Re: Steelers RB Rashard Mendenhall upset with Bin Laden reaction
posted at 5/3/2011 3:19 PM EDT
In Response to Re: Steelers RB Rashard Mendenhall upset with Bin Laden reaction
I have to agree with Tenacious T even though he put it a little harshly. The rhetoric about this country being evil is beyond laughable. It's like the Dan Shaughnessy of sportswriting. Bait the readers with rhetoric and hope it sticks. Who cares about facts or reality! I do agree the rhetoric is out there, but it's a faulty premise. And let's be honest, this started to increase when 9/11 happened, Dubya was in office and then decided to take a war on within two fronts. I do understand the negative tone and rightfully so. No one wants war. However, I don't see the Taliban, Al Qaeda, etc, trying to help 3rd world countries, donating billions and billions of dollars per year to try to help people progress as a society. I see them sort of playing a Jesse Jackson role. They pick and choose where they want to place their principles, with either racist or religious undercurrents. Obviously, Jackson is not Bin Laden, but conceptually, they prop up their agendas and do more harm than good because they are extremists who look for control. How is the US doing more harm than good? Anyone care to explain that one? Sorry, not buying it. It's really ridiculous that any somewhat educated, sane person elsewhere in this world would see each America and what Bin Laden reprsents as equally the problem. It's just ridiculous. It's worse when it happens when a US citizen, living freely, not appreciating it, babble incoherently about it. As if you'd want to live where terrorists control you? Really? Hmm. This recent rhetoric of America being evil is propped up by certain pockets of the media trying to take shots at the big dog (U.S.) because there is a market for that. It doesn't mean it's acccurate. This country is far from perfect, no doubt, but making the case that there is a balanced perception of evil between extreme muslims and the U.S./free societies, either means most of the world is dumb and or brainwashed, or it's not really true. And when you have idiots like Adrian Peterson and Rashard Mendenhall mouthing off without a clue about history or any regard for what the slaves in this country went through, as they count their millioins, is not only embarrassing, it proves my point about how uneducated people are with cable tv and the internet telling them things they may want to hear.
Posted by RidingWithTheKing
Neither countries or religions are evil. People are evil and those people use government and religion as a tool to brainwash people into following them.
There are some points in your post I'd like to reply too though. However, I don't see the Taliban, Al Qaeda, etc, trying to help 3rd world countries, donating billions and billions of dollars per year to try to help people progress as a society.
That's precisely how Bin Laden and the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan. After the Russians were driven out the US walked away leaving no one in power and the country a wreck. Bin Laden used his millions to help rebuild the country's infrastructure as well as hospitals and schools while the Taliban filled the role of government. They were regarded as saviors by the population until they were firmly entrenched enough to show their true intentions. By then it was too late.