America's Hypocrisy

I love being an American- even if the next couple of posts don't seem like it. I have been overseas and while all the countries that I have been to are amazing there is nothing like the United States of America. The freedom, the pride, the amazing people... With that said, we, as a country, have a lot of work to do.

For every person that is trying to do something positive there are more than a few that are trying to pull them down into some nonsense. For every proud American there is at least one person that doesn't care. I am supposing that the same can be said about any country- but I live here, so here we go:

Generally, I spend my time reading the news and either being 1) shocked at how horrible people are or 2) amazed at how giving and wonderful people are. There is usually no middle ground. It takes a lot for me to be shocked or to hand out accolades, all other news kind of falls by the wayside... not ignored completely, but not taking up brain space. My thought process is like that of many Americans, or at least I would like to think that. I am sure that people take away from the news what is pertinent to them and leaves the rest to be absorbed by others. We are all guilty. My problem with that is: it leads to apathy. People start to disregard very important happenings. That has happened- again- and I am bothered- again.

For almost a month oil has been leaking into the Gulf of Mexico, raise your hand if you knew about that. It is on track to being worse than the Exxon Valdez oil crisis of 1989, raise your hand if you knew that. No one seems to have a sense of urgency about getting the situation under control. Wow- am I the only one that sees that? BP is dragging their heels, the federal government is at a standstill (but what exactly can they do?) and the American public could seem to care less. Apathy has set in. This oil spill will forever alter the way of life for people who depend on the wild life in the Gulf of Mexico. Tourism will be affected. Those households that have been sustained by fishing jobs will no longer be, so unemployment will go up. All of this is happening under our noses in an area that has not bounced back from Katrina fully (and don't even get me started on how THAT could happen in the richest country in the world!) Yet, Americans, as a whole do NOT care. You know when Americans will care? Americans will care when gas prices go up, when seafood prices go up or their cushy life is otherwise affected. It is a shame really... days go by and all you hear about is rising violence, warm weather and wall street- all the while fellow Americans are suffering or are about to be suffering. Awful.

My dad has a saying, well actually it is a word that he repeats for effect: loyalty. In January, I took so much heat for my post about Haiti. I received angry emails from people saying I was heartless for not wanting to help Haitians in their time of need. Really? First of all, the American public is suffering right now. We were in January, last year, the year before, yesterday and today. Second of all: this is my blog and I will post whatever I want- you can keep those angry, anonymous emails. Actually, you can send me emails (or comments) about anything- even angry ones, but at least sign your name. Cowards need not apply... but, I digress. Even after my January post, there were fundraisers galore. People were on primetime tv, praying for and taking donations for Haitians. Spreading Haitian love everywhere. The Chicagoland area was on fire with fundraisers. Let me make this clear- I have NO problem with that, BUT now that the Gulf region needs some love, where is the attention? Where are the fundraisers (I only know of one- hats off to Lenny Kravitz and the other musicians who put on that concert). Where is the concern for your fellow Americans? Where is the fucking outrage??? We should be boycotting BP until they get this leak under control. We should have people on primetime tv asking for donations and praying for our countrymen and women. We should have help going down to all the states affected by this oil spill- immediately. What? You can do it for other countries, but have a problem doing it for other states? Where is your loyalty?

**Bring on those emails and comments** :)
Miss Mox