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I'm not an American. I come to this meeting as one of the victims of Americanism, one of the victims of a very hypocritical system that is going all over this earth today representing itself as being qualified to tell other people how to run their country when they can't get the dirty things that are going on in their own country straightened out.
-Malcolm X, 1964

There are a number of reactions you might have to that quote, but there should be no denying the truth that is to be found in it. We all know the old saying, "People in glass houses..." In the face of adversity, people tend to do one of two things: they cling on for dear life to the things they've always held true to their hearts, or they begin to question those same beliefs and perhaps even grow to despise them.

Malcolm X, regardless of your personal feelings about him, was an incredibly bright man and his words sound eerily familiar to the criticisms of the United States today by both foreigners and citizens alike. Some say problems always stay the same, just the names change, and it seems there's some merit in that.

Recently I saw the new Harry Potter film, which I have dubbed "Harry Potter Versus U.S. Policy," for the all too clear references to industrialized powers gone amuck, with particular note of U.S. practices. I also couldn't help but notice the long, drawn out advertisement for the Coast Guard before the previews began, right before the previews began to be exact, perhaps just a coincidence. Although the politicians keep telling us there's no military shortage, the facts suggest otherwise. The growing trend of military recruitment strategies in mass public places, where they haven't been in numbers since Vietnam, are yet another indication of the truth.

Waiting to stuff my face with popcorn and my $4.00 slushy, I was reminded that I should be patriotic and serve my country by joining the Coast Guard... because numbers are low, because they're all deployed to Iraq, fighting a war halfway around the world, when we have problems at home boiling over. When does it become hypocritical? Has it already reached that point as so many are claiming, or are they simply being un-American and Communist (hello, China).

I know one thing for certain, my patience has become null and void for people who throw at me empty words about not being American enough. I have the cojones to question the actions of my government, whom began existence to serve the people, not the almighty dollar bill. I'd say that about makes me damn American, more American in fact than people who hide behind their ignorance and the yellow ribbon on the back of their Hummer.

Learn more about this author, C. Gentle.
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