It is hard to remain true to ourselves when we live with so many inexplicable contradictions. Below is the beginning of an endless list of contradictions that we see, hear, taste and feel daily but are not always conscious of or feel comfortable discussing.
1) If any American president, or Israeli president were to be confined by tanks, not allowed to step outside or meet international delegations the way Yasser Arafat has been, would we consider that an act of terrorism and would we not call for an international outcry?
2) When you throw rocks at a tank, you are considered the aggressor or even a terrorist, but when you drive tanks or fly helicopters you are considered the victim or even the more civilized one.
3) What peace and security do we bring to the future when we bomb an entire country that has already been bombed before?
4) Is the fact that 220 individuals have the same monetary wealth as more than 2 million people a sign of progress or a world better off?
5) If medicines are supposed to cure our sickness and improve our health, why do pharmaceutical companies spend more money in advertising than research?
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6) Several companies sued African countries for trying to get cheaper drugs to treat HIV infections. Why is that acceptable?
7) We get angry at other countries' systems of tariffs saying, it impedes free trade and the myriad benefits of a free economy, yet we recently imposed tariffs on steel imports and Canadian softwood lumber.
8) In Bush's trip to several countries in Latin America, he pledged an aid package of $5 billion during three years, to begin in 2004, to alleviate poverty. This package breaks down to little more than a dollar a day per capita for people who live on less than a dollar a day.
9) Since NAFTA took effect in 1994, 8 million families in Mexico have been pushed from the middle class into poverty. In the United States, around half a million jobs have been lost because companies are moving to Mexico to take advantage of lower wages, less protection of workers rights and the health of the environment. Maybe we should rename these policies, which are called "free-trade," as "free-to-exploit-trade."
10) If standardized tests, such as the SAT, have been proven not to show our true academic merit but actually are a good indication of how wealthy our parents are why are we encouraging more tests in our schools? Why are we encouraging the voucher system, which takes money out of public school education as a means to improve our educational system?
11) In many states, more money is being spent on building and operating prisons than schools. Why is that acceptable?
12) If we are beacons of freedom in the world, why were we voted off the human-rights commission?
13) If priests are supposed to carry the words of God, why have there been so many priests guilty of child molestation and of covering up of their actions?
14) Those leading the congressional hearings against Enron are the same individuals responsible for enacting the laws and policies that made Enron's scandalous behaviors possible.
15) It is interesting how General Electric owns four of the companies that are the most poisonous to our air, and yet they also are the largest U.S. producer of equipment for air pollution control. DuPont Chemical Company is one of the world's largest producers of toxic chemicals and it gets paid for its specialized services in incinerating and disposing of toxic wastes.
16) We are told to believe in and spend more on the economy yet, when it comes to environmental issues, we cry out against increasing taxes.
17) We are told that everyone is created equal, yet not everyone is treated with equal respect and dignity. We are told that man can rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air. What happens when this rule results in polluted oceans with unhealthy fish and birds that don't soar through the sky anymore?
by Maceo Carrillo Martinet
Daily Lobo Columnist
Questions or comments for Maceo Carrillo Martinet can be sent to conuco8@unm.edu.
