To each (generation) his/her own

If someone were to ask you what music you listened to as a kid, what would you think of? My mental soundtrack of childhood is as varied and eclectic as my list of "dream jobs". Among the many, I think of: Ella Fitzgerald, Eric Clapton, John Coltrane, Kiri Te Kanawa, New Kids on the Block, Prince, The Mamas and the Pappas, Kathleen Battle, Joan Baez, Billy Holiday, and the London Philharmonic.

Even though I heard her music decades after it was recorded, the music of Joan Baez was a major influence in shaping my ideas and morals. "China" was a key player in molding my opinions of politics and human rights. 90% of the time, I try to avoid politics. I get angry, I get discouraged, and nothing changes. But for now, I have your attention, so bear with me.

One of my biggest issues with our current administration, is that they seem hell-bent on acting as if terrorism is a new thing. As if no other generation has ever before experienced this degree of fear or threat, and they are the only ones who will ever have to (or have ever had to) address it and act against it. I feel that they have a hidden agenda motivating them, all while they use "terrorism" and "a violation of human rights" as the headline rationale/excuse for their aggressive tactics.

Wrong.

Every generation has had it's own event or series of events that were a gross violation of human rights. Their own terrorists. Their own bloodbath and slaughtering of innocents.

The Armenian Genocide in 1915-1917. The Holocaust. The slaughter and exile in Tibet in 1950. The Massacre of Poles in Volhynia by Ukrainian guerrilla groups. The Arab-Isreali conflict. Tian'namen Square protests of 1989. The concentration camps and famine in North Korea. Chechnya. The "stolen generation" between 1900 and 1972 in Australia. Rwandan genocide. Ethnic cleansing and enslavement in Sudan.

The list could go on and on.

So what makes this particular set of events that we are currently experiencing any worse than the others? In a speech at West Point, Bush stated that, "America has no empire to extend or utopia to establish. We wish for others only what we wish for ourselves -- safety from violence, the rewards of liberty, and the hope for a better life." Isn't it interesting how this "active promotion of freedom and democracy" in all regions of the world has only extended to certain countries (Iraq, Iran, Russia, North Korea), but not others (Sudan)?

Promoting freedom and democracy should not be a pick and choose game. If we want it for all, then we fight for all. If we claim to promote it worldwide, then by god, stand up for it worldwide, instead of only fighting in situations which will benefit the United States.

And if you're going to claim that "America has no empire to extend or utopia to establish", then why have so many people in the current administration been involved with the conservative think-tank Project for the New American Century, which supports and advocates the dominance of world affairs by the United States?

There are too many questions here for me to rest easy, knowing that these are the people in charge of "promoting freedom and democracy". KWIM?