U.S. doesn't have a right to tell others what to do

Editor,

Tuesday's Daily Lobo featured a letter and a column that suffered from the same simplistic delusion - that the U.S. has some sort of God-given right to tell the entire world how to live and govern itself.

In a letter, Damian Erasmus said, "We need a radically different foreign policy - a policy that upholds American self-interest on moral principle." First, who says America's self-interest is in any way moral? Secondly, what business does the U.S. have dictating another nation's policies toward its own people, especially considering that the U.S. is the world's No. 1 global exporter of death and destruction? Like many Americans, Erasmus assumes the U.S. has some divine moral obligation to force its will upon the rest of humanity, whether it likes it or not. The U.S. is not exporting freedom and democracy to the world - it's enslaving the planet through global corporate fascism.

Columnist Steve Painter, on the other hand, fell into the trap of blindly worshiping the state of

Israel, because "there has never been a more persecuted people on this planet than those of the Jewish faith." This is a spurious, childish and completely subjective statement. The Jews do not have a monopoly on persecution. Since the beginning of time, people of all colors, races and religions have been subjugated and oppressed. Some, like the Palestinians, are being oppressed and subjugated by the very people Painter holds in such high regard.

Not only is his view historically incorrect, it's also a slap in the face to the millions of other people throughout the world who would beg to differ. The examples he gives of Israel as a bastion of democracy are the same ones we've heard endlessly repeated over the years. He parrots the mainstream, black-and-white, good-versus-evil debate without bothering to look up the facts. The subject of peace in the Middle East is multifaceted, nuanced and highly complex. Reducing the argument to cheerleading for the state of Israel in spite of everything is just wrong. It's high time we had a little balance in

this debate.

Jason Darensburg

UNM staff and student