Stupidities on the Right and the Left

by Tom Kando

Today, I’ll just bring to your attention a few randomly selected stupidities I recently came across in the media or in informal chitchat - just for the fun it:

1. Putin is the World’s Most Powerful Person:

A few weeks ago, Forbes Magazine ranked Vladimir Putin as the world’s most powerful person. In second place was Germany’s Angela Merkel, in third place President Obama. The other seven among the top ten were the pope, the head of China, Bill Gates, the head of the US Federal Reserve, the head of Britain, the head of India, and the head of Google. (See The World's Most Powerful People). This is a stupid list. Especially stupid is Putin’s number one ranking: he heads up a country whose Gross Domestic Product is one fifteenth that of the US. Russia’s economy is ranked thirteenth in the world. It is behind Italy, South Korea, about equal to Mexico and Spain, and only slightly larger than that of the Netherlands.

In population, the country ranks number #9, behind places like Pakistan, Nigeria and Bangladesh. The Russian population is barely more than one third of ours, and declining. Okay, Russia has nukes. But in every other respect, it is a weak country. I am sorry to say this, because I love and admire the talented Russian people, who unfortunately never seem to be able to govern themselves properly. Bluster a la Putin cannot hide Russia’s fundamental weakness, and therefore its leader’s weakness as well.

2. America has an Immigration Problem:

Regarding this so-called problem, we have to separate Europe and America.

Europe does have an "immigration and refugee problem.”

But now, a majority of Americans believe that their country ALSO has this problem. That is false.

A majority of Americans now believe that the country should kick out illegal immigrants, deny admission to Muslim immigrants, and in general make it more difficult for foreigners to come to America. This is not only Donald Trump’s mantra. It also resonates with millions, and it is supported by most Republicans. It’s utterly stupid because:

● Immigrants, legal or illegal, are not overwhelming America. More people are now LEAVING for Mexico than entering from Mexico. The “illegal immigrants” problem is a self-solving problem.

● Immigrants are and have always been America’s economic lifeblood. Their contribution to the economy far exceeds their cost.

● Immigrants commit fewer crimes than non-immigrants.

● The contribution of Muslim immigrants to the crime rate is infinitesimal: Since 9/11, the number of deaths on American soil from jihadi terrorism: 45; Number of murders by white supremacists and other right-wing extremists: 48; “Conventional” murders: 220,000.

In sum: As far as America is concerned, the “immigration and refugee problem” is a pseudo-problem. We could just as well worry about the extinction of unicorns.

3. The 9/11 Attacks, the 2015 Paris Attacks and ISIS are all Engineered and the work of the US and Israel:

Paranoia is not limited to the Right. Lunatic conspiracy theories are also popular in so-called progressive circles:

Many people believe that The US government and the international Jewish Cabal that dominate the world are responsible for such events. It’s all secretly done by the CIA and Mossad. 9/11 was the work of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and neo-cons such as Paul Wolfowitz, as part of a grand plan to remake the Middle East and its oil an American backyard. Currently, America and Israel are secretly providing weapons to ISIS.

Sadly, such theories are widely believed by many left-wing Americans, by many Americans of Middle Eastern origin, and by an overwhelming majority of the public in countries such as Iraq and Pakistan.

For example, Sajjad Shaukat writes in an article "Is Israel Behind Paris Attacks?" that “Israel was behind the Paris terror attacks to achieve multiple objectives (Including geopolitical interests) of Tel Aviv and of the Obama Administration against the Islamic World and Russia...”

And some of his readers are lapping it up. For instance, Jon Jacobs, from Minnesota, writes: “After the Paris attacks my first thought was the standard cui bono? And the biggest beneficiary looks to be the Zionist movement to control all of the Levant....This flimsy ISIS group popped up out of nowhere. The logistics seem to be missing from most news reports. I think we can smell a MOSSAD operation.”

Many of these people are well educated, successful professionals and businessmen.

Some Iraqis swear that they saw US Air Force jets drop supplies and weapons to ISIS.

I have had discussions with intellectuals who claim that on Nine Eleven, the security planes which customarily fly over and in the vicinity of the UN building in New York were deliberately grounded by the US government, which is proof that it engineered the attacks itself!

How is the world to become more sane, as long as most people cannot distinguish between truth and nonsense?
© Tom Kando 2015
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