An article on 'Come September' by Arundhati Roy.

The American Way of LifeWhat if someone you respect walked up to you and said, “You know I really don’t think America will last if we all continue our current way of life?” The fact that the government created a slogan for their current war, ‘The War Against Terror’, as though it were the newest line-up of clothes, goes to show that in America, money talks. Many Americans beg to be a world power, a financial king, and a war tyrant as well. The innocent lives lost and destroyed never touch our comfortable luxurious living rooms. For many people, myself included, this seems like the worst possible problem. Trying to change the core values of an entire nation is an enormous task; a task that for some individuals, may seem rather impossible.

If you are innocent then why did you run and hide? Arundhati Roy uses this type of questioning when considering the U.S.

United States

United States

United States

government in “Come September.” One suspicious tactic is the widely used label of “anti-American.” American establishments have tried to single out critics and protesters referring to them as “anti-American”. This mixed with the constant reminder of the September 11 attack dubbed “9/11” gives citizens the feeling that if you are not a war zealot then you might as well be a terrorist. I myself have felt as though if I do not strongly support the governments actions then I am betraying my county and my fellow man. As Arundhati Roy states,An anti-national is a person who is against her own nation and, by inference, is pro some other one. But it isn’t necessary to be anti-national to be deeply suspicious of all nationalism to be anti-nationalism.

This is one way of showing that the U.S. government is bullying its own people but few will argue the fact that George Bush has taken up the hobby of waving a fist at other countries as well. Consider what to many is common knowledge. In 1996 the McDonald’s company celebrated the opening of a McDonald’s in what was by their calculation the 100th country. Many businesses have relied heavily upon U.S. government backing to spread their immense profit making to other countries, sometimes even using military support. “McDonald’s cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas” says Roy.

Upon placing the keywords ‘moral decay’ in an online search it did not surprise me to see that there has been a game named just that played online from 1992 to current day. The introduction to the game states,If you come with morals, please leave them at the door. For if you should enter and bring them along, they will soon be lost in the mass of swirling adventure referred to as: Moral Decay.

Is this just a game or has this become the general prayer Americans utter to themselves as they step out of their front door and into the world. As Richard Seymour says in his article “So, where exactly is the West?”,Today, the West is generally considered to comprise of the wealthy nations of North America and Europe…For some, the term 'the West' is a catchall for imperialism and the corruption, decadence and moral decay associated with it.

Then there is the infamous Clinton episode. The attitude is that it’s your own business to be betray others by lying and cheating, but it is not acceptable to get caught lying in court.

No one wants to admit much less verbalize it, but as events like this occur it becomes more evident that this lifestyle of the U.S. citizens and it’s government can not be supported forever. This world power as everyone before will fall it’s just a matter of when and how hard. America needs to ask itself, ‘what are we going to do to change?’Works CitedHughes, John. “Peril of declining values and president as cipher.” Christian Science Monitor. 16 Sept. 1998, Vol. 90 Issue 205, p11. EBSCOhost. BCC. 28 Sept. 2007.

Roy, Arundhati. “Come September.” Reading The World: Ideas That Matter. Michael Austin. First edition. NY: Maple-Vail Book Group, 2007. 253-266.

Seymour, Richard. “So, where exactly is the West.” Middle East. Sept. 2005, Issue 359, p16-18,3p, 1c. EBSCOhost. BCC. 28 Sept. 2007.

McDonalds

Arundhati Roy

World's Columbian Exposition: U.S. Government Buil...