And another thing. It's the Fourth of July, Independence Day for the USA. I will shortly be living in the Land of the Free (with a free-thinking President, free of any rational thoughts whatsoever), and I realise that - especially given my British birth - my views on 'Independence Day' will not be appreciated, but so be it. I think it is ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. It is supposedly a celebration of their Independence from Britain, when they gained their liberty by casting off the shackles of 'foreign' oppression. Now, when most countries gain independence, it is because a foreign power has invaded and occupied them, subjugating them for years until finally they rise up and reclaim their land. In America, this is not the case. It is not even the backpack. It is so far from the case that they are at separate airports. You see, the people who were subjugated were the natives. Not the colonists. America is an empire - not just commercially and globally, but within the country itself. Large parts of America - namely California - celebrate the 4th July, yet they were not even part of the United States during the War of Independence. They had yet to be conquered, at least by the English-speaking US. Where is the independence of the native American? A few breadline reservations here and there, with rights to build casinos amid the rage of neo-Con Christians if they wish to make a dishonest buck. Remind anybody of the medieval ghettoisation of the Jews, who were involved in money-lending, at that time forbidden by the zealots of the Church? No, the natives were systematically robbed of their rights and lands, first by British, Spanish, French colonists, but later, with a great deal more rigour, by the Americans. That's what freedom meant to the US - they could be free to conquer and destroy as much as they wished, and then keep all the spoils for themselves. Let's not forget that the call for indepedence was based on a resistance to paying taxes. It was, to be blunt, a liberty for the greedy. So now, the citizens of the US celebrate their independence, oblivious to the irony that their enviable position as the World's Only Superpower(TM) means that nobody else on the planet is independent from them or the actions of their government. And to top off the irony, Britain, far from being the liberty-hating tyrant, now acts like little more than a lap-dog to the Land of the Free(copyright US Government). Still, I'm looking forward to living there. I just hope the Land of the Free extends to my freedom to have this opinion; though to be honest, I doubt I'll bring it up much at many 4th July barbecues, because I might start seeing Stars, but not Stripes.
4th July - InDenial Day
4.7.05 17:42
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