Edward Ponderer
Sep 5, 2018 · 2 min read

I hear this, but having a science background, I trust more to empirical measurement then philosophy. The examples from Hitler to Stalin’s hells — and please let us not forget North Korea, Syria, and Iran today among plenty of others, have one common denominator — people desperately wish to emigrate out, but are trapped by a truly cruel state.

It seems that there is a strange complaint against America because everyone wants to immigrate in, and for economic and security reasons — justified or not — they all can’t.

People want out of cruel places, and into decent places.

[Though I do recall in the days of the Berlin Wall how an East German official explained to an NPR correspondent that its purpose was to protect East German’s from the stench of capitalism and that arresting or shooting those trying to leave was done for “their own protection.”]

In an ideal world, in absolute terms, you may well be right — there is great room for improvement: for love above hatred, for entering into a global unity. In fact, this ideal must start to happen in the not too distant future or Humanity as a whole will die any of a thousand deaths from AI war / nuclear lynch-pin, to climatic catastrophe. But this is really a global issue, most definitely including — but far from exclusively — the United States.

But relative to actual realities on the ground? — The facts belie your theory — as do the silent screams of those from places where your counterparts must keep silent or face the incarceration, torture, and death of themselves, and likely their families (in North Korea, for three generations…)