Shiny red ball
Here’s a pop quiz. What makes America so great? I bet you said freedom huh? Well, if you are like most Americans you said freedom; why is this normally the default answer? Don’t other countries have freedom as well? Sure plenty of countries live in a democracy although I won’t get into naming them, I’ll let you google around for them.
So if you answered freedom then that must only be one piece of the puzzle since other countries have freedom but they aren’t the greatest. I would assume that if I asked most Americans what else made us great they would point to our strong military power. Our economic power might not be as high as some other countries out there but at least our military can kick their military’s ass right? Does this make a country great? Mike Tyson can certainly beat up the Gandhi but I don’t there anyone in their right mind would agree that Mike Tyson is greater than Gandhi. So why does this hold true for countries?
Stop looking at me!
We spend so much money on war and anti terrorism projects yet smoking alone has killed more people in this country in one year than both OIF and OEF put together. We are able to kill ourselves much more efficiently then terrorists ever can yet most of our efforts seem to be on them. It’s almost as if we are worried about scratching an itch on our left leg while a wolf is tearing off our right. We really need to prioritize a lot better.
I think most of our problem stems from the fact that most Americans are too proud. We are too proud to see our weaknesses so we believe we have none or that they aren’t as big of a deal. We as a society need to do some self reflection and correct some of our own pitfalls before we can try to correct others mistakes. No child in Africa should be fed by American tax dollars until every American has a home and a job. We shouldn’t help rebuild some country that was hit by a hurricane until all damage on our soil has been repaired.
We need to stop looking at the shiny red ball and focus on the real problems. Not the problems made up by the government or some tree hugging hippie. Fuck the whales and the starving children! Let’s worry about us.
/* Just a little rant I had in me before my nap time. I figured I ought to get this down before I wasn’t so grumpy and didn’t feel like writing it anymore. */
5 Responses to “Shiny red ball”
i’m hoping you called me a “whore” out of love… you may need to preface your namecalling with a little message… otherwise you sound like an asshole in someone’s comment section.
Don’t worry Jessica, he’s just a little insecure about his manhood. Perhaps bitching online like a whiny, emo, bastard is something worthwhile. While he’s probably anti-war, worrying about the people, yet he still says shit that are not beneficial for people whatsoever. Just cuz you’re an American, don’t mean you have to be a selfish prick. Americans are too proud? Well, I guess that just destroys your argument by the useless ramblings of pig shit, swill, that you just tried to ‘rant’ about.
Prioritize this, bitch.
1) Grab a kitchen knife with serrated edges.
2) Slash across wrist and jugular, HARD, (make sure it’s hard now, you weakass scumbastard.)
3) Rejoice everytime you hear the sound of your blood drop on the tile floor.
first off, i enjoyed your red ball image. now for my answer:
Freedom is obviously central to our success and cannot be ignored, but I will add to that the following ingredients:
Natural Resources & diverse geography
Innovative, risk-taking citizens
Republic govt. NOT a democracy
Amazingly inspired constitution as our foundation
Hi Seth,
Over the weekend I’ve been thinking about your shiny red ball posting of the 19th. Toward the end you mention feeding children in the U.S. before worrying about kids in Africa, hurricane relief here first, and evaluating our own society. You present a lot of food for thought.
I suspect that America has the resources to both help folks here and abroad but our giving gets stymied by greed, both corporate and individual. I’ve heard the saying that if everyone would go a little hungry, then no one would starve. But they, I’m a greedy for my own gain as anybody else, so I want to keep what I’ve got for me.
But your post did get me to thinking and yesterday, my wife and I talked a lot about our own patern of giving. OK, what we can give to help is a drop in the bucket, but that’s no reason not to help others for that drop’s worth.
Thanks for the food for thought.
Hi John,
Thanks for the comment. As with most of my posts, I am not speaking as an expert since I really haven’t studied much of the subjects I speak about nor do I plan to. With this post I actually don’t even believe all of what I said. It was for “food for thought” like you said to get people thinking instead of going along with the mob mentality.
“I suspect that America has the resources to both help folks here and abroad but our giving gets stymied by greed, both corporate and individual”
I think that all the rich people of the world don’t give enough. I think it should be relative to your bank account. If you are worth 50 billion then donating a million dollars to charity isn’t much. If I drop 5 bucks in a donation plate every week then I might actually have to cut back on something to support that. There is no reason to be as rich as some people are. This is why I don’t support large musicians or companies with inflated prices. I’m tired of watching millionaire kids with necklaces worth more than my house who give 10 thousand to some charity and think they are gods gift.
This is why I have 600GBs of illegal downloads and I sleep perfectly well at night :).
Thanks again John.
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