We are not a perfect nation- we never have been, we never will be, and most realistic people recognize that what makes us different from other nations is that when we identify our shortcomings, we attempt to do something about them . As Bernard Lewis notes:
We of the West are accused of sexism, racism, and imperialism, institutionalized in patriarchy and slavery, tyranny and exploitation. To these charges, and to others as heinous, we have no option but to plead guilty — not as Americans, nor yet as Westerners, but simply as human beings, as members of the human race. In none of these sins are we the only sinners, and in some of them we are very far from being the worst. The treatment of women in the Western world, and more generally in Christendom, has always been unequal and often oppressive, but even at its worst it was rather better than the rule of polygamy and concubinage that has otherwise been the almost universal lot of womankind on this planet.
Is racism, then, the main grievance? Certainly the word figures prominently in publicity addressed to Western, Eastern European, and some Third World audiences. It figures less prominently in what is written and published for home consumption, and has become a generalized and meaningless term of abuse — rather like “fascism,” which is nowadays imputed to opponents even by spokesmen for one-party, nationalist dictatorships of various complexions and shirt colors.
Slavery is today universally denounced as an offense against humanity, but within living memory it has been practiced and even defended as a necessary institution, established and regulated by divine law. The peculiarity of the peculiar institution, as Americans once called it, lay not in its existence but in its abolition. Westerners were the first to break the consensus of acceptance and to outlaw slavery, first at home, then in the other territories they controlled, and finally wherever in the world they were able to exercise power or influence — in a word, by means of imperialism…
We acknowledge our shortcomings, and we try to overcome them:
In having practiced sexism, racism, and imperialism, the West was merely following the common practice of mankind through the millennia of recorded history. Where it is distinct from all other civilizations is in having recognized, named, and tried, not entirely without success, to remedy these historic diseases. And that is surely a matter for congratulation, not condemnation.
Enough table setting. This week, the United States released this report detailing Human Rights abuses by the interim government in Iraq:
The State Department on Monday detailed an array of human rights abuses last year by the Iraqi government, including torture, rape and illegal detentions by police officers and functionaries of the interim administration that took power in June.
In the Bush administration’s bluntest description of human rights transgressions by the American-supported government, the report said the Iraqis “generally respected human rights, but serious problems remained” as the government and American-led foreign forces fought a violent insurgency. It cited “reports of arbitrary deprivation of life, torture, impunity, poor prison conditions – particularly in pretrial detention facilities – and arbitrary arrest and detention.”
The lengthy discussion came in a chapter on Iraq in the department’s annual report on human rights, which pointedly criticized not only countries that had been found chronically deficient, like North Korea, Syria and Iran, but also some close American allies, including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
The allegations of abuses by an Iraqi government installed by the United States and still heavily influenced by it provided an unusual element to the larger report. The report did not address incidents in Iraq in which Americans were involved, like the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, which came to light in 2004.
If you ever wondered why those on my side of the aisle look with disdain at the loony left, you need look no farther than the reactions to this report from the usual supects:
The America Blog (who put down Gannon’s penis long enough for some loud condemnation of the United States):
The irony is so thick here, I’m just gonna play it straight. In its annual roundup of human rights abuses from around the world, the US details the abuses of the interim Iraqi government, which include torture, rape and illegal detentions. Needless to say, none of these charges include the abuses of the US soldiers in Iraq, just the Iraqis. (Imagine them sorting it all out: “Hey, Ahmad, did you sodomize that 17 year old kid or was that me?”)
Of course, this Congressionally mandated annual report doesn’t detail the abuses by the US government either here in our country or anywhere else around the world. Obviously, it never occurred to anyone that we would ever be part of the problem instead of part of the solution. Sadly, there is virtually NOTHING we detail being done by other countries that the US cannot be justifiably accused of doing on some level as well.
I guess it will come as a relief that the America Blog has some champions abroad who agree with them who the real source of evil in the world is:
China issued a tit-for-tat report card Thursday on human rights in the United States that lambasted the Pentagon for “wanton slaughters” abroad, belittled American elections as awash in special-interest cash and accused U.S. courts of deep-seated racial bias.
Chinese government report, which portrayed the United States as gun-crazed and unfair to minorities, came three days after the State Department released its annual report on human rights abuses in countries around the world, including China.
It marked the sixth straight year that China has countered the American report with one of its own, but this year’s was particularly noteworthy because it condemned the United States for abuses by American soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq (news – web sites).
