boo, America; boo, humanity
Some days, it's really, really hard to like humans.
Like, say, the day you read the script for the movie Hotel Rwanda; or the day a Syrian dictator sent a bunch of executioners to a village in reprisal for protesting what a big bag of excrement he is; or perhaps, even, on all the other days that some human inevitably does something so horrendously evil that it cannot be justified or understood.
Yesterday was one of those days for me, hearing a radio report on the eugenics program in North Carolina (where I live) - wherein a bunch of "well meaning" government officials conspired to sterilize a bunch of people against their will... even as recently as the 1970s. It's bad enough that it was a nationwide program, and that North Carolina was one of the worst. It's bad enough that they specifically targeted low-income, African Americans, and that they actually did it to children.
But to top it all off, I hear that the good old U.S. of A. actually sent "doctors" over to Germany, prior to WWII, to teach the methods of their madness to their good buddies, the Nazis. The radio commentator and original journalistic expositor of this tragedy went so far as to suggest that we taught the Nazis about the whole "master-race" thing.
Hooray for science! Hooray for America! Hooray for humanity! Hooray for State secrets and white-washed sepulchers and the pretension that we are the moral paragon of the Universe.
After a ten-year fight, the North Carolina House committee is about to become the first state in the union to okay a financial "compensation" package for these eugenics victims. It's something, yes, but obviously not enough. There is never enough money to buy an answer to the question that has no answer: why?
Like, say, the day you read the script for the movie Hotel Rwanda; or the day a Syrian dictator sent a bunch of executioners to a village in reprisal for protesting what a big bag of excrement he is; or perhaps, even, on all the other days that some human inevitably does something so horrendously evil that it cannot be justified or understood.
Yesterday was one of those days for me, hearing a radio report on the eugenics program in North Carolina (where I live) - wherein a bunch of "well meaning" government officials conspired to sterilize a bunch of people against their will... even as recently as the 1970s. It's bad enough that it was a nationwide program, and that North Carolina was one of the worst. It's bad enough that they specifically targeted low-income, African Americans, and that they actually did it to children.
But to top it all off, I hear that the good old U.S. of A. actually sent "doctors" over to Germany, prior to WWII, to teach the methods of their madness to their good buddies, the Nazis. The radio commentator and original journalistic expositor of this tragedy went so far as to suggest that we taught the Nazis about the whole "master-race" thing.
Hooray for science! Hooray for America! Hooray for humanity! Hooray for State secrets and white-washed sepulchers and the pretension that we are the moral paragon of the Universe.
After a ten-year fight, the North Carolina House committee is about to become the first state in the union to okay a financial "compensation" package for these eugenics victims. It's something, yes, but obviously not enough. There is never enough money to buy an answer to the question that has no answer: why?
every nation in the West seems to have a lot of dirt under their fingernails; Canada, for instance, has an awful reputation for giving war criminals sanctuary – in fact a few years back I remember hearing on the news that a victim of this torturer from Uganda recognized him on the streets and had him arrested. last I heard, he was supposed to get deported, but who knows.
ReplyDeleteby the way, that scene from THE MATRIX is one of my favorite of all time. Cheers
Denial is easier.
ReplyDelete