Welcome Karmademon! I'm going to try and get this group back up and
running, so feel free to post away with anything that you have! I
love the piece that you decided to share with us! I've done alot of
travel abroad, and I can say from experience...it's embarassing.

Rant well appreciated!

--- In rantandrage@yahoogroups.com, "Karmademon" <karmademon@y...>
wrote:
>
> Hey guys, I was browsing the web and found this forum. I thought
you
> all seem to be like minded, so I figured I would share an excerpt
> from my book. If you like it or hate it, let me know.
> Thanks,
> Karma
> ( Charles Stanley, author of The Divine Tragedy by Cook & Stanley )
>
>
> FEAR OF AMERICAN'S
> By: Charles Shane Stanley
>
> Time after time, I find myself wanting to apologize for the people
> around me. I feel that I have to make excuses for their ignorance,
or
> for their inadequacies in today's culture of fast paced facts and
> instant
> knowledge. In any given situation, there is that one moron that
states
> his or her uneducated beliefs, whether it is about politics or
> something
> petty like the carburetion in Mountain Dew. Yes, I said carburetion
> and not carbonation. This simply put, is my contempt for Americans.
> As a society, we are torn between too many worries. Worries that
are
> truthfully none of our concern, but yet we feel the need to put
our
> two
> cents in anyways. Granted, I'm doing the same thing right this
> minute, but my hypocrisy knows no bound, I am the exception.
> Whereas the rest of the world should just strap in, shut up, and
keep
> their opinions to a minimum. It's a long ride, and it'll seem much
> longer with all the chitchat.
> We as people forget to store and manage simple information on
> what's going on around us. We can't grasp the everyday situations
> and study the structural decay of our outer circle. The lines are
so
> smudged; we lose sight of what should be our primary functions and
> our secondary functions. And for that matter, we should let go of
our
> fixations that don't affect our everyday lives.
> Our primary concerns as human beings should reflect a positive
> outcome for us, not what the media deems as our concerns. The
> everyday person should be ruled by his or her morality in an inner
> circle. And by this, I mean you need to shape and mold what is
> directly in front of you. Your inner circle includes your friends,
> family, and or your spouse.
> Ram Dass said it best, and that is to Be Here Now. I believe he
> had a bit different message behind that, but it applies here as
well.
> Don't let life's indirect afflictions reflect on your inner
circle,
> your
> own private world. People shouldn't worry about what the future
> brings, or what has happened in the past. Every individual should
be
> concentrating on the present. Today is always your first day at
hand,
> act on it.
> Just the other day, some acquaintances and I were talking about
> were to vacation at. It seemed friendly enough, right? Well, I said
> Egypt of course, someone else said Spain, and out of the blue,
> someone shouted out "I would like to go to Iraq and kill Saddam
> Hussein". Okay, this is where everything around me turns gray.
See, I
> love to run my mind in a state of black and white. It eases my
tension
> in large groups. Instead of a long measure of dealing with
situations
> in
> a deep two hundred and fifty six-color method, I choose the black
and
> white method. The black and white method is a robots way of dealing
> with large crowds. You have your happy, friendly state, where you
> can communicate with all walks of life around you, and you have
> your defense state, where you strike every living thing down in an
> omnipotent display of power. Hence the whole black and white thing
> I have been living in. Now gray is a bit harder to calculate. You
> don't
> want to go off the deep end with the calm, rational, friendly,
> innocent,
> listeners around you, and yet you don't want this Saddam Hussein
> glory boy to walk away from this conversation without knowing he
> has thrown a stick in the spokes of a larger, more complicated
issue
> than what he can truly fathom. To say the least, this is why I fear
> americans.
> As an american, I feel I should go around and apologize for every
> "Fuck Bin Laden" T-Shirt that's in print. I feel the need to burn
> every
> confederate flag that hangs in some punk rednecks trailer. We
should
> castrate every dumb ass that slept through history class and owns a
> "The south will rise again" bumper sticker. Intelligent men do not
> advertise. It's the ignorant that do. This also explains why bumper
> stickers sell so well, whereas this book probably won't.
Intelligent
> people do not advertise… There, I said it again. And yes, I too
hold
> feelings of offing certain people, but at least I know why. It's
not
> decided on what the media deems as a reasonable action. CNN does
> not tell the news; they're more like a pep squad for the home
team. It
> makes every american want to take action for the atrocities
committed
> on foreign ground. Every eye in this country is watching our next
> move, similar to cars slowing down from their everyday lives just
to
> scope out the carnage that has happened on the highway or
interstate.
> Like vultures, they wait from a far to see if anyone is going to
> depart
> this life, or whatnot. CNN is designed for ignorant people, the
> vultures of our society. The nation may tune in and learn about the
> worlds current affairs in a tiny individually wrapped two-minute
piece
> interval, without worrying about getting too wrapped up in what the
> whole fiasco is all about. We don't want to be educated, we want to
> be amused. And that is exactly what we get. Some news anchor
> telling us an amusing little story of what we need to know, showing
> us amusing ten second clips of our troops in action. Action? What
> action? Where? Huh? Fuck….
