Bill Moyers Journal: The World Looks to America - 11/29

[Hissyspit]

Run time: 01:44 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyo8lGnQJ_Y   Posted on YouTube: November 29, 2008 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: November 29, 2008 By DU Member: Hissyspit Views on DU: 1240

 
PBS BIill Moyers Journal - Nov. 29, 2008: Bill Moyers discusses how citizens of the world reacted to him and America in light of the election of Barack Obama and the economic crisis.

[grasswire]

1. I've been thinking about this since last night.

His last sentence -- that we can be thankful it is still OUR STORY TO WRITE -- was haunting. I presume that he means we are not yet in the position where another country has taken us over and is calling the shots; that we still have some measure of self-determination.

Frightening.

[Capt. America]

2. Except Americans (lately) are notoriously selfish when it comes to getting what....

...they want without wanting to sacrifice their "American" way of life.

[cooolandrew]

3. Hardly frightening at all I think we are about to enter an ear of huge human development globally I>

find that hopeful and exciting. The economic thing may take time in the end money is only paper but I feel Barack's vision of 'tearing down the walls of humanity' will come to fruition and that in its own will enrich us all.

Barack Obama in Berlin.

Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe’s role in our security and our future. Both views miss the truth – that Europeans today are bearing new burdens and taking more responsibility in critical parts of the world; and that just as American bases built in the last century still help to defend the security of this continent, so does our country still sacrifice greatly for freedom around the globe.


The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.

...

So history reminds us that walls can be torn down. But the task is never easy. True partnership and true progress requires constant work and sustained sacrifice. They require sharing the burdens of development and diplomacy; of progress and peace. They require allies who will listen to each other, learn from each other and, most of all, trust each other.

...

These are the aspirations that joined the fates of all nations in this city. These aspirations are bigger than anything that drives us apart. It is because of these aspirations that the airlift began. It is because of these aspirations that all free people – everywhere – became citizens of Berlin. It is in pursuit of these aspirations that a new generation – our generation – must make our mark on the world.

[hileeskeptical]

4. Mr. Moyer's Neighborhood

I have a lot of respect for Bill Moyer, and was glad to see his return to air with the “Journal”. However, this is the most odious and reeking piece of “American Feel Good” propaganda and expression of US flag worship indoctrination i have ever heard Mr. Moyer utter. I can only guess that Bill must have written this little sanctimonious screed while in the thrall of post-thanksgiving serotonal bliss.

“Burp.” Bill settles a little further into his easy chair, one hand tucked soothingly into his waistband. “Don’t worry kids, the world still loves America. Rest easy in your delusions of American exceptionalism and paternalism.”

How confidently Bill speaks, sure of the Universe, and Americans favoured place in it. Here, citizens of other countries are childlike and wide -eyed in their innocence and apparent gullibility. “Don’t worry, children of other nations, “ BIll seems to want to say, “Big Daddy Obama promises a never ending trip to fairy tale land, or some other plastic coated theme park future.” All that’s missing is a pat on the head.

--But Uncle Bill, surely you realise that “Change we can believe in” was an election strategy , a marketing campaign, and a highly successful one. It is certainly not any kind of mandate for actual reform in business-as-usual Washington. The cabinet Mr. Obama is surrounding himself with would confirm that inside DC and Wall St. good change is no change.

Smaller nations are no longer interested in going where the Americans want to lead, that is clear. This illusion is only achieved through bribery, arm-twisting, or outright military aggression. It is a mean and cruel world the Americans would impose upon us lesser mortals. This American led delusion of a borderless tax free world where corporations are free and unfettered to exploit workers and resources is an environmental and societal toxic, a cancer that must be expunged with the meanest of tools.

Even citizenship in the Empire does not guarantee a place in the promised land. The American power parasites would sell (have sold?) their own citizenry down the river into perpetual debt and slavery, as surely as any of the brown people they are so fond of killing.

Citizens of other countries (yes, we do exist) take interest in American elections for only one reason. Like mice scurrying at the feet of a lumbering elephant, it is wise to gauge which way the beast is shifting. Or better yet, we see now that the US Empire is like a vicious dog in a crowded room. Everyone is terrified of the rabid beast, and wondering who it will attack next. Everyone keeps a wary eye on the drooling beast, but we are all wearing pork-chop pants.

I stand amazed at the power of American indoctrination, when an honest voice from a world citizen like Mr. Moyer is so deeply ingrained with reeking American Exceptionalism, and how easily and effortlessly he exhorts it.