Just how insane does it have to get?

The past couple of weeks have been trying, at least for me that have been. I'm not talking about my personal life. It's as "normal" as it's going to get, but what I see going on all around me is taking its toll.

It's not just the colonization of a nation within the European Union; it's not just the war-mongering and sabre-rattling towards Russia including supporting fascists in the Ukraine; it's not just the Turkish flip-flop on not knowing whether the Kurds or ISIS is the biggest perceived threat to them. No, it's the insanity that accompanies even the smaller issues.

It's the sheer ignorance that comes with ignoring anything that looks like a fact and stating one's opinion as if it was worth listening to. It's the hypocrisy of claiming to help when all you are really doing is harm. It's the perverse way that history gets twisted to make us think that Iran, for example, was responsible for 9/11, or that we can't identify terrorism when it's homegrown, or we rush to suspect terrorism where there is none but it suits our purposes, or how it is possible to believe the answer to gun violence is more guns, or how it is possible, in the allegedly freest country in the world that a former general can float the idea of internment camps for those not loyal enough to America. And this, in the 21st century.

There can be no violence great enough that will make us believe that violence is not the answer. There is no belief so distorted that it can't hide reality from us. There is no self-righteousness so great that it can't allow us to believe that we're the good guys and everybody else is bad.

That's our world today ... day in and day out. It's not just that the inmates are running the asylum, they've got most of us cheering them on.

When are my fellow countrypeople going to get over themselves?

The older I get, the easier my mind gets boggled. Sometimes I wonder just which planet I'm actually living on. It's becoming increasingly clear to me that it's not the same planet as my fellow countrypeople.

The most recent case? The lunacy surrounding the Obama administration reaching a nuclear deal with Iran. As one who lives outside the borders of the good ol' USA, I can tell you: all you're doing is making life difficult for the rest of us.

Just in case you don't know: there has been "trouble" (and I don't care how you define it) in the Middle East ever since the West got over-involved and decided that establishing the State of Israel and ignoring the Palestinians was a good idea. It was wrong then, and it's still wrong today.

And before all you think-you-know-it-alls start condemning me: I'm all for a State of Israel. I'm neither anti-Semitic nor anti-Jewish, but I am anti-stupidity and anti-blindness. Both characteristics you're showing everyone else. One of these days you have to grow up and realize that

1. Israel is a secular state; it is a nation, like France or China or even the USA. It's just a country.
2. Most Israelis may be Jews, but not all Jews are Israelis. There is a difference between ethnicity and citizenship and between either of those and religious affiliation.
3. There are more people who adhere to Judaism than are actually Jews. Judaism is a religion, not a nationality or even an ethnic distinction.

Now, I realize that I lost most of my readers in that list. The reason is that the phenomenon is more complex than many minds would like to accept. Be that as it may, we have to differentiate between secular, national interests and other interests.

For more than 40 years (very biblical, in and of itself), we've been agonizing over the Iranians. Those screeching the loudest now had no problems then, when their beloved St. Ronnie was illegally supplying them with both technology and weapons because we disliked Saddam even more. When we kissed Saddam and made up, it was the evil Iranians all over again. I know that most of you, in your innate and misguided sense of right and righteousness, believe that a whole people should be punished because of what their government does ... unless, of course, the rest of the world should want to punish all of the US because of what their government has done. In that case, of course, everyone would be screeching even more ... as hypocritical as that may be.

And just what, pray tell, are our "interests" in this part of the world -- other than oil, that is -- and why do we think we, as Americans, have any right to enforce them to begin with?

We now have the opportunity to "take it all down a notch", but that could possibly, conceivably, potentially mean that the USA blinked. And we all know, we can't have that. Whatever deal may have been reached, to the majority of my American friends, it was a sign of weakness, and you may never, ever show anyone, anywhere even the slightest indication of weakness. Our whole sense of self-worth would be destroyed.

Yes, that's how most adolescents think. Young people, not yet matured, not having found themselves all think just like that, and the intellectual adolescents of America are having their tantrum, again. It's time to grow up. It's time to not only think like an adult, it's time to start acting like adults.

If you all wanted to remain adolescent amongst yourselves, I'm not sure I would care, but what you do has a real impact on my life, but like most adolescents, you don't realize that your actions have big effects on others.

Was what just happened in Europe a coup?