“In 2004, the atrocity of U.S. troops abusing Iraqi POWs exposed the dark side of the human rights performance of the United States,” the report said.
Instead of censuring other nations, the report urged the United States to “reflect on its erroneous behavior” and deal with “tons of problems in its own human rights.”
Fabulous. In the minds of the loony left and the corrupt and brutal Chinese regime, America is the problem.
*** Update ***
Oliver writes in the comments:
John, the true patriots look into their own nation, criticize and seek to improve it. Simply saying “China is WORSE!” does not make the problem go away or help America improve itself.
True patriots recognize the difference between murder and petty larceny. What the Chinese are doing, with their willing accomplices on the left, are muddying the water. The Chinese have no intention of stopping their Human Rights abuses- they just wish to badger us into submission so that we feel too guilty to mention their odious behavior. Stop helping them.
Pretend you are in a court of law where a man was accused of murder. In his defense, the accused stands up and says:
“The prosecutor once got into a bar fight.”
By the logic of Oliver and the the folks at Americablog- the accused murderer should go free.
Slartibartfast
I was in China three years ago when they released one of these things. Just unbelievable. I’m not sure if I have that copy of China Daily anymore, but I think the text is available online. I think they actually pinged us for the death penalty, which is the kettle calling the silverplate black, as far as I’m concerned.
I asked a few people if they had read this and if they agreed with it, and they all gave me a really confused look. I still don’t know if it meant that I was questioning some fundamental truth, or if everybody knew that that sort of thing was simply propaganda.
Oliver
John, the true patriots look into their own nation, criticize and seek to improve it. Simply saying “China is WORSE!” does not make the problem go away or help America improve itself.
Kimmitt
The only new thing about China’s usual kabuki show regarding human rights is that with the US policy of torturing detainees, this year they finally have a point.
Slartibartfast
Blind pigs, acorns, etc. This is not to say we shouldn’t tend to our own house, but we hardly needed the Chinese to tell us that. Although it’s got to be said that they do have a certain expertise in the area of human rights abuses, it’s not the kind that allows them to even gaze on the moral high ground.
Oliver
So, John, no American should ever critique his/her own country’s human rights abuses (or ill of any sort) because of what the Chinese MIGHT say? Here’s an idea: Americans work on helping America, and ignore the Chinese who have no clue. How about that?
Paul
It’s laughable to imagine that the left gives a shit about “human rights abuses”, or the oppressed, or disenfranchised, or anybody else for that matter. All they care about is anything that furthers their agenda of reaffirming their imagined moral superiority, and bashing America in general and republicans in particular. Their reactionary, isolationist, and fundamentally CONSERVATIVE position of hysterically resisting the liberation of millions in the ME at the hands of the US military is proof enough that this is true. Not that there is a lack of other examples either. They are nothing but an army of useful idiots busily endeavoring to undermine the very capitalist democracy that allows them the freedoms and prosperities that they in no way deserve.
Patriots my ass. It’s enough to make one gag.
Fortunately they can
smijer
Huh? Are you willfully misreading that whole exchange? The real logic is something like this… Pretend you are in a court of law where a man is accused of murder. In his defense, the accused stands up and says, yes but in another country, lives a man who has killed dozens, so why should I be on trial for my one murder, when he has yet to be arrested and tried?
To extend the analogy, when someone points out that the serial killer lives in another country, where this court has no jurisdiction, the accused says, “you are saying the serial killer should go free”.
We are the accused. We who started a war, in the name of human rights, then installed a U.S. military government who practiced torture (promoted the architect of that policy), then turned over sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government who also practices torture. There was a time when Americans had hope that our country could be a part of the solution to the worldwide problems of human rights abuses. Now, we are inexorably becoming part of the problem, and when that is pointed out the response we get is, “no way – we ain’t as bad as China”… well no, we ain’t. Yet.
Collin Baber
I posted the entire text of the Chinese statement on my blog for anyone who wants to read it.
Consider it a gift. China has pointed out numerous HR failings that we can improve on. If we take the high moral ground, i.e no more Abu Ghraibs, etc, then we will have gained international stature.
Bob
Human rights is such an interesting concept, always open to interpretation. After all, an Individual’s rights has always been in conflict with the State’s, whether a tribe of hunter-gatherers or our current nation-states. It really depends on what you consider to be the function of the state. Mussolini and other fascists saw the state as the ultimate, with individuals as merely cogs in the wheels. The traditional liberal democracy saw the state as a protector of individual rights, although there is always the argument of where the state’s right to modulate an individual’s rights in order to protect another’s. And to extent should the state act in favor of its citizens before it becomes interference? A state determines and defines the property rights of its citizenry. When does the right of property trump human rights? All so very interesting.
