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JUST THAT: AN ILLUSION Most Americans are very proud of their country, but WHY? The American Dream is just that: an illusion. They are conned by politicians and other reality distortionists into believing that the US is a bastion of freedom and democracy, the world's leader of justice and morality. But these comforting myths are contradicted by the harsh facts of reality. The following examples shatter the fantasy that the US is a fair and benevolent society. All are taken exclusively from US news sources: 1. MYTH: The US supports democracy throughout the world. FACT: The US has helped overthrow the democratically elected governments of Guatemala (1954) and Chile (1973) and supported the dictatorships of: Pinochet in Chile, Batista in Cuba, Marcos in the Philippines, Somoza in Nicaragua, Syngman Rhee in Korea, Thieu and Ky in Vietnam, the Shah of Iran, Duvalier of Haiti, Gen. Zia-ul-Hac of Pakistan and so on. * 2. MYTH: The US is a country based on social justice. FACT: 42 million Americans have no health insurance, 18 million children are undernourished, more than two million Americans are in prison, some three million are homeless all this in the world's wealthiest country with more than a million millionaires and more than 50 billionaires. 3. MYTH: The US is the world's defender of international peace. FACT: The military budget of the US is bigger than the combined total of all military budgets of all other countries. Moreover, it exports more arms than any other country in the world, has more military bases than any other. Instead of passing on the peace dividends to its own citizens in the form of better education, health care, low cost housing and so on now that the Cold War is over, the US is amassing a massive and fast-growing national debt. When President Clinton left office the US was debt free, but under President Bush the deficit has already passed half a trillion dollars! 4. MYTH: The US is a civilized country with a fair justice system. FACT: the US is the only country in the world to have five forms of execution. It has the highest murder rate in the western world and the largest per capita prison population. Its courts have sentenced to death both youths and feeble-minded men, but never has the US executed one wealthy person. 5. MYTH: The US is a peace-loving and responsible member of the world community. FACT: The US has ignored the World Court's decisions made against it and owes the United Nations more than any other nation. Moreover, the US has intervened militarily in more sovereign nations than any other country this century. 6. MYTH: The US is the best country in the world to live.
FACT: On average about 100 Americans commit suicide every day.
Every 10 minutes a teenager in the US attempts suicide: every
90 minutes one succeeds. Suicide is now the second most common
cause of death among teenagers. USA. Today reports murder is
now the third leading cause of death among children 5 to 14.
More than half of the world's illicit drugs are used in the US
which has the highest rate of depression in the developed world.
The US education system is rated as one of the worst in the developed
world. It spends more on law enforcement than on schools, colleges
and universities. |