Theos-Talk Archives (September 2001 Message tt00231)

leonmaurer@aol.com wrote:
> 
> Here's something more to think about (ignoring the purveyors of racial and
> religious hatred on this topic) -- written by a serious fellow theosophist
> who doesn't subscribe to this forum.

It's an interesting piece. There are even a few half-truths among the
out-and-out lies contained therein. But it certainly got me thinking.

> One of the core issues America is facing right now, and which must be
> addressed if we are to not only heal, but evolve from the present moment is:
> 
> HATRED
> 
> Like begets like.

Perhaps, but if you look at that terrorist rhetoric, the main crime of
the United States is its freedom, particularly the freedom it gives
women.

> And not only the obvious, "What have we done to warrant such hatred?" (from
> the Jihad mindset, for example)

We exist. We don't follow the laws of the Koran, yet we are extremely
successful. And we are a continual temptation to their stranglehold on
the populace where they do have control. Is it a coincidence that the
friendliness of Arab nations towards the United States is DIRECTLY
proportional to the degree of freedom the people have within that
country? I don't think so.

> What kind of hatred do we (collectively as a nation) harbor?
> 
> Some possible answers worth exploring are:
> 
> 1. Hatred of cultures so different from ours (ignorance = fear = hatred).

No other country on this planet shows the degree of tolerance towards
other cultures as the United States.

> 2. Hatred of Mother Earth (How else can we rape her as we have been?)

In what country do you think the environmental movement STARTED? What
country is doing far more to PROTECT the environment than the U.S.? And
if you mention the Kyoto treaty, please note that the Kyoto treaty is
largely: The United States unilaterally cuts back on pollution, while
the other countries can pollute as much as they want.

> 3. Hatred of children everywhere, by unwittingly exposing them to sugar,
> caffeine, violence, empty promises and predators within the family and
> neighborhood

Hatred requires intent. Unwittingly means there is no intent. The
sentence contradicts itself. And the United States has led the world in
its efforts to PROTECT children. Yes, there are greedy people in the
United States, and some of those greedy people run corporations. But
they are not the same thing as the United States.

> 4. Self-hatred for all of the above, plus:
> a) Stealing Native American lands and resources;
> b) Breaking countless promises to them repeatedly to this day;

Promises were broken on both sides. However, in any other country
during that time, and even later, conquering territory was not called
"stealing". Many countries which are not the target of terrorists at all
conquered far more land and caused far more destruction than the U.S.
Why aren't the terrorists going after the Chinese, for example, who are
even currently conquering land and decimating populations, encroaching
on the very residences of the terrorist nations? The terrorists don't
give a damn about the U.S. treatment of the Native Americans.

> c) Enslavement of Africans, and;

The U.S. were, at most, accessories after the fact. The enslavement was
done by the Africans themselves, working largely in partnership with the
Arabs themselves. And it continues to this day, while the United States
is one of the few countries where the people are actively trying to
bring a STOP to slavery.

> d) Never giving the promised "40 acres and a mule" upon "freeing
> them";

This promise was made, not for all the freed slaves, but slaves living
on a single island about 15 miles in diameter. It was made by a general
who did not have the legal authority to make that promise, creating a
problem that had no fair solution. 

> e) Letting politicians lie to those they supposedly represent;

Can you give me a single country where politicians do NOT lie to those
they represent? Like many mentioned before this is not a problem of the
United States; this is a problem of HUMANITY. 

> f) Using the A-bomb twice on Japan;

Which, in the long run, caused a LOT fewer Japanese deaths than an
invasion of the mainland (the only other reasonable alternative). Or,
are you saying that death by a bigger bomb is somehow worse than death
by a bunch of smaller bombs?

> g) Napalming countless villages and innocent people in Vietnam;

If a guilty person uses an innocent person as a human shield, then the
guilty person is putting the innocent person at risk. North Vietnamese
soldiers and the Viet Cong used the villagers as human shields. 

> a. Bombing innocent people in Baghdad;

The United States did everything they could to minimize the damage to
innocent people in Baghdad, unlike the Iraqi's, who went out of their
way to slaughter innocents in Kuwait. And notice that virtually the
entire Arab world allied themselves with the United States at that
point. 

> b. Being so preoccupied with the illusions of Hollywood;

What horrible evil! Let's execute everybody who goes to a movie for
their crimes against humanity. Or just dismiss THIS accusation as being
the total bullshit it is.

> c. Allowing the nuclear family to self-destruct by the wrong-headed
> interpretation of "equality" between the sexes, rather than the more worthy
> efforts to create a greater "balance" between them.

The "nuclear" family is a fiction which, if it ever was the norm, only
existed for a short period of time. The reality, which started
disintegrating in WW1, was the EXTENDED family, with multiple
generations living in close proximity to each other (even the same
house), sharing the upbringing of the children. Of course, we could
always go to the terrorists' goal of turning women and children into
property. 

> There are likely more, but every one of those listed above has been left in
> denial and covered over by projecting this self-hatred onto the presumed
> object of said hatred.

The self-hating one is the author of this piece.

> The 'catastrophe' of September 11, 2001, may prove historically to be a great
> turning point in America's awareness of its own selfishness, materialism,
> false idols -- and be seen as the moment when we woke up to a greater
> collective understanding of ourselves as a people and as individuals --
> having become and even greater nation for it.
> 
> What greater good could be gotten from such a tragedy?

Realizing that the evolution of humanity comes with the price of
enduring the hatred of those who will not evolve.

Bart Lidofsky