On The American Way Yes, this is The American Way [Archives:2002/18/Focus]

GARY VEY
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You ask if the current policies are “The American way?” I am afraid the answer is “Yes.”I am old enough to remember the days when American citizens of black and brown skin were treated as if they were less than human beings. They were made to sit in the back of buses, drink from different water spouts and were prevented from voting. I am also old enough to remember the rise of Nazi Germany and the hesitation of the American government to condemn the genocide of Jews until it was much too late to intervene. I am old enough to remember the thousands of students that protested an unjust war in Viet Nam that eventually ended only after killing millions of Asians and half a million young Americans. Yes, this is entirely in keeping with the “American way.”While Americans eventually do the right thing, they often have done it slowly and have only taken a stance on morality long after the events have become a disaster to humanity. “Why?”Democracy is a good thing, but it is only effective in bringing out the goodness in humanity if the collective people are well informed and have an interest in the outcome of any issue.
Politicians know this well, and so the information that is given from the news media and in grand speeches is always designed to appeal to the goals of the politicians. This would be great if the political goals were based on morality and truth, but they are not. American politics is all about power and money — as far from spiritual and moral issues as one can get.
Politicians in America, especially those of President George Bush, are to appease the ethnic Jews in America to gain re-election. If they even speak out against the current actions in the Mideast they risk being called “anti-Semitic” — the bane of any politician. While thousands of students in American cities demonstrate, reminiscent of the anti-Viet Nam protests of the 1960’s, they have remained staunch in their support of Israel. As popular support drifts towards the Palestinians, they have kept silent, remembering that they need the Jewish vote for their next term of office.
India’s Ghandi once reminded mankind that goodness and truth always wins over evil, but the battle is never won with violence and hatred. Truly Allah will support His own people, and their suffering will not be in vain. The ordinary people of America have now seen the truth, as they did in World War II, as they did in Viet Nam. It may take some time, and much suffering, but American democracy will eventually take the high ground of morality. Later rather than sooner, but that is the “American way.”

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