So,

I've been staying away from the political for a while because, well, it's depressing and tiring. But today I was having some serious thoughts about justice and Americanism. Damn, sounds like a fun journal, right? Anyway....

In America, I think we accept (and kind of enjoy) the fact that there is no real justice for celebrities. From Robert Downey Jr. To Scott Weiland to Courtney Love to O.J. Simpson to William Kennedy Smith to Ted Kennedy etc, we fully expect any celebrity accused of a crime to get off either scot-free or with a smaller slap on the wrist than any "regular" person. I mean, did anyone think that Kobe Bryant was really going to go to jail (or even to trial?) for what did or did not happen in that Colorado hotel room?

But what does that have to do with politics? Well, I was thinking that in terms of our relations with other countries we as Americans feel like we're the celebrities of the world. Any time an American is in trouble overseas or held hostage we fully expect them to be released unharmed because they are American. And for the most part these Americans are returned safe and sound because people fear and respect the power of America and what we could do in return. "We're Americans, we're above anybody else's laws" is a pretty pervasive attitude in this country. And I'll admit that I fully subscribe to it. Whenever I see an American in trouble overseas on television I automatically think "Don't worry chap, you're an American. It'll be OK." I think that this faith is very comforting to us and let's us live in our own little bubble of Americanism, shielded from many of the harsher realities of the world.

That what, to me, makes these Al-Qaida kidnappings so shocking and challenging to my own perceptions of the world. These guys are like "You know what? In two days we're going to cut this guy's head off". "Hold on now fellas, you can't cut his head off. He's an American, don't you know what that means?" "Hmmm, don't care. We're going to do it" And then they do do it! And videotape it and post it on the internet! It all makes me feel very helpless.

Sometimes I wish I lived 100 years ago on a farm in Virginia.