The fourth wall : a Penn State Mont Alto student periodical. (Mont Alto, PA) 2004-????, September 01, 2007, Image 6

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    page 6
Editorial:
By Justin Zickar
Editor-in-Chief
Welcome to a corrupted society.
Well, at least from a moral stand
point. Welcome to a place where
man is so wrapped up in his
idealistic feuds and political
agendas, a belief in any values isn’t
quite evident. Welcome to a
century where children are
advocates of the internet and
television instead of learning the
value of simple morals and
standards in their lives.
Does anybody remember
September 11%? Remember that day
when thousands of innocent
Americans lost their lives? Six
years from that day, what has
become of us? We’ve invaded two
countries, lost countless lives and
killed as many, if not more, so how
do we look upon ourselves now?
Are we justified in what we’ve
done?
This is where our own moral
ethics come into question. Maybe
we’ve learned nothing from the
violent acts that were brought upon
us. In all that we’ve been through,
the blood we’ve shed, the allies
we’ ve lost, could we have bettered
Afghanistan and Iraq in means
other than answering violence with
more violence?
Granted, millions of Americans
wanted revenge and answers for
the lives lost, but if we would’ve
flashed ahead 6 years, would we
have taken the same actions? I think
not.
In a statement released in 2005
by Palestinian Prime Minister
Mahmoud Abbas, he quoted
President Bush as saying, ‘I’m
driven with a mission from God.
‘God would tell me: ‘George, go
and fight those terrorists in
Afghanistan’.’
‘And I did, and then God would
tell me, ‘George, go and end the
tyranny in Iraq...” And I did.
‘And now, again, I feel God’s
words coming to me, ‘Go get the
Palestinians their state and get the
Israelis their security, and get peace
in the Middle East.” And by God
I’m gonna do it.””
Now seeing the wars we were
so quick to begin were terrible
mistakes and the lack of evidence
justifying them. Has George W.
Bush become so weak to use
religion as an excuse for his
problems?
I mean honestly, what God
would want nation’s fighting and
killing each other to restore a
common peace? President Bush
has often been quoted as saying
we are “liberating the people of
Iraq” and that we are merely
helping their country become one
The Fourth Wall
2
been fighting a war on the other
side of the globe then perhaps they -
would’ve been back here among
the first responders to help when
disaster struck. But that’s beside
the point; it still took our
government and FEMA days to
acknowledge the problems among
its own. Politicians were too busy
finding people and organizations
to blame rather than coming up with
solutions. American’s suffered and
died within our own country while
our own President sat
too much on President Bush, the
war in Iraq and even the
mishandlings of our own
government, when really, we need
to point the finger right back at
ourselves.
Ruled by our possessions and
slaves of a media driven world, we
hold ourselves to no moral
restraint. Children live as adults,
growing up quicker than ever
nowadays. Idolizing Britney
Spears, Paris Hilton, and Lindsay
Lohan, gives teenage girls a wide
range of options these days.
again. Sure, I would love to believe
that, but here’s the big catch:
Nearly 5,000 dead soldiers and over
$320 billion of taxpayer dollars lost
in Iraq, all because of this
miraculous message from God?
Morally, when did it come down to
killing people because we didn’t
agree with them?
"Even in our own country we
turned our heads to those in need.
Are we supposed to sit here and
believe that the reason why our
country wasn’t able to respond to
the hurricane Katrina disaster in
New Orleans was because we
simply were caught off guard?
Maybe if over 5,000 members
of Louisiana National Guard hadn’t
water, and food, were delayed and
non apparent to those in need. Ill
conceived evacuation plans and
shelters left thousands without
refuge and many out to die. As a
country, how could we let this
happen to our own? A government
incompetent of handling a
situation that encompasses part of
its own country has no
qualification to wage war on any
other government than its own.
With questions of racism often
coming into play, and no evidence
of such mishaps being definitive;
we can only hope no such foul play
truly was the underlying reasons
of this autocracy.
I guess I’m really emphasizing
Drugs, alcohol, sex, even horrible
music; they all are now forgivable
mistakes, becoming the norm of
America’s young misguided
youth.
I would like to point out as well;
Hollywood really hasn’t become
unseeingly worse. It’s just as
simple as saying the world has
advanced. With technology being
so sophisticated, it’s no wonder
every move of these celebrities are
caught by the eye. Internet, cell
phones and digital cameras have
only made it easier for average
Joes to candidly .catch these
behaviors. But as Americans, why
do we sit and obsess ourselves
with these lavish lifestyles? How
come we allow our youth to think
that this is what they should be,
when really, they shouldn’t.
Either way you look at it, it isn’t
healthy. I fear the day I become a
parent in this lifetime. What am I to
expect? A society that is morally
decaying with war fledged hunger
among politicians?
This is no world I am proud to
say I’m a part of.
But wait, it’s not over yet. Today,
have parent’s moral obligations
changed? Yes, you can blame the
media, the internet, and society
itself, but all you’re doing is
asserting the fault elsewhere.
We’ve drawn ourselves closer to a
world where parents just don’t want
the obligation of handling their own
children.
Society has pushed us to believe
that discipline and punishment
aren’t the answers. Welcome to a
Dr. Phil and Oprah crazed utopia.
We feel the need to allow our
children to express themselves, I
mean come on, and if we tell them,
“Go to your room” or “No more
TV”, we might actually encourage
them to hate us for the rest of their
lives or even develop some sort of
psychological disorder.
" Morally, if we never teach our
kids the lessons and differences
are they supposed to grow as
individuals?
They simply can’t. Therefore,
we must strive to change the simple
animosities of our youth today. We
need to educate and help them
become the people our parents, our
grandparents and even our great
grandparents would be proud of.
In this day and age, with so
many of our interests abroad, the
problem isn’t what we seek to
achieve elsewhere, the problem is
right in front of our own eyes, in
our own country, in our own
government, and in our own
families.
Godspeed America, Godspeed.
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