Quote Originally Posted by Deborski View Post
American propaganda is the best in the world, in my opinion. Because Americans, by and large, still believe their country is the "land of the free" and even as their freedoms are being taken away in the name of "security" and this contrived "war on terror" they support the government, practically in lockstep.

And yet, we now have "checkpoints" set up by the Department of Homeland Security on major highways, where you are required to pull over and give them your documentation and they will ask for samples of your blood.

We have a wall along the Mexican border which Senator John McCain recently bragged about, saying it is "bigger and better" than the Berlin Wall.

Our police agencies are starting to use drone aircraft for surveillance purposes. They have already been discussing arming the drone aircraft for use against US citizens too.

And those of us who speak out against these things are often called "unamerican" and "traitors."

I guess I am getting too old. I remember the old days when things like this were only supposed to happen in other countries. I was raised believing that these things only happened behind the Iron Curtain. I remember when Soviet spies requested asylum in the US and we granted it despite condemnation from the USSR.

But the US helped orchestrate the fall of the USSR (Charlie Wilson's war), and then the US stepped in to be the only remaining super-power, and rather than reduce weapons and defense spending we INCREASED it and went on the attack globally, all in the name of this "war on terror" which can never be won.

American propaganda is the best in the world because even the poorest American believes he is really just a millionaire in waiting, and that one day his ship will come in and he will be wealthy like Donald Trump. We believe that anyone can be famous or wealthy, if they just work hard enough. And maybe at one point that was true. I certainly believed it myself, growing up. But these days, the balance has shifted, and not everyone has the opportunity to make their dreams come true.

As George Orwell wrote in Animal Farm, "all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others." That book, by the way, was actually meant to symbolize the Russian revolution. But these days, it could just as easily symbolize America.

Snowden is young and idealistic, and he released the data to the public because he wanted us to know the vast extent of our government's surveillance operations. Most tellingly, he did not accept money for the data he released and if he had wanted, I am sure some government would have happily paid him off. So in my mind he is a hero, albeit a little impulsive and young. He probably should have planned the data release a little better so that he did not end up like Tom Hank in "The Terminal" - trapped in the transit zone at Sheremetevo with no passport and no country. Now he says that he is willing to accept Putin's conditions for asylum in Russia, which means he cannot release any more data. But if Putin accepts Snowden's asylum request, it could trigger another cold war between our countries, so it is a very tenuous position for Putin to be in and I do not envy him the decision.

America is the most powerful nation on earth, despite the growing economic problems we have on our domestic front, because our "defense" budget is ten times greater than Russia's. But our actions have changed and instead of exporting the American dream of freedom and back-yard barbeques we export death and destruction. Our government has grown arrogant and plays the part of "world police," sticking its nose into the affairs of other countries rather than fixing the growing problems we have back home.

I for one, fear the karma we are creating for ourselves...
Karma isn't something a bunch of people share, everyone has a karma of their own; I like the individualistic approach that lets me think this way, and so do most of the Americans; do you, Deb?