it's a small world, redux

a ny times reporter this week offered up his impressions from talking to many "average mohammeds" in cairo. he spoke with dozens of peeps in cafes, markets and university quads. with both mccain and his pitbull eager to blow up more places and show the world who's da boss, i found it deeply disturbing.

it was a sentient and nuanced piece -- the reason i still read the news. the majority in that region distrusts its government and disbelieves the msm -- that outlet seeming to be no more than a propaganda arm for _____________(insert mubarak or another hookah-pal here.) further, they will not be swayed from thinking that israel and the u.s. are in cahoots on all world matters, large and small.

he found no one who thought al queda was responsible for the attacks on 9/11. no one. how could a few guys in remote caves pull off something so devastating? they all had *incontestable* truth that no jews went to work at the world trade center that morning. (pentagon never seems to figure in these sorts of things, but i don't imagine that bloc as much of a haven for semites anyway.) the u.s. and israel did it as an excuse to make arabs look evil and as an excuse to invade iraq. they hold no doubt. none.

from the article:

"there are arabs who hate america, a lot of them, but this is too much,” mr. abbas said as he fidgeted with his cellphone. “and look at what happened after this — the americans invaded two muslim countries. they used 9/11 as an excuse and went to iraq. they killed saddam, tortured people. how can you trust them?”

even this egyptian is suffering from the dissonance.

i couldn't subject myself to any of the covention airtime. even i am not that masochistic. however, flak after flak has beaten in the point that neither palin nor mccain mentioned the economy in their speeches. americans often uninsured, losing their homes, jobs and hope held no spot on the republican platform.

in a strangely related piece, fdr's articulate words have again been brought forth for me.


seventy-two years ago, in his renomination acceptance speech at the democratic convention in philadelphia (before an audience of over 100,000), fdr rose above the boiler-plate rhetoric of political speeches and spoke of his generation’s “rendezvous with destiny.” he warned of the perils to the nation of economic inequality. “liberty,” he said, “requires opportunity to make a living, a living decent according to the standard of the time, a living which gives man not only enough to live by, but something to live for.”

roosevelt’s words echo across the decades because they resonate with the very meaning of america, a meaning that is so much deeper than what our politics now seem to be. “we are fighting,” he told his audience, “to save a great and precious form of government, for ourselves and for the world.”

in a global poll of over 30,000 people, a staggering margin supported obama for president. tens of thousands of miles away, they know our president still can make or break the world.

we have broken it.

much of the world still believes we can make amends and move ahead.

can we?

will we?