’t think anyone actually hates us for our freedom. They may want to take it away, but it is not because they hate us for it. They just simply hate.
——-

Then Why?

So then, if, for the most part, the people who hate or just generally dislike the US don’t fit into the main categories above, then why? Well, the reality is a little more complicated than we typically hear on the news, but I think it can can narrowed down to one sentence -

Simply put – we have, in many ways, lost our virtue.

Let me say that again – We, as a people and in many ways, have lost our virtue. What do I mean by that exactly? Let me break it down into three categories (although there are more) -

Greed

How is it that we became the largest creditor nation in the world (in other words, everybody owed us money), to the largest debtor nation in the world and of all time? Half of the answer is greed.

Let me ask you this – we all know the economy tanked in 2008, but do you know why? Most people that I talk to don’t. While there were numerous factors, the largest one was this – our banking system, in a convenient partnership with our government, gave out loans to people who they knew could not afford them, mostly home loans, playing on their desire to own their own home (which is not a bad thing).

But, that’s not the worst part. While doing that, they also essentially “bet” against those of you who took out a loan, expecting up front that you wouldn’t be able to pay it. They succumbed to such a level of greed that has never been seen. And what happened – when their little scheme came to an end and it all failed, our government gave them your tax money to pay off their debts on the bad loans. They still foreclosed on everyone’s homes, and got their paychecks.

How did this happen? We live in a society now where greed has become a god and a virtue. It’s all around us – in our music, in our schools, in our businesses, in the halls of our governments.

Here’s the worst part and why this affects how the world sees us. It’s been said that when America sneezes, the rest of the world gets a cold. While many have suffered dearly here due to what has happened, others in the world, who are dependent on the US as we buy many of their exports, were left starving and homeless.It crippled the entire world financial market when we crashed. And it never had to happen.

That being said, from an outside perspective, why would anyone still look up to America?

(And don’t even get me started again on how we are devaluing the dollar! Read more about that here.)

Dependence

(This one is going to get me in trouble with some of my more progressive friends.) There was a time when self-reliance and independence was a virtue of a majority of Americans.

Now, more than 50% of Americans are on some type of government assistance.

What happened to bootstrapping? What happened to finding a way? What happened to individuals, families, and churches helping one another?

When there was a problem, people in the US used to say, “We need to do something about this.” Now, in general, people are more likely to say, “Someone needs to do something about this.” This is a fundamental shift in our thinking reflected by the number of people on the take from the government.

Often during the day, I hear commercials for “free camera phones” and “get a cell phone for $1.49/month!” These are government programs. Why is it that I am paying for a camera phone for someone else? That’s just one simple example.

I understand that we can’t simply rip out our safety net from people who need help and I know that there are people who genuinely need assistance. I am not saying that we should shut down all of these programs tomorrow. I am saying we need to get back to looking within ourselves first and looking around us to see who we can help.

How does this relate to why the world feels differently about us? Because this particular virtue is what, in many ways, made us unique and set us apart from the rest of the world. People could come here and have their freedom and get their own start. Now the tax and regulation burden is so high that many Americans are instead leaving and going elsewhere to start or maintain their businesses.

Violence

(This is the one where I may anger my conservative friends.) We have the largest, strongest military the world has ever seen. I can’t imagine anyone disputing that. And I would agree with those who say that the best offense is a good defense.

However, we aren’t just playing defense anymore. We are on the offensive all over the world.

I have the utmost respect for our troops. In every way. What an awful position they are in – fighting all over the world, many of them going on multiple tours.

The people I do not have respect for are the ones sending them there – our politicians. Unfortunately, we voted for them. In fact, many of you voted for Obama because you believed he would change this. That hasn’t exactly worked out.

Let me ask you a few questions -

  • Why are we in Afghanistan still?
  • Why do we have troops still in Iraq and people on the ground in Libya and Syria?
  • Why do we always end up involved militarily in every single conflict around the world (except the one happening on our own borders)?
  • Do you believe the world is a better place now because of the last 11 years of perpetual war?
  • Do you believe that we have “won the hearts and minds” and/or “liberated” the people in these places?

Having talked to friends from around the world, very few people see us as “liberators.” They see us more like an empire for all the fighting that we do around the planet. Ron Paul often tries to make this point, and m Republican friends often boo him for it, but he is mostly right – rather than winning hearts and minds, we have lost most of them.

Simply put – we cannot continue to meddle in everyone’s lives around the world and expect them to love us for it. Would you? I won’t even belabor the debate as to whether we should be in these wars or not – just consider the fact that if we have troops on the ground in a foreign country, most of the time, good or bad, right or wrong, we will be considered invaders and not liberators.

This post has already gone longer than I wanted, so I will stop here and continue in the next post on this same subject, including some more evidence to back up all my above claims. But I want to hear your thoughts, your objections, your questions. Hit me up in the comments or via email.

Also, please do me a favor if you like this post (or even if you don’t and want to argue with me) and share it by clicking the like, share, tweet or any of the other buttons over to the side!

Good Days And Bad Days

“All the bad days have two things in common: you know the right thing to do, but you let someone talk you out of it.”

