Don't Believe It

I've had the good fortune to have the opportunity to obtain a master's degree in history. My time in graduate school has allowed me to critique information more effectively. Put another way, I don't believe everything I hear.

Were the attacks of September 11, 2001 perpetrated by al Qaeda or the U.S. government? I don't know. I'm not going believe something just because the government says so and I'm not going to believe something only because it's the opposite. If I had to guess, I'd say al Qaeda was responsible, but the U.S. government instigated them by doing something beyond merely stationing U.S. military forces in Saudi Arabia and certainly beyond showing American women with exposed navels (does anyone really still think this is what we're fighting over?).

I think there was at least some kind of conspiracy linked to the Kennedy assassination, but then again, chances are so do you (how come you got that one right?).

Did the U.S. government blow up the levees keeping the Gulf of Mexico out of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina? It's certainly possible. They would have a lot to gain. I don't think the Bush administration calculated the level of outrage their lack of compassion would cause, however.

I believe that the arrests and convictions of the Jena 6 were racially motivated. Whether the government conspires to ruin the lives of a good number of black people or whether they just don't care to rectify the wrongs of the past because keeping the status quo is beneficial to the ones on top, I don't know. However, I believe that our society discriminates against black people in ways that none of us can imagine.

Was AIDS created to kill many Africans in order to handcuff Africa and later administered to eradicate gays? I don't know. But the U.S. government was responsible for giving many people AIDS. Look at Arthur Ashe. An eloquent, powerful, and outspoken black man struck down when he contracted AIDS after a blood transfusion.

I believe the U.S. government was fully aware of exactly what was going on during the Holocaust and chose to do nothing.

I don't believe Michael Vick raped and killed that white woman. Wait, what? DOG FIGHTING?! People wanted to lynch him; I just assumed he was accused of raping and killing a white woman. He killed some dogs and people want him killed? Dogs are not people.

I'm not sure that Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman are dead. They could be chilling in Panama for all I know. Then you all owe O.J. an apology. Of course he did plead no contest to beating his first wife, who was black. And no one cared.

I believe elections are fixed to the candidate with the most money. Let’s see, vote your conscious, not for the front runners.