Our Moral Throne

"When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, 'Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her'" (John 8:7)

This is one of the most notable stories of the Bible where, long story short, the Pharisees were trying to trip Jesus up by asking him a question that would force Him to respond with an answer that was contradictory to Mosaic Law in an attempt to defame Him.

One thing I do not understand is that people believe in the idea that the United States is some sort of moral police, which is essentially why a lot of countries have negative feelings for us.

Election Meddling

One of these examples lies in the Russian meddling of the 2016 presidential elections. As many of us have already heard, Russia (yes blame the whole country...) helped spread false information against the Democratic candidate Hilary Clinton, in favor of Republican candidate Donald Trump during the election which led to her defeat. When this was exposed, Americans blew a fuse. "How dare they interrupt our sacred democratic process!?" People were so mad investigations on the national level were made and virtually every news outlet covered this topic in one way or another. Then I beg the question, haven't we interfered in other countries' election processes and political life? "We've been doing this kind of thing since the C.I.A was created in 1947... We've used posters pamphlets, mailers, banners - you name it. We've planted false information in foreign newspapers. We've used what the British call 'King George's calvalry': suitcases of cash'" (NY Times). From overthrowing elected leaders in Guatemala and Iran in the 50's to participating in coups in the 60's and supporting anti-Communist governments in Asia, Latin America, and Asia. Some might say that the countries are better off due to US government interference, however, is this really true in all cases? It's hard to say that all the innocent blood spilled and is still being spilled, just check out El Salvador, is justified by our righteous cause to bring a better future for the country based on our standards. In short, we can meddle in your elections, but you cannot interfere in ours. 

Syria Gas Attack

This is a sad and horrible tragedy and I believe there has to be consequences for whoever launched the attack in the first place, but there remains a really important question. I believe the question is not so much should we bomb Syria for using chemical weapons, but rather on what moral throne do we stand that we can even contemplate the thought of it? It's undeniable that most people are mad about other people being killed. If we were to use death count as the determining criteria, then the United States should be at the bottom of the list when it comes to righteous international interference. The real core question here is, does the manner of death have any influence on whether we have the right to bomb another country that kills its own citizens worse than we do? As a case study, the poisoning of American citizens (star spangled banner or not) in Flint, Michigan and other places nearby through lead (neurotoxin) does not give say Russia the moral obligation to send an airstrike to Michigan and to add more sauce on the argument, expect the American people to accept their punishment. Although a gas that causes loss of motor function and other horrible effects on the body, long-term lead exposure takes its sweet toll on the body as well and can even effect DNA structures of those exposed. Not only is this a slow killer but many other issues in this country that slowly kills its citizens can easily be brought up such as healthcare, yet we aren't expecting "fire and fury like the world has never seen before" outside our doorstep. Some people are indoctrinated in believing that they have the right to act against a country based on their actions but if its OUR country that does something wrong don't you dare lay a finger on us.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/sunday-review/russia-isnt-the-only-one-meddling-in-elections-we-do-it-too.html