Tom Bihn

I owe Chris Guillebeau for sharing this quote - http://artofnonconformity.com/3×5/

Those Darn Nazi’s, With Their Gorillas and Such

Osama Bin Laden Dead

Don’t Eat The Leprous Armadillos

Actual Fuel For Your Body

This new Monster energy drink tastes terrible. But you can get it by the gallon.

A Brand New Caseycase.com + Book Update!

I am currently working with Reece Capps to redesign CaseyCase.com, and make it a bit more organized and user-friendly, and we should be done with it very soon! That is one of many reasons I haven’t posted much since Christmas. I have lots of big announcements coming this year!

Also, some of you have been asking me about my book, which I postponed toward the end of 2010. Right now, I am hoping to get it out in February, but I don’t want to make another big to-do about it like last time until it is totally finished!

So, check back soon for my all-new setup! The picture above is a sneak peek of what is coming.

Experiencing Cruelty, Firsthand

The week of Thanksgiving, Maranda and I experienced firsthand a level of cruelty at her job that I haven’t seen in a long time.

Maranda has been working at a dentist’s office here in OKC. Actually, it’s in Edmond. If you know anything about Edmond, it’s a rich place. I made a joke the other day that the front page of the Edmond paper was probably about somebody losing their top hat and monocle.

The people who Maranda works with are not poor either. Several drive luxury cars, and this place rakes in serious, serious cash every day.

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, a poor lady named Martha walked into the office begging for help. She was literally standing there, bleeding from the mouth, and she begged them to fix her mouth. The procedure she needed would have cost $200. She only had $20. She promised, through her tears, to give them the $20 and pay for the rest whenever she could.

They turned her away.

As this was going on, Maranda called me. I was in a meeting with Jordi Mullor about an upcoming project that I have talked about here before – Independence Development. She told me what was happening, and the three of us decided to pay for the procedure.

Fortunately, the lady was still outside. Maranda caught her and told her we would pay for her. As Maranda was getting the money out to pay, her bosses stopped her.

They refused to let us pay for the procedure.

They told Maranda, “We can’t let you do that.” She asked the very pertinent question – “You can’t or you won’t?”

Their answer – “We won’t.

Fortunately, Maranda had already scheduled the procedure, so according to their own rules they had to do the procedure at that point. But, since Martha had promised the $20, they made Maranda pay the $20, because someone working in the office STOLE MARTHA’S $20 BILL. How do we know, because she still wanted to pay it, so Maranda took it, sat it behind the desk, and turned around, and it was gone. The only people in that particular area were folks who work there. Neither Martha nor any other patients could have possibly gotten to it.

Maranda paid the $20 – in change. Mostly pennies. Seriously. Just to make a point.

Why This Angers Me (as if I need to explain)

Now, they did the procedure, which was what we were looking to do, but only because Maranda intervened. Had she not, Martha would have walked out of there bleeding and crying, in almost unbearable pain, while a half dozen people who had the power and ability to help stood and watched.

If that is not the pure definition of cruelty, I don’t know what is.

A medical office does not have the obligation to help everyone who comes in asking for help. I understand that they need to make money. However, they also don’t have an obligation to stop other people from helping someone. One of the people Maranda works with even said, “I wish I could help people like that, but I don’t have the money.” She drives a Lexus.

Another person at the office said they can’t let people help pay for things because other people might find out about it. Seriously? Do you think Martha was going to go out and buy a billboard in Edmond that said, “Free Dental Care!”?

It is shameful that not helping someone who comes in bleeding and crying was standard procedure. That shouldn’t even be an option on the table, for a multimillion dollar enterprise. And who is so greedy as to steal a poor person’s last bit of cash?

I hope that whoever stole Martha’s last $20 can’t sleep at night. And in my anger, I prayed that the place would shut down. I seriously did. Then I asked for forgiveness, and asked God to show them how cruel and apathetic they are (but I still won’t be sad if it shuts down).

As of today, Maranda no longer works there.
Please don’t ever be like this. Don’t allow the world to let your heart fall below 0 degrees. If you could stand and watch as someone bleeds and cries out in pain and choose not to do something about it, then you need to re-evaluate your entire life. Don’t let the fact that no one else is helping – or that someone might get upset if you help or the fact that it might break the rules or cause you an inconvenience later if you help – keep you from helping others who need it. People wonder what is going wrong with America, or for that matter, the world, and why there are so many people suffering. Maybe it’s because the people around them do nothing.

By the way, I’m money to put my money where my mouth is on this – in a big way. But that’s for another post.


Awesome Football Strategy

Talk about thinking out of the box! Check out this fake-out by this Jr High football team! I haven’t seen a trick play that actually worked in a long time! Some people got upset about this, but I say good for them for trying something different! Thanks to Chris Guillebeau for sending me this.

Check Out This Crazy Truck

I parked next to this guy at the gym last night. I have seen some wild paint jobs (or in this case, probably a wrap), but I have never seen anything quite like this! Props to this guy for standing out!

Page 1 of 2 1 2
Viewing Options List View Grid View