The recent Greek situation was as close to a coup as you can get without involving the military. Let us recall, that a coup d'etat is, most often, when a democratically elected government is ousted by the military (our most common 20th century experience) which then sets itself up as a junta. No, it doesn't have to be the military, which is why Greece is so interesting: for the first time in a long time, the coup came about not from within and not by the military, but from without, by civilians, namely technocrats and bankers.

As part of the "deal", the Greeks must ask permission of the Troika (the current powers-that-be) even to discuss certain topics. If they want to pass a law, they must present it to the powers-that-be for their approval before it is debated. Think about it. The Greeks, for all intents and purposes, are no longer a sovereign nation. They cannot alone decide what is good for them, in their own interests, and they may not decide how they want to solve their problems. Others will now tell them what, how and why ... well, not why, for that would unmask the whole charade.

My American friends, no doubt, have trouble understanding the problem, I am sure. Oh, it's not as many of you think that they are somewhat ignorant and ill-informed. No, that's not it at all. They can't understand it because they've been living in Greece all along but never knew it. They have no national healthcare to speak of, they have private insurance that will soon take its revenge for the sins of Obamacare. They have no real unemployment or welfare benefits because they all know that whoever is out of work, for whatever reason, is solely responsible for his or her plight. If you had done better, you wouldn't be in that predicament. Americans have a rapacious tax agency, and point-of-purchase tax-collection agents (it's called sales tax for those not following). Americans are personally swamped by debt, lose their homes daily, "enjoy" (in the meantime) somewhat lenient bankruptcy laws (which are necessary when so many "citizens" have to take advantage of them), and Americans, even the Creationists among them, that social Darwinism is a mere fact of life.

That my American friends have been deceived, manipulated, cajoled, coerced, even brainwashed into believing that their oppressors are benevolent is clear to me and most people in Europe. You can't ever miss what you never had, whether it was a good idea or not. It turns out that social cohesion is a defining characteristic of humanity. Destroy that and you destroy humanity itself. And there we are at modern-day capitalism.

The "money" that Greece owes is a paper -- no, digital -- fiction. Every rule of economics as we were taught them in school has been violated to create the situation in Greece (and elsewhere, including simple American households). All the so-called "laws" have been twisted, contorted, bent and broken in order that a fortunate few can live in excess at the expense of the unfortunate many. And there is no dearth of die-hard cheerleaders, from all walks of life and from every social stratum, who are willing to praise these thieves, these merchants of death, these heartless, mindless, and senseless parasites as idols, heroes, demi-gods. If they could only get just a little slice of the pie.

At the moment, it doesn't matter. We need to pay attention. We need take heed of what is really happening. A modern, sovereign nation has been declared mentally incapacitated, but as Ken Kesey exposed over a half-a-century ago: it's the inmates who are running the asylum.

When you're part of the problem, you're not part of the solution

Recently, as most of you know, four Marines were killed and two military personnel and a police officer wounded when a young man went on a shooting spree in Chattanooga, Tennessee. This was, without a doubt, a cowardly, dastardly, criminal act, and I have nothing but sympathy for all the victims and extend my most heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of those wounded, but, particularly, who died that day.

Nevertheless, I must take issue with all those who in the meantime have decided to exploit this tragedy for their own petty political and ideological gain, and in particular with all those who have shown, through their reaction, that they are really part of the problem and evidence that the underlying problem in this, and so many other similar events, is not going to be resolved.

Not a month ago, a Dylann Roof gunned down nine innocent people in a Charleston church. Oh, yes, there was outrage, but it was a misguided and most likely sick individual who was responsible. The primary reaction was a hot and heartless debate over the Stars and Bars, and other than a number of cases of arson at other black churches, the reaction to the deaths themselves was, and I hate to say it, fairly normal.

The perpetrator this time, no less misguided, no doubt no more mentally balanced than young Master Roof, but with an Arabic name, has taken the lives of heroes. Although there is no hard evidence that the shooting was terrorist-induced or motivated (though that's the direction the investigation is taking ... his name is enough), those four poor Marines who lost their lives are being abused to serve petty, deep-seated, misguided feelings that make it next-to-impossible to make progress toward a more just and peaceful world.

All our military is voluntary. When you sign up, you are aware that one day you may sent to the front lines (unless you manage to secure an occupational speciality that makes you one of the five people supporting those who are taking the fire). It's part of the risk you take in taking the job. These four young men, however, were not killed in the line of duty, they were killed while on duty, just like any security guard who is killed by a bank robber, or someone who is working in a warehouse gets killed because the safety regulations were not observed. Just because you wear a uniform, doesn't make you a hero ... heroes are heroes because they do something "above and beyond" like a young teacher who saves her class from a gunman gone amok by hiding them and taking the shot herself.

But this subtle, but important, distinction is lost when we another, more insidious, factor is at work: it's the simple fact that too many -- and this means most of the people I know -- believe that some lives are simply more important than others. A soldier's life, be s/he merely at work or in the line of fire in an unjust war, is not any more important that a young Ethiopian who starves to death because the National Fruit Company decided they could make more profit from bananas there. An American's life is not worth any more than a French or Russian or Chinese or Ecuadorian life. We are all human beings and we all should have the right to live.

But, at that moment, when you buy into the fact that any life is more important than any other life, you have crossed the problematic boundary. Some deserve to live and others may -- or may even deserve -- to die, but who is it who decides? At that moment, you set yourself above the rest of humanity, as if you had the right to decide. I, for one, do not want, nor do I desire to ever have that responsibility, yet, many -- too many -- people take it without ever really knowing what they do.

What just happened in Europe?

There has been a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth going on around Europe the past couple of days, as well there should be. What is playing out is something for the history books, to be sure, but I suspect it will be reported very differently than it actually went down.

We've known since 2008 and since the leaks around the TPP, TIPP, and TISA that the banks and big business has taken over. This is not a conspiracy theory, it is pure and simple fact. There's not a government in the western, industrialized world that has 10 cents to spare for a single humanitarian program, not even for its own citizens, but there are tons of cash, in the form of bailouts, tax breaks, and subsidies for the most wasteful of things. What is different about the past few days here in Europe, however, is the fact that we have now seen (a) just how much power they possess and (b) to what lengths they are willing to go to deal with opposition of any kind.

I would be the last to maintain that the Greeks need to reform their governmental apparatus, start collecting taxes, and try to reduce unnecessary expenditures. However, in contrast to the EC, the IMF, the ECB, and the Eurogroup, I'm not willing to maintain that these reforms should be obtained at any price. For those of you both inside and outside Europe: this is not about the EU; this is not about the euro, as currency, per se; this is about power and what it means for us everyday little people.

The person in the street will tell you right out that without a land registry office, without a functioning tax system and tax authority, you cannot expect to get a grasp on your national income. Since 2010, the Troika -- the big players in the field -- have been placing one requirement after the other on the Greeks. If you take the time to look at the Memoranda of Understanding that direct this process, one significant feature become conspicuous by its absence: the demand, specifically, to set up a necessary tax infrastructure. There is a whole list of things To-Do, no question about it, but if placed in order of priority, it almost seems as if it has been inverted. Not the most necessary things to do were placed at the top, but the easiest to do. All the necessary reforms, the ones that may, perhaps, if everything went perfectly well, were placed at the bottom of the list. They are still to come, but there is other business to be attended to in the meantime, like bludgeoning the defenseless, cutting pensions by 30%, eliminating healthcare for a third of the population, driving the poverty rate from 26% to almost 35%, increasing unemployment to 25% overall and over 50% among the youth of the country, shrinking the economy by 25% and increasing the debt by over 25% as well.

In contrast to what is floated as common wisdom, neither Ireland nor the Baltic states were in a comparable situation to Greece, so they are not the success stories that everyone would like to maintain. Estonia, for example, had as good as no debt when their crisis hit; Ireland had a functioning governmental infrastructure. When the smoke clears, it's obvious that, well, a lot of folks are simply blowing smoke.

No, Greece had the audacity to elect a leftist government. That will not be tolerated. They had the courage to throw out the Troika. That cannot be tolerated either. They demanded reforms that work. And that cannot be tolerated in a world in which you are to do as you are told or you'll be squashed like a bug. In the end, the entire population said "no", and, strangely enough, when asked to present a list of reforms, the Greek government laid on the table, more or less, the take-it-or-leave-it agreement that the EC had dictated. The result: go back and do your homework, such a list is simply unacceptable.

So now, the Greek parliament has approved the plan they've been given. They had three days to do so. Private institutions and non-elected technocrats have desovereigntized a country in the 21st century, right before our very eyes. And that, my friends, is the Europe of today. It is not the Europe I migrated to (yes, I am a mere immigrant here), and it's not the Europe that encouraged me to say.

The message is clear: hold all the referendums you want, cry democracy and the will of the people all you want. In the end, it's the money people who have all the say. It's the simple Golden Rule: he who has the gold, rules.

