Thing of it is... countries are like individuals. We see ourselves differently than others do. We avoid bringing up the more unpleasant aspects of ourselves and some even manage to burn the ugly parts out of memory. As individuals, we don't feel like that's propaganda. We accept it as human nature, except when someone else's memory works against us. We judge ourselves by our good intentions and what we want to see. We judge others by their acts.
To most Americans, the United States is the greatest nation on Earth. As a nation, we're big, powerful and get to say who counts and who doesn't. President Obama waved our big dick, "vetoing a United Nations plan to recognize Palestine as a state. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas requested the U.N. recognize Palestine as a state within the U.N. organization so it could have administrative leverage to begin the process of boundary organization". A veto by us, in the U.N., carries a lot of weight. Sorry Palestine. Try again later...
In 2010, the U.S. government released "US State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2009". We do it every year. It's a sorta tradition... As you might have guessed, the rest of the world looks pretty damn shitty from here. This big ass report is divided into areas; Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Eurasia, Near East and North Africa, South and Central Asia and the Western Hemisphere. Guess what? That whole section of the report that includes the Western Hemisphere - we ain't in it. I looked, and Google Earth says we're still here. We just conveniently left ourselves out of that report. Must be because we don't violate humans' rights!
Well, also in 2010, soon after the State Department released it's report card, China’s Information Office of the State Council, decided it was time to fill the gap we left in the report, and published a 14 page report called, “The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2009." China's report, on us, is divided into 6 sections:
Life Property and Personal Security
Civil and Political Rights
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Racial Discrimination
Rights of Women and Children
U.S. Violations of Human Rights Against Other Nations
Here are a few facts, from China's report, you probably haven't seen in the US media:
• Each year, 30,000 people die in gun-related incidents.
• There were 14,180 murders last year.
• In the first ten months of 2009, 45 people were killed by police use of tasers, bringing the total for the decade to 389.
• Last year, 315 police officers in New York City were subject to internal supervision due to “unrestrained use of violence.”
• 7.3 million Americans were under the authority of the correctional system, more than in any other country.
• An estimated 60,000 prisoners were raped while in custody last year.
• 712 bodies were cremated at public expense in the city of Los Angeles last year, because the families were too poor to pay for a burial.
• There were 5,657 workplace deaths recorded in 2007, the last year for which a tally is available, a rate of 17 deaths per day (not a single employer was criminally charged for any of these deaths).
• Some 2,266 veterans died as a consequence of lack of health insurance in 2008, 14 times the military death toll in Afghanistan that year.
Having our national ass, handed to us on a plate does not absolve China of anything. Most Americans hear and read about how fucked up the Chinese government is. According to Amnesty International, in China:
"An estimated 500,000 people are currently enduring punitive detention without charge or trial, and millions are unable to access the legal system to seek redress for their grievances. Harassment, surveillance, house arrest, and imprisonment of human rights defenders are on the rise, and censorship of the Internet and other media has grown. Repression of minority groups, including Tibetans, Uighurs and Mongolians, and of Falun Gong practitioners and Christians who practice their religion outside state-sanctioned churches continues. While the recent reinstatement of Supreme People's Court review of death penalty cases may result in lower numbers of executions, China remains the leading executioner in the world."
You can call China's report on us, a rebuttal. You can call it propaganda. You can call it any damn thing you like. But, if you read the stats and back check them, like I did, (so far, I've only checked 2009), you might have to jump off that All-American, apple pie covered, high horse - if, you've been riding one - and wipe the bull shit out of your eyes.
The United States is my home. My father served, nearly his whole adult life, in the military and because of that, I have been fortunate enough to see America from the outside. As a nation, we are quick to point our fingers. As individual citizens, we are quick to buy into all the good, bad and ugly we point at, so long as it isn't pointed at us.
Let me just get this one thing straight - I am not trying to bash the country I live in. My aim here, is not to bring on an argument about who's better, or worse, at human rights. The point is, we need to take a long hard look in the mirror. And this is a presidential election year... While we're busy cracking jokes on how ridiculous our politicians look to us, let's remember, whomever we choose to occupy that room without corners - that person is going have a whole lot of influence over humans and their rights - both here, and abroad.
Click to read full text of:
“The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2009"
“The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2010"
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