[957] in peace2
Good Neighbor (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Katonio Butler)
Wed Sep 12 17:23:47 2001
Message-Id: <5.1.0.14.2.20010912171744.00a9ab60@po11.mit.edu>
Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2001 17:23:45 -0400
To: peace-list@mit.edu
From: Katonio Butler <kabutler@MIT.EDU>
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>Normally, I don't like forwards, but this one was really good.
>
>
>This, from a Canadian newspaper, is worth sharing.
>
>America: The Good Neighbor.
>
>Widespread but only partial news coverage was given recently to a
>remarkable
>editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian
>television
>commentator. What follows is the full text of his trenchant remarks as
>printed in the Congressional Record:
>
>This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the
>most
>generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth.
>Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted
>out of
>the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars
>and
>forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today
>paying
>even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.
>
>When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans
>who
>propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the
>streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.
>
>When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that
>hurries in
>to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by
>tornadoes.
>Nobody helped.
>
>The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into
>discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing
>about
>the decadent, warmongering Americans.
>
>I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the
>erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any
>other
>country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the
>Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why don't they fly them?
>Why
>do all the International lines except Russia fly American Planes?
>
>Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on
>the
>moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk
>about German technocracy, and you get automobiles.
>
>You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon-not
>once,
>but several times-and safely home again. You talk about scandals, and
>the
>Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look
>at.
>
>Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on
>our
>streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are
>getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.
>
>When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down
>through
>age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania
>Railroad
>and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose.
>Both
>are still broke.
>
>I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other
>people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else
>raced to
>the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even
>during
>the San Francisco earthquake.
>
>Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned
>tired
>of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing
>with
>their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their
>nose at
>the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada
>is
>not one of those."
>
>Stand proud, America!
>
>I would hope that each of you would send this to as many people as you
>can
>and emphasize that they should send it to as many of their friends
>until
>this letter is sent to every person on the web.
"Ad astra per aspera"