Americans aren't the only ones

Although "nations" are a rather recent phenomenon on the world stage, there is no dearth of supporters who wouldn't trade them for anything. Americans are right at the top of the list, but a lot of others, like Russia, China, a couple of the Southeast Asian group or a few in Africa would like to get in on the deal. I don't know what the fascination is to be honest, just what is it that makes them so desirable?

A lot of you don't get the reason for the question. It's quite clear that we've had nations forever and it's as natural as four seasons in some parts of the world or rain in spring (if you're from the Northern Hemisphere). Actually, prior to 1648 and Treaty of Westphalia, there weren't ever really "nations" in our current understanding of the world, but, hey, why should we let historical facts get in the way of our beliefs? Life is certainly easier when you just pick and choose what suits us rather than getting the bigger picture. Why we have border where we have them or whether they make sense, well, those are issues that have been decided, of course, so there's no need to worry our little heads about them. Or is there?

In the Western Hemisphere (a rather artificial construct, if I may say so) 1776 is a year worth nothing. In the Eastern, however, it's 1789. In both years, revolutions took place and both these revolutions had a significant impact on everything that followed. The former was a conscious (even if perhaps, unnecessary) decision; the latter, a spontaneous act that developed into something that no one foresaw. This raises a question whether revolutions are a matter of choice or fate. I don't know. What I do know, however, is that some folks peg their beliefs on the one, while others will tell you it was the other date that matters. It really doesn't matter at all.

Sometimes I think that the petty and silly animosity between Americans and the French is about who had the "real" or the "true" or the "better" revolution. Depending on who you are reading, one year or the other can be used as marking the shift of humanity into "modernity". Whoopee. So far, no one's been able to make clear to me why that makes any difference at all.

When we look at the facts, we're left with this: a lot of violence occurred, a lot of blood flowed, a lot of innocent people suffered, and a lot of misery was visited upon the participants. In the decades that followed, a lot of violence occurred, a lot of blood flowed, a lot of innocent people suffered, and a lot of misery was visited upon those who benefitted from the "revolutions". And for what? For me, that's the key question.

The reasons for both were more similar than different: injustice, be it because of taxes or the simple ability to feed one's family. The results of both were more similar than different too: a different group of oppressors took over, a lot of people had to pay taxes and couldn't feed their families, and we have a different illusion of what our role is in the grand scheme of things.

Don't get me wrong, there are good things that came out of both. But ... are we moderns really better off than those revolutionaries. I often wonder.

Just one final thought ...

... at least for the moment.

Apart from all the nonsense, the confrontational approach to "discussion", the truly adolescent desire to win rather than to find out what makes sense, the refusal to budge from a position because you'll be perceived as weak, the blatant disregard for facts and the apparent (at least to me) cry-baby attitude toward being disagreed with, yes, apart from all of that, what disturbs me most and disturbs me most deeply is just how violent my home country has become. I'm sure most folks living in the USA don't see it, but it is pretty obvious to everyone else.

Way back when, I became an English major because I held (and still do hold) a deep respect for language and how it is so closely intertwined with culture. Following on the Beat Generation and Hippies, I have experienced a lot of shifts in what may and may not be said and most certainly in how things are expressed. I am fully aware that language is ever-changing and dynamic and I have not the least problem with that, from a linguistic perspective, but I do recommend all my fellow countrypeople to take a step back and give another thought to how things are being said.

Something as everyday and pervasive as marketing, is couched exclusively in military and war-waging terms and notions; we once had a national pasttime, but now (American, not real) football has become the national obsession where opponents need to be killed, crushed, demolished, slaughtered, and if necessary (which apparently it always is, if possible) humiliated. The vocabulary has slopped over into other sports as well. But just about every other area of life has been infected as well.

Politics is the worst, of course, at all levels, and I'm including not just the politicians, but all those wonderfully unbiased newscasters and experts and talk-show hosts Facebook and forum commentators, not to mention that ubiquitous symbol of American Freedom, the gun, carried openly or covertly, it doesn't matter. But it is, for better or worse, correctly or incorrectly, t-h-e symbol of violence without challenger.

Don't get me wrong, I have long and ardently argued for and supported the age-old adage: abusus non tollit usus. It's never the things, it's always the people, but when you've got a populace as uneducated, egoistic, self-centered, self-serving as you've got and you live in a culture that not only celebrates but for all intents and purposes worships violence, well, in my small mind, you're asking for trouble, and that's just what you've got.

