 |
|
Tears of Frustration| Posted Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 11:02:29 AM | I don't buy into the sympathy ploy discussed by many pundits as the rationale for Hillary's brief display of emotion. I do believe that the campaign is a long grueling affair and I'll accept the fact that the strain sometimes shows. For some of the candidates it might be in the middle of the night, for others it might be at an awkward moment. But, I think for all the candidates there is a moment of self doubt or overwhelming frustration. I don't believe this simple glimpse of Hillary's humanity will be enough to propel her forward through the balance of the campaign.
However, her brief display did start me thinking on another level.
Whoever eventually gets the nomination for President and whoever eventually wins the office will have to deal with some very shady characters on the world stage. Chinese Pres. Jintao, Kenya's Pres. Kibaki and Iranian Pres. Ahmadinejad come to mind immediately. You could add Saddam Hussein to the mix before he was executed. These people all rule with an iron fist and use terror as the primary tool to enforce their rule. I use the term terror deliberately; to them it means gassing their own people, state prison camps, stonings and on-going acts of terror against their own people, even as the world watchs.
We look at this abuse as sensitive(?) Westerner's from our elevated civilized positions on the world stage and cry foul. We tell these Presidents that they must show self control and stop the abuses and yet the abuses continue to happen.
Are we, as a people, too far removed from this sort of tribal retribution to understand it's very nature? Are we too civilized to be able to relate, one on one, with these leaders that we try to rationalize with? Do we understand that Kenya's Kibaki is one uprising away from having his own throat cut open? Did we ever understand the loyalty felt to the evil emperor Saddam Hussein? These people live and die by the rule of force, not the order of law.
So we, as sensitive westerners, look at Hillary and say now, now, take a breathe and relax. We, as a civilized people, consider water boarding an extreme form of torture. We are considering whether lethal injection is an extreme form of punishment in our Supreme Court.
Do we have the capability of understanding what the rest of the world considers to be terror, or an unjust act. Recent history says we do not have the same rationale as the rest of the world. Who amongst all these candidates has the ability to see the world as it is, instead of through our own rose colored glasses? | |
Comments| Posted by LoveTheCoast on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 3:56:16 PM | | Hear Hear!! |
###
    
|
|
