Squandered Opportunity

I finally made it all the way through the movie Watchmen, on my third attempt. What a disjointed, excessively-long, self-indulgent crapfest. But the ending reminded me of something I've thought for a long time.

I know this is controversial to say, but September 11th had the potential to be one of the best moments in the relatively short history of global civilization. After those sexually repressed, miseducated, dick-lickers crashed civilian-filled airplanes into the Twin Towers, there was an overwhelming wave of patriotism and unity in the U.S., which, in turn, reverberated across the planet. The entire world, aside from a very small faction of fanatical Muslims, rushed to America's side in the wake of our freshly-exposed vulnerability. The world was certainly as united as I'd ever known it to be, and, in my opinion, we had a unique window of opportunity to promote and actively pursue a peaceful, openly communicative, global community . . . and George W. Bush managed to squander all of that good will and sympathy that had finally brought humanity together on such a massive scale.

This is my primary objection to George W. Bush's existence. He had a chance to make a historically positive impact on the globe, and instead, he and his staff essentially ignored thousands of years of recorded history (accumulated, presumably painstakingly, over many generations, in no small part to keep people from repeating past morons' mistakes), and made a series of terrible, ignorant, selfish decisions that resulted in pretty much the exact opposite of anything positive. And that's totally fucked! I fully believe Bush should be treated as a war criminal. If the leader of any other nation acted equally irresponsibly, without the consent or support of the international community, and was responsible for that much death and destruction, he would be tried and executed.

It drives me nuts when I see "W" (what a fucking idiot, that guy) throwing out the first pitch at a baseball game, or laughing with his friends, or smiling as he clears brush back in Crawford. How come he's allowed to be that happy? When I see him enjoying life, it embarrasses me as an American, and it makes me feel the way I did when I saw O.J. Simpson playing golf after his acquittal, or when I watched Yasser Araft receive his Nobel Peace Prize. It really highlights the absurdity of our existence...