I, personally, for a wide range of reasons don't get back to visit very often, but I know more than a few people here who would like to visit but are reluctant to for the simple reason that they don't feel safe there, and when I'm there, neither do I. It's not the number of guns that's the problem, and it's not the types of guns that's the issue (though some reasonable rethinking wouldn't be all that bad, but as I said above, that's no longer possible). No, it's the people, pure and simple.

There was a time when the Ugly American was the one visiting other countries and forcing his own way of life on others. These days, the kind, friendly, willing-to-help American is being obscured by the hate-spewing, loud-railing, brash, bullying, ideologue. I know most of my fellow countrypeople could care less what anyone else in the world thinks of them, but it's just that attitude that allows Ugly to happen.

And, oh, by the way ...

Just one more thing.

I wouldn't be dwelling on this if about half my readers weren't from the States, because I think the Europeans and Asians get what I'm getting at. At least that's been my experience. It's my fellow countrypeople who appear be the last one for whom the other shoe falls.

Just about everybody knows the glorious and noble outline of American history and the revolutionary (in the positive sense of the word, not in the military sense, though that played a (as it turns out, most likely unnecessary) role as well. There was a time, it was an event, there was an important and deep-seated factum that arose in 1776. Now, I know that this may be a bit difficult to follow, but a key element of the break between GB and the USA lies in the idea that there was the universal, political, outright expression of the notion that there is such as thing as unjust laws.

This wasn't pointed out to me in history class back in school, but it has been pointed out to be in the meantime. "No taxation without representation" is a statement that challenges the legitimacy of a properly instituted law. King George had it in his power, and his parliament seconded the idea that the tea tax could be levied. It was the law of the land, and consequently, of the colonies as well. Nobody asked the colonies, however, and it was expected, as was wont at the time, that they obey the law, as it was expected of them. But there such things as unjust laws. And it was this that our forebears chose as the turning point for their dissatisfaction. Just because something is legal doesn't make it right by a long shot, but this -- in my mind -- defining moment of American history has been (apparently) swept under the carpet in the meantime, because as we know, if you disobey the law, you can't expect anyone to feel sorry for you.

If you don't believe me, ask anyone in a demonstration who doesn't follow the orders of a policeman, or anyone who challenges a policeman in any way, or who chooses to demonstrate in a public place only to be told they have to find another public place, or who feeds the homeless in spite of a law, or ... the list truly goes on and on. And, there are brave souls who are willing to challenge this blind obedience to law and order, but at the same time there are others who openly declare their opposition to judicial rulings (even if we know they'll rightfully calm down before too long).

The key issue here is not the mere existence of a law, but its "justice value". Was the greater portion of the colonial citizenry disadvantaged because of the King's tea tax (which was more a not-so-discreet corporate subsidy)? Yes. Was a very slim minority advantaged at the expense of the majority? Yes. Does the fact that same-sex couples can now marry in any way restrict the majority's right to marry as they see fit? No. Does the provision of affordable healthcare to the majority restrict the minority's access to healthcare at all? No. Does your right to own, carry, and flash around any weapon you damn well please infringe upon my right to a safe and secure existence, free from personal lapses of judgement? Not really. Is it in all our interests that anybody can get a gun, but not everybody can get a vote? No. I think you get the point (or at least you should).

There are unjust laws. There were unjust laws then, and there are unjust laws now. To insist, when it suits you, that laws must be obeyed, is disrespectful of all those who fought and died that injustice should be challenged. Think about it.

But while I'm at it ...

No, this isn't a cheap shot at my fellow country-people. It is simply that there are things I experience that give me pause to wonder, so while I was wondering about why these same folks think they're better than everybody else, I also began to wonder about their herd-like instincts.

For a people who likes to think they're all free-wheeling, free-thinking, well, simply free individuals, I think one of the best nicknames for the USA would be The Land of Conformity. I've had the wonderful privilege to live in and experience first-hand and intensively cultures other than my native one, and what has always struck me hardest is how much more tolerant these foreign cultures are of non-conformity, of individuality.

As any child or developmental psychologist worth his or her salt and s/he'll tell you that the most insidious and nefarious violence we know of is peer pressure. It's is quite often, and is always potentially, devastating to those towards whom it is directed. I have friends who yearn for the "good old days" of their youth, but in mine, peer pressure was writ large. It was demanded, expected, and resistance was futile, if you weren't willing to -- literally -- take a beating.

