The Unreasonable Man

Or it should be.

Nationalism, as a “people with shared values” is a stupid and outdated idea in 2010. Becasue we live in the same region we must have shared values?

Rubbish.

I had much, much more in common with my English online friend Ian Fuller, who shockingly just died in Bangkok of a heart attack at age 53, leaving his blog up, than I will ever have with anyone religious (meaning 75% of Canada and 90% of America). I had much more in common with Ian than with any socialist, or than with anyone who has never read a book.

And so did Ian’s other friends, from Florida to Bangkok to Manila and beyond.

In 2010, basing anything on geographic proximity is just plain stupid. Hearing Mr Obama and his populist rhetoric, all based on geographic proximity is dumb.

Why should I want to share anything AT ALL with someone whose values I despise, just because he lives 5 miles away from me? In this age of the Internet this is an anachronism.

Young people get it - Mr Obama does not, and it seems to me that very few of our old gray politicians do. Well, their time is over and young people will change the world, thank God.

So Mr Obama, it appears, is the enemy of thinking people, people who have a basic understanding of economics.

He is holding a passionate State of the Union address as I type this. Populist rhetoric is all I hear. Punishing banks “that take your deposits”. Policing to ensure that our “trading partners play by the rules”. Protectionist rules, he means. Talk about “punishing” companies that “send jobs abroad”. Left-wing, protectionist, nationalist, populist rhetoric. “America should be number one”.

And by implication, other nations should be number two, then?

Well, if that is what Americans think, that by sending jobs to Canada, say, or that by buying Canadian products we are “putting America two”, then by that logic we should all want Americans to be number two, or below. With his kind of economic thinking, we will all be poor.

If Mr Obama even means only a small portion of what he says, he is a naif. If he does not, he is a lying politician.

And to think, I was about to write a nice post about America, as the guardian of solid economics. Not so much.

Mr Obama was supposed to leave the economy alone and to abolish things like Guantanamo. Instead, he is ruining the economy and leaving all the Bush-era injustices in place. Very disappointing.

A city of 250,000 in Texas , now has not one single bookstore. So reports CNN.

So. America wants to rule the world, but its citizens espouse 15th century religion, know little about the world, and there are cities of 250,000 without one bookstore.

The prosecution rests its case.

Heard on CNN in the past two days. I know, it is bad to laugh when talking about a disaster like Haiti’s earthquake.. but I cannot resist poking fun at people who do not understand grammar.

“Any equipment that can be carried portably…”

“Dead bodies are starving in the streets…”

I know, stress and all. But also lack of basic education, I fear.

Richard J. Evans finishes his epic biography of the Third Reich thus, and these words reflect what I say time and time again, and explain why this is such a powerful metaphor for the evil that is possible again today and tomorrow:

“The Third Reich raises in the most acute form the possibilities and consequences of the human hatred and destructiveness that exist, even if only in a small way, within all of us. It demonstrates with terrible clarity the ultimate potential consequences of racism, militarism, and authoritarianism. … It poses in the most extreme form the moral dilemmas we all face at one time or another in our lives, of conformity or resistance, action or inaction in the particular situation with which we are confronted. This is why the Third Reich will not go away, but continues to command the attention of thinking people throughout the world long after it has passed into history.”

Exactly. Every time I see unthinking people follow the crowd in embracing idiotic measures just because these appeal to their unthinking sentiments, I think “careful - or there we go again”.

People who say we may not bring up the Nazi comparison when seeing injustice and danger of extremism are sadly mistaken. Not only may we do this: we must.

And that is also why this blog is called The Unreasonable Man.

My rule is that whenever you suggest something idiotic and give “terrorism” as the reason, 80% of the population agrees. No matter how stupid the suggestion.

And so it is not surprising for me to read in today’s Globe and Mail that 4 out of 5 Canadians are in favour of the “virtual strip-search” scanners. “Everything that is necessary” is OK when it comes to fighting terrorists, say Canadians.

Apparently that incliudes giving up freedoms that have been 2,000 years in the making. I really feel like someone watching the birth of Nazi Germany, unable to do anything. Our right to not be strip-searched has been abolished just like that.

And I am pretty sure 80% of Germans thought all Jews should be sent away “to the East”, back in 1933. Yes, I know, I must not bring up the Nazis. Except I choose to, since it is a very good parallel to other situations where we give up freedoms “to fight terrorism”.

Now CNN is asking some preacher where God is in Haiti.

And then they nod understandingly and appreciatively when the cleric waffles about how God is in us, etc., and they thank him profusely (and, it seems to me, sycophantically) for those “important thoughts”. (or some such words).

I’m not sure why I even watch any American media outlets.

..the people of Haiti and those working on their behalf”, said president Obama just now on CNN.

Seems to me that it was God who caused the earthquake (insurers call an earthquake an “act of God”, after all) in the first place, so why would he want to help now? He’s pretty schizophrenic, if you ask me.

Of course the president has to talk about God. This is required in the USA. Even if you are an atheist (which as an intelligent man he must surely be). What you think is not important; what you say, how you pander to interests, is.

But he does not pander to mine. President Obama is the man who promised to close Guantanamo in his first year. Hasn’t happened. Politician. Liar. First it was close it in the first 100 days, then it was in the first year; it was always “no more military commissions”. Right. Credibility = zero.

I am not sure why if I break a promise during a minor commercial transaction, say when I promise to pay for a pair of surgical stockings, or a new Metallica CD that I have ordered in, I can be taken to court and will be made to pay; but when I make empty promises in the commission of becoming president of the United States, it is glossed over and allowed “because, yes, it was difficult”.

“I intended to pay my taxes,your honour, but it was more difficult than I thought”. “I intended to keep up my car payments, your honour, but it was more difficult than I had anticipated”. Think those would stand up in court? But in politics, we apparently expect lying and we condone it.

When I say “we”, I exclude “me”. I will never vote for a lying politician, which is why I did not vote in the last election. Nor will I say kind things about them. Mr Obama held out some hope of being an honest politician who would keep his promises. Phuh, shows you how naive I am.

This of course adds to the sense of betrayal. And yes, US politicians matter to me as a non-American. The US is, after al, the imperial superpower and much of what we do worldwide is because the US dictates it.

And this is true in so many ways. The way I consume media is US-dictated. Air travel has been made into police state bullying because of US-imposed rules. My car’s emission system and my car’s inability to start more than 20 times when the special liquid is out is US-dictated. Even the dial on my watch is US-dictated (it has a tritium dial but the US decided years ago that radioactive tritium is not allowed anymore or you go on the terrorists list, so the Swiss had to drop it).

If I were American, I would ask why my nation is so resented worldwide.  After all, America is a great nation, the land of the free, the land of free enterprise, the birthplace of Apple and Playboy and Hollywood and The Grateful Dead.

I guess the lesson is: imposing your will on others always creates resentment. How about learning from others instead? But I fear that will never happen in America, too many of whose citizens think Africa is a country.