Reply With QuoteI had to read this book in my first year, first semester of college. My english teacher wanted me to read this book and write a brief essay about it... and here it is.
"In the book, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” one-time showbiz game show host Chuck Barris contends he was a hit man for the CIA in the late 60s and 70s. This at the same time as filming “The Gong Show” every day in Los Angeles. Apparently he was able to fly to foreign countries, do the killing, and get back in time for the 8 a.m. taping of his show. It’s entertaining reading, but complete fiction - which brings us to John Perkins’ book, “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.” The basis of Perkins book is that the U.S. thrives best when it works to make other countries poor. The problem with that assertion is that American foreign policy refutes that throughout history. Although bashing this country is in vogue, no one bothered to ask Perkins why the U.S. would go to so much effort to make these countries poor, and then forgive their debts. I n 2004, President Bush, cancelled the debt of the world’s 18 poorest countries, including $17 billion to Nigeria, which was ruled by military dictators who seized power from 1966-1979 and 1983-1998. They weren’t a Democracy - they lost tens of billions of dollars and the U.S. wiped their debt out after they became a Democracy in 1999. That’s a pretty nice thing to do for a country that is as insignificant as Nigeria (much like we tried to liberate Iraq).
Yet Perkins writes that such debt ensures the loyalty of these poor countries. Then why would Bush give up that leverage and forgive the debt, something numerous past presidents have a history of doing?
The beauty of this country is that anyone can say anything and not end up in a prison, having their feet hit by a baseball bat. What I’ve learned in my four years in high school, is that people are allowed to believe what they want to believe, but that doesn’t make it the truth. It’s easy to dupe confused liberals who hate this country with wild and fantastic claims like the ones Perkins makes. But once scrutinized, it is easy to see the holes in the logic.
The U.S. organization behind the misdeeds he writes about - the National Security Agency - is not even involved in economics. It is restricted to protecting U.S. government communication systems and collecting communications from foreign entities. Now, they may have been tapping the phones of the leaders of such foreign countries, but surely they couldn’t have been involved in clandestine economic activities. That is unless a very large phone bill sent that country bankrupt.
And in reality, we all know that there is one man that did almost bring down the economic vitality of a country, nearly sending its citizens into poverty by his actions. But Jimmy Carter never wrote a book about how he managed to get inflation and interest rates in record highs before being replaced by the greatest modern president this country has ever had, Ronald Reagan.
In conclusion, the author shows his bias against this great country by whining that half the money spent on Iraq by the U.S. could provide clean water, adequate diets, sanitation services and basic education to this planet. I must question: Why is it this country’s duty to provide that for other countries who’d rather run up debt? Has anyone bothered to ask Nigeria why it runs up so much debt and still fails to provide the quality of life essentials the author thinks the U.S. is responsible for? It seems fairer to question the home country about why it can’t provide such basics, but still finds a way to spend $17 billion it doesn’t have.
Perkins asks, “We wonder why terrorists attack us?” I wonder. Why don’t the terrorists attack Nigeria? Surely Nigeria should be responsible for its citizens. Why attack the U.S. for the failure of other countries? It is upon that upside-down, nonsensical illogic that all liberalism is based.
It’s the same problem with torture. Which country is the most criticized in this world for torture? The U.S. And yet, everyone realizes that countries in the middle east routinely use it and yet are not questioned or criticized by the liberal media.
I find it laughable that the author calls the U.S. the first “truly global empire.” Apparently, he must have went to a pretty liberal group of schools that didn’t teach history until the Vietnam war. One of the most famous historical sayings is, “The sun never sets on the British empire.” In 1937, England had land possessions in each of the 24 time zones on this planet. The U.S. needs to invade about 18 more countries if we are to meet Perkins’ faulty accusations. So we have a lot of catching up to do.
The ironic thing is that Perkins is now among the elite rich in this country he so criticizes because he duped the far left into believing his lies. But as the saying goes, “No one has ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the liberal American.” It’s also ironic that Perkins claims that his personal friend, Jaime Roldos, was killed by the U.S. when Roldos was well known for trying to set up a Democracy. Then, Perkins contradicts himself by criticizing the US effort to make Iraq a Democracy. He implies we killed one president for trying to spread Democracy and then assails the U.S. for going to war to start Democracy in Iraq.
In conclusion, Ecuador exports 387,000 barrels of oil a day. If the U.S. took every drop of that oil, it would account for less than 3 percent of its oil imports. That’s not enough to raise the price of gas two cents. If Ecuador were to cut off all oil to the U.S., it’s slack could easily be replaced by US oil reserves, or Saudi Arabia, which routinely exports additional oil to pick up for slacking OPEC countries. Because of this, it seems rather ridiculous our country would spend so much time trying to topple a man who is attempting to spread Democracy in his country, while we go to war to do that in other countries.
I hope the next Humanities assignments you give to future students is based more on facts - such as Spiderman 3. Now Spiderman could bring down the economy of a third world country, no doubt."
I obviously added some sarcasim in there. I didn't really have time to read the book and write a 10 page essay on it, while working on 5 other papers, so I just gave a brief, explanation of my views on the book.
By the way, I met the guy. He came to my highschool to "speak" with us.
Originally Posted by erik
"If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for ten years, plant trees.
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