Americans, it should be said, have always been good at hiding such things. They'll talk about school spirit, our team, our school, our college, our colors, and I'm not even talking about gangs. I've never lived anywhere where trends, fashion, and fads have been so important. It's not just the clothes, or the hairstyle, or the manner of speech, it's the whole package. Whoever is not in is definitely out and will be continually and constantly reminded of such, even if the in-crowd has to resort to bullying to enforce its standards.

You can be a lot of things in America, just don't be different ... well, unless you happen to make a helluva lot of money by being different. That's the only real way to find respect, even if it's phony respect. Look at Steve Jobs and Donald Trump.

But whatever you do, don't think differently than your neighbors, you become suspicious. Don't "play the game", and everyone will wonder what's wrong. Question America's symbols, don't sing the national anthem at the baseball game, don't say the pledge of allegiance (the mere phrase reeks of conformity) at the school-board meeting, don't be a staunch alumni, criticize the police for being too harsh, question the legitimacy of America's foreign (and domestic) policy, ask out loud why the incarceration rate in America is higher than the Axis of Evil's, wonder out loud where one gets the right to simply change definitions of words (like torture) and you'll find out faster than speeding bullet (which just might be the reaction) just how you don't "fit in" in the Land of Individualism, but not Individuality.

Don't get me wrong ... I don't expect everyone to be consistent in their beliefs and actions all the time. It would be nice, that's for sure, but I'm afraid it's just too much to expect of anyone. What I can expect, though, is that perhaps we be just a little more restrained in our criticisms of others and in our hardoverness towards those who don't see the world as we do, who don't conform.

This has nothing to do with so-called political correctness, but it has everything to do with a modicum of tolerance and respect.

I didn't want to, but I couldn't help myself

There is a certain segments of my "friends" that is not going to be happy about this post. I'm not writing it to aggravate them, that's for sure, and I want to think that they in some way expect it from me. But, as we know, in just two short days, the USA is going to celebrate their 239th "birthday" and as I know from my youth, this is always a fairly big deal, even if the holiday won't be observed till next Monday. After all, in a land without vacations, you've got to create power-weekends where you can. The masses need a modicum of circuses, otherwise who knows what they might do?

Now, don't get me wrong: I think the idea behind the United States is a good one. I think it is noble, and admirable, and worth striving for. I'm a bit bothered by the fact that it has never been what it has asserted itself to be, regardless of how blindly so many speak of its Exceptionalism, its uniqueness, and its superiority. It is/was one of those grand ideas that somehow just never really got put into practice. It's not a tragedy (well, I'm sure there are a lot of dead people who have a different opinion on that), but it is sad that we Americans never really did live up to the goals we set for ourselves.

When the loudest purveyor of "peace" in the world has been at war for almost 95% of its history, I don't think it's all that odd to question both its intentions and its credibility. When those who claim the moral high ground of justice and equality presents to the world the reality of the highest incarceration rate in the world which is then populated by a disproportionate portion of people of color, I don't think it's all that odd to question its asserted values. When the so-called Land of Opportunity breeds the most dishonest and nefarious banking system the world has ever seen, I don't think it's all that odd to doubt the American Dream. And, when the richest country in the world can't find the least bit of empathy for its poorest and most downtrodden citizens, I don't think it's all that odd to question their integrity.

Oh, I've been told -- more than once -- that you simply can't compare the USA to any other country in the world. My response has always been the same: bullshit. Of course you can. What every country on the face of this planet has in common is that it is populated by people, and people -- better, human beings -- have a whole lot in common. What you decide to do with yourself and how you decide to act however you do is undoubtedly influenced by a whole lot of extraneous circumstances and conditions, no doubt about it. So, following that logic, if we apply an even slightly higher standard of behavior to Americans, because they are who they are and because of the position they (claim to) have in the world, well, then, that's simply the price you have to pay for being the (self-proclaimed) best. It simply goes with the territory.

So, for the weekend, I sincerely wish my fellow countrypeople all the best. Party hearty, for the end of your illusory betterness may be nearer than you think. It is also only fair to tell you: you are your own worst enemies.

As countries go, the USA is just an adolescent, and it is obvious to the rest of the world that this is how it most often behaves. Yes, all I want is that my country grows up. We're celebrating another birthday this weekend, and my most earnest wish for them is that they stop acting like children. I don't think it's too much to wish for, though it may be too much to ask.