I myself oppose the state having the right to kill. Having said that, I find it less morally repulsive when in the line of duty a police officer must use lethal force than a state sending someone to the gas chamber. I guess, if we expand this to capital offense between China and the U.S., Americans don’t make the families of the condemned pay for the bullet.
Around fifteen or twenty years ago I had a conversation with a sociologist who’d been kicked out of China for writing a report for some U.S. agency about the forced abortions required there. Now if you want to discuss human rights, what about that? The State’s position is that the country can only support so many people and so must limit the population by extreme measures in order to prevent a collapse of the society. The individual wants a child, a basic desire stitched right into our very DNA.
Jaybird
Oliver, let’s look at your quote and change a word or two and see if you can understand what might be a problem with your position:
“John, the true patriots look into their own party, criticize and seek to improve it. Simply saying “The Republican Party is WORSE!” does not make the problem go away or help America improve itself.”
Larry Bernard
The problem the loony leftists are having is they are saying we cannot criticize a serial human rights abuser because we abuse human rights to
does that mean If i am an occasional drinker i can’t go to my friend who is an alcoholic and say “Dude… you need help”
Or i can’t try to help some one out who is a compulsive gambler because i by a lottery ticket.
Yes the US isn’t perfect, but we do a better shot at trying to live up to our ideals…. ideals which are essential to being Americans. to be chinesse their isn’t a national ideal… you just are
this is why the folks on the left resonate so strongly with their comments, because everyone hates it when they miss their mark… but the sign of real charecter is when you get up and dust yourself off and try harder next time
Bob
Larry, the current President has a policy of torturing people in place. It has suspended the writ of habeas corpus. The highest person on our Justice Department lies in his policy of justifying this rape of our constitutional rights. That is not perfect. This has been done by a President who proclaims himself to the right, by people who claim to be to the right, whose motto is don’t tax me, but torturing someone else is cool.
Is the Chinese human rights record bad? Yes, and it has been for a long, long time, through many different regimes, whether they called themselves an empire, a Communist state or the center of the universe.
China is irrelevant when it comes to the U.S. torturing people. China is relevant because they own a large chunk of our debt and have the option of destroying our economy if they call in their worthless IOUs.
Larry Bernard
#1) I am sure you could find in writing or a person who was present at a meeting where the president established an offical torture policy? ( and psych warfare techninquies/standing al lot doesn’t count) no you can’t because it doesn’t exist.
#2) yeah i dislike his suspending the write of habeas corpus to
but that doesn’t go to my ( or the authors) point. Just cause we have stumbled lately in our usually pretty good pursuit of human rights we do not have a national system dedicate from top to bottom to abusing the human rights of every citizen
and we do have a right to stand up and say something about it. the fact china owns a major portion of our debt isn’t that scare when you look at their economy…. without the hong kong buisness china would go broke, and they are trying to screw over the only buiness making them money.
the US debtload is a hedge, and a vital one that china needs in case they have a major market correction
Bob
Of course I am not going to produce a witness to the President supporting a policy of torture.
Hey, you can’t even get Gonzales to tell the truth when he’s being questioned in front of the Senate.
What you have is a policy of torture, an expanded policy of “extraordinary rendition” (if we agree that it started with Clinton, then we can agree that is was embraced and expanded by Bush), memos all over the place arguing for the constitutional right of a President to order torture. And we have the actual, honest-to-god thing known as torture.
What is your alternative? That these things just happened without Bubbleboy Bush noticing? Rumsfeld said he told Bush about the torturing at Abu Ghraib in January of 2004 and nothing was done until press reports in April or May.
As far as a system dedicated to abusing the human rights of every citizen, my guess is that China only abuses the rights of those citizens who get out of line or who are viewed as a threat to the status quo.
Do I dislike China’s long history of human rights failures? You bet. Does the U.S. have a chance of changing things there? Not now, considering that China is immune to our military threats and is financially our keeper.
America’s best tool in democratizing the world over the last sixty years has been its culture. Not so much pushing Pepsi and other products, but the concept of the individual. And the balance of the individual in the state. This is a dangerous idea to totalitarian regimes.
There are a series of BBC reports on China this week which I intend to hear. I’d like to hear the evolution of political theory from the Great Leap Forward, through the late 80s to what it is today. Can explosive state-controlled industrialism be controlled by the state, and what role is left for the individual?