Losing the myth

For my whole life, correctly or not, the mythology of America was that we are the “good guys.” This week, that myth was shredded.

This week will live in history as the moment an American president threatened genocide.

For my whole life, correctly or not, the mythology of America was that we are the “good guys.” World War II made us into the Yanks, the men and women who saved the world from the darkness of fascism. The Cold War made us into the champions of human rights and free speech and democracy, and of course “free” markets. We were the ones who came to the rescue, who upheld the rule of international law, wore the white hats.

This was never the full picture, certainly. And especially following the trauma of the attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001, our nation increased its capacity to be a surveillance state; accustomed its citizens to loosened rules around torture in the “war on terror;” and returned to a pattern of “othering” voices of dissent. The pretext of safety and security was used to cover wars for oil.

But always there was that pretext, the honoring of the rules even as we broke them by claiming to uphold them.

Now, we are the global bullies. Our president used his bully pulpit to instill terror in millions of Iranians, and not only them, but by extension the whole region.

This, in and of itself, is a war crime contravening the Geneva conventions. And it appears one of our major political parties no longer cares. It responded to this violation with silence and compliance.

The fetishization of “strength” through violence is creating one catastrophe after another, and what we are wrecking is not only another country and region, but our own claim to ethics and morality.

You could write off the president’s statement as bluster, or dementia, or both. But how do you write off the silent assent of hundreds of members of his political party?

As with the violent attacks on immigrants and those who stand with them, as with the ripping away of rights for women, pregnant people, and the LGBTQ+ community, we must ask ourselves where we draw the lines and which side of the line we will stand on.

Silent complicity? Or vocal, nonviolent action?

Please consider amplifying the call for a general strike on May 1:

https://maydaystrong.org/

Make your calls, write your letters, and be anything but silent in the face of atrocity. This is not the end of the story, unless we allow it to be.