19921: Esser: Ho Hum, Another Coup (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

CounterPunch
http://www.counterpunch.org

March 5, 2004

Ho Hum, Another Coup
"Who Cares About Haiti, Anyway?"

By BENNETT HOFFMAN

Is this a big deal? The US organizing a coup and kidnapping a
president of a sovereign nation? Well not really--not if we're
content to live in a nation fast moving towards totalitarianism.

It's just another step along the way.

Life, I am told, was not too bad in Hitler's Germany (if you were the
right color, the right race, the right religion, the right
mindset...). There was order. There was a fierce sense of National
Pride. There was the feeling that the homeland was setting things
straight, taking its rightful place in the world. That the world
would be a far better and more correct place. And the streets were
safe. There was prosperity in the land--not peace, of course, but a
great sense of destiny being fulfilled and feeling a special part of
the new order.

And, I suspect life will not be so bad here either as we sit back and
let totalitarianism take hold. At least not for a while... (check out
Karl Jaspers' "Fight vs. Totalitarianism" for a glimpse of how it
works...) (... and here for how it might look in America now)

And it will probably be OK for those of us who are willing to look
the other way when someone else is being jailed, beaten, or killed by
our government. It will be for "our own safety" of course. The people
will be labeled "terrorists" or something worse, and well, they
probably deserved it... The papers and TV said so, so it must be
true. And so it goes...

Why be absolutely incensed and outraged at this fellow Aristede's
ouster by our government? Firstly, because it is wrong. Because we
are responsible--yes, you and me and all of us who call ourselves
Americans. We are personally responsible for what our government does.

Secondly, because we still can be outraged and not be jailed, beaten
or killed for our beliefs. At least not too overtly (see Miami FTAA).
We still can display our thoughts and feelings about what our
government does in our name. As long as we do it in a "free speech
zone."

Don't know about the situation in Haiti? I say, find out. And then
ask why our papers and TV have painted a different picture for us.
Then go to your local paper and see how they present the story. Like
this bit from the cover of the 3/1/04 St Pete Times website:

Rebels, U.S. Marines Enter Haiti Capital

Rebels rolled into the capital Monday and were met by hundreds of
residents dancing in the streets and cheering the ouster of President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
.