Dear Americans,
I’m Stiller, I’m German, I’m publishing a small and widely unknown blog in which I share my views and opinions on various issues most of them concerning autism and related topics. Nothing special, nothing of real importance.
Now you may ask what the American people has to do with “autism and related topics”. Please don’t get me wrong – I don’t think that the US or the American people are especially involved in those kinds of issues. But almost everything you do or don’t do – as a people, as a country, as a nation -- concerns me as it concerns most people in the world.
If a people of a smaller country – let’s say Panama or Belize - would do things like you do almost nobody in the world would really care. But maybe you know the proverb “With great power comes great responsibility”. And frankly – I’m worried. I’m deeply worried that a lot of you in the US either don’t know the correlation between power and responsibility - or you just don’t care.
As far as I know most of you consider the US to be among the strongest and best countries
in the world. If not even to be the strongest and the best of them all.
Well if this is so – what kind of responsibility derives from that?
And are you willing and able to take this responsibility?
As you may have guessed – this letter is triggered by your President Donald Trump.
(Yes I know: Many of you don’t consider him to be your President. But I’m afraid: He is your President. Whether you like it or not. And you in the first place have to deal with him. Not me or other foreigners):
But your President Mr. Trump is not the problem. Yes when I talk in private about him I call him “the king of stupidity”. And I say that he was extremely successful to sell his stupidity as “Volksnähe” (closeness to the people). All over the world people are worried about him but after all – he is not the problem. He is a symptom of the problem. So when he’s gone that doesn’t mean that everything’s alright again. No - the problem stays. Stronger and darker than ever. And it stays with you, with the American people. And since you are so strong a people, so strong a nation – your problem stays with the rest of the world.
Well – if your President is not the problem, what is the problem then? And what can be done about it?
I’m afraid that the problem I’m talking about is highly complex and cannot be approached with simple actions or methods. There is no dragon to be killed no ogre to be slain or enemy to be defeated. And no - that problem is not something Un-American that came in twisted and dark ways from somewhere outside to infiltrate and contaminate your wonderful nation. As far as I can see the problem of which your President is only a symptom is as American as an apple pie. It was always with you. From the very beginning of the US. It’s the black shadow which lies on the very soul of the US. Sometimes it’s darker and stronger. Sometimes it’s lighter and weaker. But it was always there. And for several decades it seems to be growing again. At least this is what I can see from afar.
What is this complex problem I’m talking about?
Well I don’t have a proper name for this problem. Maybe sociologists can offer something. And I’m far from getting all the aspects and details which contribute to the problem. But as far as I can see the two main roots of your problem are
a) Ignorance
b) Violence
Often when I read your newspapers, or hear your speeches or read your self-descriptions in the net I find that the US is founded on
1) Freedom
2) Human rights
And you are very proud of the freedoms the US guarantees. Tireless you name all the human rights your constitution stands for. Brave and full of idealism you defend these rights against all and everyone.
And rightful so I think. This is something every country could be very proud of. These are the very rights everyone in the world should have and defend. And you were the very first to found a whole nation on such worthy principles. The world surely owes a lot to the US in this regard. No doubt about it.
But what is it with
a) Ignorance
b) Violence?
These are the founding principles of the US too, no doubt about it. You hold them really high in esteem and defend them against all and everyone. But rarely I find these principles described in your newspapers or as a topic in your speeches or in your self-descriptions.
The US is founded on ignorance and violence. Whether you like it or not.
This is the black shadow of the US-soul that follows wherever the US goes. Let me give you a few examples of a) and b) which highlight these founding principles.
Ignorance
1
There are many scientific surveys on this topic and they vary in many details. But one thing seems to be very sure:
More than 40% of you firmly believe God created the whole universe (not only the earth – everything! Trillions and trillions of stars and planets) roughly 10.000 years ago. They don’t believe it because there is so much evidence for this thesis (in fact there is none). They believe it because they want to believe it. They refer to a book they call Bible.
Dear Americans please believe me – the rest of this kind of medieval ignorance was overcome in the rest of the world some 150 years ago. It was overcome by knowledge and science. When you know next to nothing it’s so easy to ignore facts – yes even disdain science. And once you’ve settled in a world of ignorant but very firm believes and convictions it’s very hard to make contact to the real world again. And more than 40% of you have chosen to do so! This is really worrisome!
