Our Narcissistic Nation Needs Professional Help

Is it possible for a nation to be narcissistic? If it is, the USA qualifies. Perhaps all nations are by definition self centered. Why is it so hard to look in a mirror? Why is so difficult to see how others might perceive our actions?

Can we not imagine how we would react if China were pouring billions of dollars a year into the Cuban military, selling all the most recent fighter jets and military equipment to Cuba, and sailing Chinese warships through the 90 mile space between Cuba and Florida on “freedom of navigation” missions?

Is it really so difficult for us to just take a moment and try to understand? Does it need to become a reality before we can see it? Do we need to see the rage among Americans to know that the rage would be there? Do we need the deaths to come?

Yet the USA continues to sell jet fighters and other military equipment to Taiwan, continues to push for more military spending in Taiwan, and of course continues to send USA warships on “freedom of navigation” missions in the 110 mile space between mainland China and Taiwan.

Are we, the people who make up the USA, blind to what is going on here, blind to the behavior of our own military? Will we be surprised one day by the result of our actions? We may feign surprise but there will be no excuse for surprise. We are the instigators.

This next statement may sound strange to Americans, but China is a more pacifist nation than the USA. Do you doubt that? Count up the number of wars or the years at war for the USA and China since China was formed in 1949. The result does not look good for the USA.

It was reported recently in The New York Times that the United States seriously considered using nuclear weapons against China in the 1958 conflict over Taiwan. It seems certain that war planners are reviewing the options again at this very moment.

If we want to avoid conflict and death, if we want to live in a world of cooperation and mutual respect between nations, which would benefit all nations and all people, we need to look closely right now at our own behavior, our own psyche, our own motivations, our own people. It may even be that some part of our psyche, or some subset of American wallets, benefit immensely from war and do not care in the least about dreams of peaceful cooperation among the residents or Earth.

We work hard and spend excessively on preparation for war. We need to work harder and spend even more on preparation for peace, if peace is what we want.