Subject:
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Re: Misperceptions of America (Was: Conversation w/ a LEGO Rep)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Tue, 7 Sep 1999 18:30:08 GMT
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Reply-To:
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jsproat@io.com!stopspammers!
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Viewed:
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2118 times
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Scott Edward Sanburn wrote:
> Sproaticus wrote:
> > It's a scary statistic that there are more, ahh, minorities on death row in
> > the U.S. than there are, ahh, majorities. I'm hinting at the various social
> > and economic and regional situations which may or may not have eventually
> > sent these people to be executed.
> Get close, get really, really close.... OK? Maybe <shrudder> there are more
> "minorities" committing capitol crimes than "majorities", whatever that means.
But don't you ever ask *why*?!? Jeez, what, are you happy with those
numbers?
> > I lived at Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands for most
> > of my life, and I personally witnessed the American policy of corrupting and
> > destroying an indeginious culture for their own purposes.
> Is this a fact, is it somewhere on the web, or do you have references for actual
> U.S. policies, i.e. House Bill 98-205? Or is this another IMHO or something. I
> have heard about how "evil" the US has been in just about every faucet of life,
> but I never hear of the former USSR, Europe, etc. Why is that? The US has made
> mistakes, it is not perfect, but I am still glad I live here.
I'm so glad you asked. :-, Grab a chair, because this will take a while.
I can't speak for anyone else, but I pick on the U.S. because I live there.
I really have no right to pick on the former U.S.S.R. or Europe or any other
place, though that doesn't really stop me.
America has a history rich with cultural cleansing. It's a well-documented
fact that the Native Americans were victims to U.S. expansionism. An
oft-quoted example is the smallpox-infected blankets which were handed out
to the natives along the frontier.
But I wasn't there. I saw it in another part of the world.
The Marshall Islands were taken by the U.S. military from the Japanese near
the end of World War II. As a measure of goodwill, the people living on
Bikini Atoll were forcibly removed to make way for Operation Crossroads,
America's first foray into nuclear testing on foreign soil. These natives
were taken from an extremely fruitful land and stuffed into smaller, often
overcrowded and underfed atolls. (Hey, it worked under the Japanese
administration, so why change it now?) Some of these, those living at the
Rongelap Atoll, were situated too close to the test site, a condition
planned by the U.S. to determine the effects to prolonged exposure to
nuclear fallout.
This game was played all over again when the residents of Enewetak Atoll,
including a bunch of transplanted Bikinians, were moved for yet more nuclear
testing. They were moved to Majaro Atoll, Kili Island, and *tah-dah*
Kwajalein Atoll. Ebeye, the island in Kwajalein Atoll where the refugees
were shipped to, has a population of more than 9000 living on a patch of
land measuring roughly 1 by 1.5 miles.
Today, a frighteningly high level of cancer is a leading cause of death in
the Marshalls, along with alcoholism, heart disease, and suicide. (But not
murder. These are the kindest people I've EVER met.) The people there were
recently allowed to form their soverign nation, Republic of the Marshall
Islands, and propmtly became a welfare state funded by the U.S.
The U.S. maintains an Army base at Kwajalein Atoll, where anti-ballistic
missile technology is tested. I lived there most of my life. When you see,
year after year, the suffering inflicted to these people by your own people,
you grow kinda, I dunno, cynical about your nation. I went to school with
Marshallese people, got worse grades than quite a few, and ended up with the
better jobs because Americans were favored over Marshallese in the
workplace. When you see friends end up in total desolation, or even
suicide, by the conditions to which you are immune, your heart gets "nuked"
on a regular basis.
The test atolls were declared safe for habitation early on. However,
radiation levels there were too high, surprise surprise, and the area
remains an active testbed for leukemia and thyroid tumors.
Meanwhile, the Atolls Bikini, Enewetak, and Rongelap are still not
appropriate for long-term living. Bikini Atoll is fed by a tourism industry
which can't staff anyone longer than three months. On what used to be one
of the most lush farmlands in this part of the Pacific Ocean, all fresh
water and food not taken from the ocean must be shipped in. People will be
able to move in permanantly by, say, the year 200000.
Recently undisclosed AEC documents reveal that nuclear fallout has
contaminated roughly half the islands and atolls in the Marshall Islands,
including Kwajalein. I lived there for thirteen years.
And I won't even get into what happened to residents of southern Utah,
including members of my family, during the Los Alomos nuke testing.
So when you wave your American flag and cheer the great nation you live in
and happily file your income taxes, you may consider what has been done by
your country, and what may happen yet.
Cheers,
- jsproat
Web References:
http://www.bikiniatoll.com/
http://www.rmiembassyus.org/ (with bibliography)
http://tis-nt.eh.doe.gov/ihp/marsh/marshall.htm
U.S. Gumm'it Papers References:
U.S. Public Law # 94-34
U.S. Public Law # 99-239
U.S. Public Law # 97-257
U.S. Public Law # 100-446
The Compact of Free Association
--
Jeremy H. Sproat <jsproat@io.com> ~~~ http://www.io.com/~jsproat/
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