You Want This Country to Be Safe? You're Looking in the Wrong Direction

Guest Blogger: Jennifer Arend

Most people know about the conspiracy theory that a certain horrific event was an inside job. If that's true, it's becoming clearer every day why it happened. The fear of terrorism is the perfect distraction. Our own government can do whatever it wants to us because the entire country is afraid of Muslims and illegal immigrants instead of the rich and powerful corporations that are actually destroying everything good about this country piece by piece. It's so much easier, isn't it? It's so much easier to be afraid of "outsiders" than to come to terms with the fact that the threat to your lives, your jobs, and everything else you should be entitled to (yes ENTITLED) has already been here in this country all along...and only grows hungrier and more brazen by the minute.

But go ahead and keep raising those fists and chanting for that wall while the Republican administration robs you of your rights and assures you that it's for your own protection. Go ahead and keep complaining about immigrants taking your jobs while the super rich continue to outsource and build their companies overseas. Go ahead, keep complaining about the the few cents (yes CENTS) per

day you pay in taxes toward helping struggling Americans while the rich pocket dollar after dollar. This is your country too, and if you want to just sit back and pretend like you should be more worried about immigrants (because god forbid you admit that you may have been conned), who am I or anyone else to stop you? Just FYI though, in the history of this country the majority of attacks have been committed by people who were BORN here. In fact, the vast majority of those terrifying events were executed by white males. So, if you think it's crazy to be concerned about white American men...then it's even more insane how worried people are about immigrants.

You want this country to be safe? You're looking in the wrong direction. Why are you looking over there? Oh, right. Fox News told you, and Fox News is the only real news out there! I guess it doesn't matter to you how many lies they've been caught telling or how completely

unrespected their organization is by the rest of the world. I guess it doesn't matter that they are the most biased news source out there (worse than any biased conservative OR liberal propaganda). As long as you believe it, it must be true, and no one could possibly know more than you about anything. Not economists. Not scientists. Not actually respected journalists.

The sad part is, I DO care what you think. Even if I KNOW for a FACT that you're wrong, I still care. I still want to listen. I still want to talk about this stuff because it's important to me, and quite frankly, it should be important to EVERYONE. This is the future of our country we're talking about. This is the world we're going to leave for our kids. And don't give me that "we can't do anything about it" crap.

Did the founders of this country say that when faced with the tyranny of the English? Did the abolitionists say that during the civil war? Did the allies say that during WWII? Did suffragettes say that when rallying for women to be able to vote? Did civil right activists say that? Is that why Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King are heroes--because they said "we can't do anything about it?" Uh...no. They are heroes because they knew that if people come together, they CAN change things, and they each did their part to lead people to fight for change.

So, stop it. Stop saying protests don't do anything so you can feel better about sitting back and doing nothing. Stop getting angry at the people who are out there fighting for your rights just as much as they are fighting for their own. Do you want your kids to get a good education or do you want ALL kids to get a good education? Do you want to drink clean water and breathe clean air? Do you want a job that pays a living wage? Do you want your country to be safer from the people who are ACTUALLY dangerous

to your families? If some day you find yourself unable to work, do you still want quality healthcare that you can afford? For God's sake, even if you don't care about people who are different than you, there are SO MANY issues that affect YOU and YOUR FAMILY. So, stop it. Stop buying into what this government is trying to sell you just because you voted for it. Stop believing everything the government feeds you. Question everything. Research the reputation of your sources before you trust them.

The government will tell you whatever is in its best interest to tell you. So, don't let them get away with hiding from the press and censoring scientists. They will tell you what you want to hear in every speech, but they will not back that up. I mean, you can't say you are FOR CLEAN AIR while you are in the process of dismantling the organization that's in charge of keeping it CLEAN. You can't say you want to give people good affordable healthcare coverage while drafting a proposal to significantly raise the cost of medical insurance for average Americans and the elderly. Well, I guess you can...because for some reason people are still just smiling and nodding. Holding our leaders accountable for their decisions isn't wishing that they'll fail. It's doing everything in our power to ensure that they DON'T.

There is nothing patriotic about someone who waves an American flag around, but doesn't care about the fate of the nation or its citizens. You can't say you care about our soldiers while they're being sent to die in wars that are more about the oil industry than freedom.

You can't say that you care about veterans while watching every single pro-veterans bill get shot down by members of the party you vote into office over and over. It doesn't work like that. It doesn't make SENSE.

I don't understand people who want to continue to believe things that aren't even true because that's their "opinion". You can't decide what is true and what isn't based on what you WANT to be true. I don't understand people who would rather live in ignorance than educate themselves about what is and isn't happening in this country. How can you expect to leave behind a better world for these future generations if you don't even know what's at stake or who you need to fight for it?

I don't understand how anyone can just bring children into this world and not want to go to the ends of the earth to make sure they have it better than we have, and I don't understand how anyone thinks they can do that if they're just giving their attention to something they'll agree with...or worse...not bothering to pay attention to anything at all because they "don't like politics."

I doubt anyone is going to change their mind about anything based on this rant, and anyone who it may or may not be aimed at isn't even going to read it. But, you know, it makes me feel better to vent my frustrations. And I can't lie...I prefer my own speeches to those of almost everyone else. I probably missed my calling, but what can you do?