Which serious topic can you discuss with someone who gives you such clear evidence that he’s unwilling to use his brain independently? Who is not willing to follow the path of truth but clings at all costs to whatever he has chosen to believe?
When you believe God created the world 10.000 years ago, against all evidence you can believe literally everything. You can also believe there is no climate change (God would never allow it) or that the President tells the truth or that there’s a huge worldwide conspiracy against the US. You can believe that autism is caused by vaccination and that the earth is flat.
Many too many of you live in the land of make believe while the rest of the world lives in the land of reality! They – and their families - live there for generations and are determined to stay there. If the US were of the size and importance of – let’s say – Panama or Belize nobody would be worried. But you are the most powerful people of the world. This is really worrisome.
When such a great portion of a nation believes so firmly (against every logical argument and every scientific evidence) in such a superstition, ignorance is clearly a founding principle of this nation.
Violence
1
According to the figures available to me, roughly one in one hundred adults in the US are in prison. That’s the highest incarceration rate of cultivated nations – by very far. Here in Europe this rate is roughly one in one thousand adults.
In other words – to condemn people and throw them in jail (or even kill them!) is a founding principle of your nation.
I don’t deem the Americans to be especially “evil” or “bad”. Why should they? I guess that the Americans are as good or bad as everyone else. But since violence is a founding principle of your nation you need jails and jails and more jails (and killings). And of course then you need people to fill all these jails and death rows.
2
According to the figures available to me 2016 more than 15.000 Americans were killed by firearms. More than 30.000 were injured. Like in all the years before.
Excuse me, but when something like this would happen here in Europe we would speak of a low intensity civil war. No country which lives in peace has even roughly similar high numbers of casualties.
But since violence is a founding principle of your nation nothing, is done about this ongoing civil war. Year after year after year, people of your country wage a low intensity civil war against people of your country. And you do literally nothing about it. Oh yes – I know! – you actually do lots of things – you protest, you pray, you litter the pavement with flowers and candles, you write, you collect signatures and so on. But this confounded civil war goes on and on and on. So let me be more precise: You do a lot of things to calm your conscience but you do nothing that works. Quite the contrary: Every incident leads to higher sales in firearms. And these arms are bought to be used. Used against your own people.
Yes – you in the US have the right to bear arms. You are the only civilized nation which holds this right in high esteem. All the other civilized nations have realized by now that the right to bear arms is directly followed by the right to bring your friends and your relatives to the ER or to the morgue.
Your right to bear arms causes so much suffering and grieving!
But nothing can be done about it because violence is one of your founding principles.
Conclusion
Please don’t get me wrong. I didn’t mean to point the finger at you or at your country. The US surely is wonderful on many, many levels. The world owes a lot to the US. We know that. I only want to tell you that I’m worried about the US and what the causes of these worries are. I have no solution for all this.
If there is a solution then you are the ones to find it.
To the utter dismay of the world, the people of the US have chosen to be led by a spoilt 5 year old with mental issues. (Please bear in mind that you are not Belize or Panama). What will be next? How deep will the US sink? How dangerous will this become?
But your five years old President is not the problem. Quite the contrary – he highlights the problem in a way that no one in his right mind can deny its existence any longer. Mr. Trump is a poster child for the ignorance and the violence that lives within the very soul of the US. I guess that’s one of the main reasons why so many of your people voted for him.
And when this President of yours is long gone and all history, the violence and the ignorance will still be there with you. I think we all agree that something must be done about it. And please – I don’t mean more marches, more speeches, more prayers, more flowers on the pavement, more campaigns, more collections of signatures.
I mean something that works.
Ignorance and violence are part of your system. You cannot overcome it by elections or campaigns or – God forbid! – wars. No, this needs a cultural change. This is work for many generations to come.
But awareness that ignorance and violence are part of your founding principles (and nothing that came from outside to you) and that ignorance and violence are to the US what flour is to a cake, must be a first step when you really want to change something.
Violence and ignorance are no fate. They can be overcome. But someone must do something about it. I really don’t know what this something could be. But I sure know who this someone is:
You.
Sincerely
Stiller
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