There's a particular brand of cowardice that's uniquely American.

There have been many versions of cowardice over the years, but throughout history, it's never been presented and accomplished in this wholly American and incredibly hypocritical manner. It may perhaps end up being our lasting legacy to the world, something that truly has not been present in the human psyche before the rise of our empire.

I refer to that particular brand of fear and coddling that will do anything to avoid the mistakes of the past, so far as to completely reject anything new. Going so far in fact, as to repeat much older mistakes for the sake of avoiding a momentary problem. Some might call it "Chicken Hawk", but the overall malaise goes much deeper than that.

In short: Americans are afraid of being seen as afraid, and will do anything to prove that they are not. It's endemic to our culture.

Mental Health problem? Don't bring it up! Hide it, wash it away with drugs, but for god's sake DON'T embrace your difference. In fact, we will make certain that you are properly registered so that if something does happen, the blame will solely be upon you and not the fearful and bigoted society that helped create the entire problem in the first place by destroying the infrastructure!

Got a war to fight? Use toys. Use Bombs. Use anything but soldiers who will come home with obvious scars from the war. Encase them in armor, hide them behind walls, ANYTHING to prevent them coming in contact with a potential threat! Drop a drone from continents away, and wonder why your enemies don't respect you. Torture them behind walls to prove your toughness, and cry not about the fact that torture existed, but rather that it was revealed.

Got a murder problem? Buy a gun. Buy two. Cling to the one amendment that hasn't been completely eroded by the courts as if it is the saving grace of our civilization. Pretend that all that's needed to save the day against a government gone amok, swaddling its enforcers in the same armor used against enemies, is your six shot revolver. You are a brave man, and any who say otherwise will have to talk to Betsy.

Got a political problem? Don't for the love of GOD even THINK about voting for anybody but the major parties. They are FAR worse than you can possibly Imagine, and will destroy the nation! Even if your side does the same thing. Hell, ESPECIALLY if your side does the same thing. Sit, down, shut the fuck up, and huddle. Your savior is incoming.

We learn nothing from prohibition, making the same mistakes we made less than a hundred years ago for the sake of fear. We learn nothing in ordinance, so afraid of running out of ammunition that we send our soldiers to war with sub-standard weaponry built by the lowest bidder. We learn NOTHING from a broken political process, so afraid of the boogeymen created out of whole cloth by two parties with every bit of skin in the game that we continue to vote away our Enlightenment principles a sliver at a time.

America is a land of cowards, whose greatest fear is being SEEN as what they are. A land of bullies, flush with the idea that if they puff out their fur enough, the big scary terrorists will just leave them alone, even after being been bitten multiple times. They will hide behind their "heroes", but will never once contemplate the fact that they could be the hero they are waiting for.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvdLovAaYzM]