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Wow, Nick, that is an intense and brilliant poem. Masterpiece. Can't say I agree with everything, but that's cool... There's no doubt that America isn't exactly a BL-friendly environment these days. But... I feel that sometimes people like to create scapegoats, create a (sometimes mythical) awful bogeyman that is the cause of our troubles. It's easy if we can give it a name, and railing against the evil makes people feel good. Usually, these days, it's "predators", "child molesters", "sickos", or whatever someone's imagination can come up with. In the past, it's been folks like witches, Jews, and plenty of others. Obvious enough, nothing subtle here. But I also feel that perhaps you, and definitely millions and millions of others, use the concept of "America" as just that type of scapegoat. Oh yeah, there have been, and continue to be, unspeakable evils done in America's name, done by the American people, done for an American cause. I won't make a list here, but pretty much anyone can. To put it mildly, I am no fan of our current president, government, situation. But hate, killing, prejudice, oppression respect no geographic boundaries, NL, respect no nationalities. As long as humans have two arms, two legs, one heart, the things you mention will exist. Not unique to our native land, not by a long shot. Everything you mention has happened in all parts of the world, along with plenty of mass genocide in some unfortunate places. You know, if you separated all the world's people into two lines, the nice people and the bad folks, the nice people line would probably be ten times as long. Stretch wayyyy the hell around the block. But that's life, the smaller number of bad folks are often the ones (because they need it) are the ones with the power, the ones affecting other people's lives. This is true around the globe, man. So I'm one of those yeah boy, patriotic, flag-waver types (though like I said, we need a regime change in Washington!). A couple nights ago, I watched the All-Star game (6 Red Sox in it!), screaming our national anthem (I sang the Canadian one, too, hey, I like national anthems) like an idiot while a certain special 15 y.o. kid giggled who was visiting me for the night giggled and accused me of being crazy. Yet, you know what's strange? As I shrieked our national anthem, the boy next to me couldn't understand a word. Yeah, I'm an expat. I live south of the border, where la gente habla espanol. I know that there's no way handsome 15 y.o. (and younger and older) boys who hang out with me, who share affectionate hugs with me, who make me what I am at my advanced age (older than Curt Schilling!,) would be available in my homeland. I wave our flag, I love my country, but I do it from far away. And by the way, I love my adopted country, too. It's a place where (in my opinion) people are no better or worse as human beings from Americans, but where boys are independent (perhaps because of their poverty, I won't deny it) and hang out with grownups who love them. Wouldn't happen back home. What do you call this, NL? Do you call it cultural difference, evil American hate, or just the way things are? So am I a hypocrite? Maybe, other people can judge me as they will (I seem to remember that happening a bit in the last couple months..haha...), that's their business. So anyway, NL, thanks for your brilliant poem. I wish you the best, and I hope you feel better than you sound in your poem. I guess I'll finish this response with one thought--sometimes hate and intolerance are inside humans, humans from anywhere, but if we look hard enough there can be goodness and love, too. |