Violence Is the American Way

"Thus, America demonstrated a national predilection for war and domestic violence long before the 9/11 attacks, but its leaders and intellectuals through most of the last century cultivated the national self-image, a myth, of America as a moral, 'peace-loving' nation which the American population seems unquestioningly to have embraced." The lead in to this piece describes the US as being "without history, with only memory, which means a people poorly prepared for what is inevitable about life -- tragedy, sadness, moral ambiguity -- and therefore a people reluctant to engage difficult ethical issues." So very, so sadly true. I am continuously shocked at the degree to which people refuse to recognize that bloodshed is nothing new for our government, this nation was born of it....I saw a poster the other day with the message "Native Americans ? Fighting The War On Terror Since 1492."