About a month ago, I saw a relative from the US. Nice person,from Texas, and going to the largest university there. It was a decent time, and it was just like any previous meeting, except this time, I happened to bring up politics. That was when I received a shocking insight into Americans and how chilling their ignorance is.
I had mentioned I read Newsweek and that it's good it's considered liberal (as opposed to conservative) when she asked me if I supported the Democrats (supposedly the liberal American party). I said I did, then quickly corrected myself - I'm not a Democrat supporter (I'm actually anti-American), I just prefer the side that's not led by Bush.
My relative was herself stunned by my replies to her question, and she asked why. Well, obviously because his administration has done many terrible things around the world. I gave her Iraq as an example, and she was surprised and indignant. Her responses, that Iraq was involved in the 911 bombings, that Saddam confessed to them, and then her statement that Fox is the most fair (balanced) news shocked me into a slight mental numbness. I did manage to question her about when did Saddam actually confess to bombing the World Trade towers, and say that a lot of people around the world and media know that Bush was wrong, that it's a widely-accepted view.
She defended Bush by saying he's a christian while Kerry was in his second marriage, and that they were stout GOP (Republican) supporters down there.
We ended up talking about other things, and there was no anger or bitterness arising from our political conversation, but it was something that affected me.
So what was so shocking about all this? The fact that my relative is oriental, intelligent, well-educated and decent, yet absolutely believes in Bush and his lies and manipulations. Can you imagine what those 'rednecks' or common folks especially Texans think about Bush? They must really worship him and believe completely in his every word and statements. How terrible is it when folks in the most powerful nation on earth continue to believe in the exploitative and deceitful and harmful (for lack of a better word) actions of their president and government out of blind loyalty despite all the evidence available, all the hatred and loathing by nations of the US all over the world, all the warfare and inequality that exists in large part to US intervention and interference (Haiti, Venezuela,Liberia-1980s, Chile-1970s,Ethiopia-1980s,Iraq, ......).