Well, the world at large never ceases to amaze me. Being in my current job at a newsstand store in a downtown Victoria hotel allows me to keep more up-to-date than usual in regards to world news. I've been keeping a relatively interested eye on the United States "War On Terror", and been shaking my head in dismay at the way events have unfolded in recent months as the US began to push for a war against Saddam Hussein and Iraq in earnest.
Seems to me like the United States is acting like the proverbial "playground bully", as it tries to wear down the UN and get a war going in the Middle East. This is the reason why I felt so elated when I read that the France government and President Jacques Chirac unquestionably announced that they would go against any proposal to go ahead with the war. I believe I actually cheered. Finally one of the US' Allies was standing up against the superpower. The United States government reaction?
Freedom Fries.
Simply because France refuses to back the US in the war, Americans all over the country are being urged strongly to start calling French Fries, "Freedom Fries". It's sad but very true. And the salty potato snack isn't the only thing undergoing a label change. Freedom toast. Freedom kissing. And quite possibly (although at this time, unsubstantiated), Freedom poodles.
I find it almost impossible to believe that something like this could actually catch on. And it's proving how increasingly rediculous the United States is beginning to look as far as its stance on the War on Terrorism. I thought that the US would totally back off after a world-shattering 10 million people all around the world rallied in the streets against the war. Not a chance apparently. After this latest eye-roller of an episode, Freedom Fries only seems to prove one thing to me:
There will be a war all right, but it won't be the US against Iraq. It will be the US against the rest of the Free World. The United States is looking to be more and more alone in the political arena... even Britain shows signs of wanting to rethink this whole war issue. Britain seems more ticked off at France for not backing the US than anything else. Like how dare France stand up for democracy and a safer, less violent solution? Then again, the last time the US and democracy were comfortable bedfellows.... well, when I think of an undebatable example, I'll let you know. In any case, I will continue to watch the events unfold, all the while cooking French toast for breakfast and eating French fries for lunch.
Because at the end of the day, the US government is not only bull-headed and grotesquely ignorant and arrogant, they're also defiantly racist.
Home of the brave, indeed. |
