September 1, 1998
E-mail a Response
Cuidate Gringo
Opinion
You may not like politics, in which case you may not like this column. Turn now to the sports section to find out more about the "Men Laxers" and "Female Stickwomen", as if by some perverse mutation you find these easier to conceptualize. Or dig up an old Bryan Pease column to re-affirm your commitment to the well-being of poultry, because this is about the well-being of people, particularly American folks like you and me.
So, if you're still here, let's talk about what it means to lack tact. Not the lack of tact where your neighbor blasts "I like to move it move it" at 5 a.m., although I am talking about ugly deeds that alienate neighbors. Specifically, I want to address the recent disgraceful performance put on by the United States in front of what seemed like the whole world. Oh wait, it was the whole world.
The last week has seen the wrath of millions merge into focus upon the American flag. In Washington, The Man has been desperately flipping channels, looking to different continents to see a glimmer of good news. He sees an image of the U.S. embassy in Malaysia, surrounded as protestors wave signs bearing catchy slogans like, "U.S.A. the Super Terrorist".
He flips to the Sudan. With relief he notes that all Americans have been safely evacuated from the embassy, although he does feel a shudder at the sight of an angry mob rushing over the iron gates to dismantle the structure within.
A few additional pushes of the button display a couple more sights collected for his media jukebox - the Stars and Stripes being burned by a cheering crowd in Mexico City followed by a bomb in South Africa tearing into Planet Hollywood. The symbolism of it all is chilling.
This recent wave of anger, of course, was ignited by the clever war-mongers at the Defense Department, who decided to bomb, in addition to the terrorist camp in Afghanistan, the largest pharmaceutical factory in Sudan. The logic behind this move was made clear by President Clinton; we had good reason to believe that the plant was making deadly chemicals that could be used against the American people. Model citizens that we are, we totally bought this explanation.
But to the average Sudanese, who has learned not to believe everything that Mr. Bill "Oh my, I seem to have spilled my Arkansauce on your dress" Clinton says, the logic isn't as straight-forward. If the U.S. knew the plant was full of deadly chemicals, why in the world did we risk our explosions sending all of them into the air to rain down on Sudan? And if we didn't really know that the plant was full of deadly chemicals, whichWashington now admits, then why the hell did we bomb it in the first place?
To get an accurate view on how all this affects the American reputation, the Associated Press went to the Parliament Speaker of Sudan, the guy who is known to be the power behind the Islamic government. His thoughts? While he personally hoped for reconciliation, he thought it might be a little difficult since, "All the Sudanese now actually see the United States, generally, as the incarnation of the devil, of evil."
Now, I don't know if you've ever been called "the incarnation of the devil" by someone in your neighborhood, but these are angry words. Efforts must be taken to make amends because, like the neighborhood vandal, we're already the perfect scapegoat for a whole load of things.
Since the U.S. has a GNP orders of magnitude higher than other countries', they pick us when they need someone to resent, like you would the neighbor with the big house and the fancy car. And because we are so forthright about spreading our way of life, whether it be democracy, women's rights or MTV, a lot of orthodox cultures hate us, just as parents dislike the problem child that tries to influence their kids. So it goes beyond our greasy culture and obnoxious tourists - there are a ton of reasons for the world to single us out as a common enemy.
Our recent actions perhaps did more to incite terrorists than to suppress them. Anti-American organizations report record numbers of calls from young men all over the world that want to join their ranks. And the "enemy" won't have a uniform. Three American passenger planes down in a month and that's a victory - no one will want to fly. The crippling capacity of paranoia invoked by hijacks, biological warfare and computer viruses is very real even to the most powerful nation.
And who are the bad guys anyway? If you look at the people that are actively rallying against the United States, you notice that they aren't just radical young terrorists with funny moustaches, full of testosterone and looking to start a fight. These are elderly men and mothers of ten. These are children, the heirs of their nations, that are growing up listening to their fathers curse us at the dinner table, just dreaming of growing up and valiantly fighting against the evil that wears red, white and blue.
You really canŐt blame these people. Back when we were the poor oppressed colonies, we waved flags with the slogan DONŐT TREAD ON ME. The treading continued and the people snapped, taking the power back in a bloody revolution. The collage of human history depicts countless instances of people that have been pushed over the brink, from the Bolshevik Revolution to the storming of the Bastille. It's in our heritage because it's in our nature.
We must assess the value of the strong-arm message we are sending to the world. As 28-year-old Naamat Abdel-Razeq reminds us, "God willing, we'll create a million factories for chemical weapons. If they want to destroy plants, then we'll build them."
Nathan Wilson is a senior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The North Façade appears every Monday.
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