In The Interest of Balance: Raging Bully

IN THE INTEREST OF BALANCE: AMERICA IS NUMBER ONE!

Ok now we've got that out of the way we can talk about real issues. In the previous week, the independent columnist and author Owen Jones (or as a friend of mine likes to call him "The Thinking Gay's Crumpet") wrote a column explaining just how terrifying the recent expansion of power in the US really is.

In the wake of Bush's administration, the president of the United States can now hold people indefinitely, arrest people without a warrant, imprison people without a trial, torture prisoners and order the killing of any US citizen without due process. Yes, all of those powers were confirmed under dubya. But Obama has handed virtually none of this power back and there are those who still claim that he is the most liberal, left wing, socialist and divisive president ever.

Unfortunately, Jones does have a point. Citing his article, in "The Five" section on Fox news, their pundits spoke of his comments rightly making clear that the expansion of power is extremely frightening and and has potentially destructive ramifications. Or as they glibly put it, what he really means is "Death to America." Yes, what a perfect over-simplification of everything in the article: Jones points out the dangers of having too much power subject to abuse, and Fox news explains all it means is america must be destroyed. I don't know who could have better simplified the problem, except maybe a 6 year old.

They then went off to explain that america is awesome and people on the left only hate them for the power they wield. Of course. The problem isn't America's colossal expansion of how it can infringe on civil liberties, it's that people hate it for being awesome. The kind of in depth analysis that could only come from a complete ignoramus. Greg Gutfield thinks that "the only solution is for America to start assuming our awesome and stop apologising for it". I have a better suggestion. Why not stop insulting whoever has anything critical to say about you and take an board what is said before dismissing it out of hand. In other words: stop claiming you're the most 'awesome' country in the world and start acting like it!

Eric Bolling then went on to claim that Obama is the head of the occupy movement, Dana Pierno claimed it is better to be feared than liked, and Andrea Tantaros called Jones a schoolchild who had never heard of Hitler or Mussolini or that America helped defeat them, before calling Germany the most influential economic power in Europe and saying America had to police them.

Now, I'm not here simply to defend Jones- unlike what some would tell you, I daresay he's a big boy and doesn't need my praise or defence. I'm just here to cite some strange rhetoric from The Five.
So for the sake of balance for balance's sake, let's respond to some of these points. If you get to claim Obama is the head of the occupy movement, we get to make comparisons between Bush and Saddam Hussain. If you get to claim it's better to be feared than liked, you don't deserve any respect. If you think Jones is a schoolchild when he's nearly 28, I get to call you an infantile bimbo who doesn't know how to use the education she has.

Next on the agenda, however, since we need to respect America and say how awesome it is all the time, let's list a few places where America does rank number one. CO2 emissions: America has the highest rate in the world, ahead of China. Rape: America has the most occurrences of rape in the world ahead of Kenya. America sells more weapons and instruments of destruction than any other country. America has the highest crime rate in the world above the UK. They have the highest divorce rate in the world. There are more people in prison in the US than any other country. One in 38 people in the US is in prison. Harold Pinter was right co compare the prison system to the Soviet gulag, except for one thing. Russia ranks number three in stats of most citizens in prison meaning that america now ranks several times worse than the number of people in the gulag. So way to go, America, in these areas, you really are number one!

Now, don't get me wrong. The above makes me sound quite anti-American, but trust me, I am not. I am only deeply concerned and wish that the right wing media in America would really look at these concerns and not pretend they don't exist. Because the wars the US and UK put on the credit card thanks to Bush and Blair were fought on a pack of lies and the lid has been blown off it. And if a country wants respect after so many mistakes, it has to earn it and not just expect the fear of others because their missiles are bigger than everyone else's.