> … Are we at war?
> All I know is they mentioned Iraq and showed the world trade
> towers, along with a muted video feed of George W. Bush talking.
> Because believe me, nobody can confuse the people faster or better
> than that of an un-muted video feed of George W. Bush. The people
> can't handle listening to him, so we just look at him while Tom
> Brokaw or Peter Jennings dubs over it for us. This makes it easier
for
> us to swallow.
> And that's another thing I would like to get off my chest. What is
> the deal with our president and his speeches? It is either
> incredible, or
> the worst illustration of human language that mankind has ever
> muttered. Who writes these things? I'm guessing for really
> monumental occasions, they hire out Jerry Bruckheimer or Michael
> Bay and their team of writers to produce the whole attraction.
> Because face it, we know something as moving as the nine-eleven
> speech couldn't have come from a man who looks as dazed and
> confused as a deer in front of headlights. Why is it during that
> speech,
> someone yelled "I can't hear you", and then G. W. followed up with
> "Well I hear you, and the men who brought these buildings will hear
> you… blah… blah … blah…
>
> Did you ever wonder why that voice from the crowd sounded like
> it was amplified? Almost like the man had a little microphone
hidden
> on his collar….? That's what america wants to hear. We want to feel
> like we're still one of the most powerful countries in the world.
And
> you know what, we are. But we aren't powerful enough to prevent
> buildings from falling. We aren't powerful enough to neither clothe
> and feed our own people, nor make sure our sick have the
appropriate
> healthcare. But we are powerful enough to launch dollar after
dollar
> into overseas crisis', feed strangers who eat our food and burn our
> flags, along with supply weapons to support somebody else's war,
> just so Russia can experience what americans experienced in
> Vietnam. The only karmic thing about all this is when a gun that
was
> given out by america just years prior shoots american soldiers. I
> would dwell a bit deeper on the content I just mentioned, but feel
the
> need to vomit whenever I think of how seedy our government truly
is.
> No, let me reiterate…. I feel disgusted to know people are so
> patriotic
> to a country that's had its finger in the cookie jar of deception
from
> day one.
> There is a feeling of trepidation that comes about when I think
> about our president. I fear any person who can decide the fate of a
> million men, especially when his father ruled the same nation
during a
> time of war. Unfortunately, americans are about whooping ass, which
> explains all his support. And because of this, it holds a promising
> prospective for an elected official that may want to serve another
> four
> years as commander and chief. This is dangerous. Will Caesar
replace
> the Caesar before him and honor him with his likeness? The United
> Nations declared a law that prevents world leaders from being
harmed
> during a time of war, or for that matter, any time. Well isn't this
> convenient. Do you think that certain world powers would think
> things through a bit more thoroughly if they knew it was their ass
on
> the line and not mine? Ever wonder why only one plane was
> intercepted, and not the others on the day of September eleventh?
> Does it make much sense that the only plane that was intercepted
that
> day was on a direct path to the white house? Or do you believe what
> they want us to believe? I almost forgot, the passengers aboard
helped
> take that plane down… with the assistance of an F-15 Strike Eagle.
> Do you whole-heartedly believe that the passengers on that plane,
>
> single handedly prevented it from suicide-bombing the white house?
> Or do you beLIEve that many shall fall, just to preserve the life
of
> one
> man, our Caesar?
>
> I once stated that I want a revolution. Now I'm unsatisfied with
> the taste that those words leave while pouring out of my mouth. I
> want something bigger. I want to be able to watch it all, the
upheaval
> of our system when the wool is finally pulled harshly from our
eyes. I
> want to see leaders judged by their abilities to lead, and not
judged
> on
> whom they had sex with. I want to see the world topple upon itself
> while I'm smoking a cigarette and listening to Beethoven's
Moonlight
> Sonata. I want to bathe in the ashes of what use to represent our
> american currency. I want to watch children play in abandoned,
> collapsing buildings that once housed global corporations. I want
to
> see prisons built by the people, not with fencing and barbed razor
> wire, instead with state lines. I want to fall asleep to the glow
of
> the
> embers that once made up our cities. I want to watch the holy man
> and his followers screaming to the heavens for redemption, instead
of
> damning his fellow man. I want to watch it crumble and burn. And as
> the world woes its economic and its supposed democratic loss, I
will
> be carving new rules onto stone. I will be preparing our people to
> bring forth a new era for us.
> "The world is a cruel, hollow, shell of existence, packed with
> distrust, manipulation, sex, drugs, and greed….
> … And then there's also a darker side."
> A newer revised look at Hunter S. Thompson's quote
> -Charles Shane Stanley
>
>
>
>
> Visit the site @ www.cookstanley.com
> or the yahoo group @
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cook-stanley