Why?

I know that the US does a lot of very very very bad things. They've done them in the past, they're doing them now, and they'll do them in the future. I know these things, but I've been raised to think of the US as a good place. I guess it is better than many places, but somehow I feel like we let "American Interests" overwhelm other interests. This happens even when those other interests have nothing to do with us and aren't even in our country. American interests seem to be defined in terms of money and big business. I try very hard, telling myself over and over again that it's just a few bad people and a few bad situations. Normally I can convince myself of that, but every now and then I have it shoved in my face.

Today in class we discussed the American involvement in the Chilean Coup. We had a Chilean woman talk to us and we watched the film Missing. I guess it was a very one-sided presentation of the whole thing, but I still feel bad. It seems like the more I learn about America's involvement in politics the less happy I am to be an American. I'm still proud to be one, for what the country stands for if nothing else, but sometimes I start to feel a little scared of what the future will bring. But we survived in the past, so I guess we'll survive in the future. Although I guess this explains why every class I've taken about International Relations in the states has been about theory or the great wars and very little about actual events....

Now I have food for thought.