I CAN'T Be The Only One...

So, now that we have a black man as president, 'racism is over' you say?

Having nothing to do at work, I decided to drop a letter in the outgoing mail in our building's mailroom, and on the way back to my desk, I'm greeted by the security guard. This security guard is very clear about his right-wing affiliations, and likes to engage in political / social (or pseudo-political / pseudo-social) conversations, in which he predictably categorizes everyone on welfare as lazy, everyone in law enforcement as heroes, every non-white person with a gun as a gangbanger or terrorist, and every wayward child as needing a (literal) kick in the proverbial "ass". Everything is black and white and there is little or no gray area. Good is good, evil is evil, there is little or nothing in between.

He considers himself a republican, but note that I call him "right-wing", not republican or even conservative, because I've known many true conservative republicans (not RINO's) and they don't necessarily agree with this guy. I feel "right-wing" is more appropriate to the sweeping extremity of his views. So, of course, he pulls me aside (because after having talked multiple times, he knows me as not having straight-laced, conventional views on a lot of things, and also knows I don't get argumentatively defensive in controversial conversation) and opines about an at-the-moment breaking news story on television (we have a CNN feed on a flat-screen in our lobby - where he sits, presumably waiting for lazy, gun-toting, terrorist, welfare-mothers to congregate and launch their "evil" plans).

Apparently, a US ship that was hijacked off the coast of Africa was re-taken by its crew, and as we watched the reporter discuss it with a "pundit", our ever-vigilant and ever-creative security guard intimated his idea for stopping pirating once and for all. Befitting the rest of his views, he tells me: "I have a real easy way to stop pirating; find out the surrounding villages these people come from, and wipe all of those villages out." He proceeded to walk away from the screen after dropping that gem with all of the finality of Horatio Caine opening an episode of CSI:Miami.

Now, at first, of course, as you likely would also, I was pretty sure that he was kidding, so I went along with it (to a degree) and added "If only it were that easy" - with a smile - pretty much expecting it to end there. Why? I don't know. Perhaps I'm an idiot - I doubt it, but it's not an impossibility. So, past experience should have told me otherwise, but who does history think it is, that I should learn from it, right? Anyway, his reply to that was (dead seriously, stopping in his tracks and with a finger pointed at me) "No, it is that easy." Well, in addition to being thankful that he is not the Secretary of Defense (or of anything for that matter), I decided (for once) to call him on his comment, because I have to say, it struck me as one of the most racist comments I'd ever heard. Would he have said the same if this was happening off of the coast of Ireland? That's number one.

Number two, apparently he still has it in his head (thanks to good, old, non-biased "American!" education) that "these people" only live in "villages" and that they couldn't possibly be from developed cities or advanced agricultural backgrounds. They're just a bunch of mud-hutters running around in loin cloths with spears (in 2009; who somehow managed to hijack a 508-foot ship using the relative equivalent of a life boat, no less) and so, let's just wipe out the people they descend from (who have nothing to do with this) as well as their innocent women and children, for once and for all, so no more can be birthed. Because we shouldn't address the problems in Africa that cause for rampant piracy, instead, we should just kill all the Africans. That'll do it!

And of course, we should do this because they're not white, and so innocent or not, they have no intrinsic value anyway.

Number three, pirates are a diverse group of people and come from all over. They don't congregate off the coast of Africa because they're from Africa, they congregate there because those are the least protected trade routes and there is an extensive black market in the surrounding area. If the least protected routes and largest black markets were in and around Ireland, they'd be there too. And they would look the same as they do now.

Of course, this wiping-out wouldn't be genocidal or a terrorist act (in his opinion) because it's the United States doing it with a full-on state-supported military, which makes it OK. "Terrorists" are rag-tag middle-easterners. It doesn't matter that they have had their rights systematically trampled (yes, often by their own kind) over the past several centuries, and who, despite the abhorrent and disagreeable means to their end, may have a legitimate cause underlying it. Terrorism to protect commerce is OK, but not to protect (or even obtain) human rights.

Got it. Terrorism by the US; good. Terrorism by Arabs; bad. But that's a different conversation. Back to the pirates.

So, as I said, I decided to call him on it, but just as I was about to, finger raised, mouth agape and vocal cords at the ready, he was called away to make his rounds (as security guards do).

Of course.

So, left to my own devices, I began to think about other problems within the area of fighting piracy and I came to a real conclusion for the companies involved- hire those "contractors" (read: mercenaries) that everyone hates. Xe (formerly Blackwater Worldwide) comes to mind first (AirScan & Revomatica are a couple of others), but there are a number of these private "security companies" out there, that are more than happy to supply highly trained, ex-military mercenaries, er, security personnel and technology to combat this problem - to do their duty to protect the United States, her citizens, her commerce, and her interests, both at home and abroad, and further the progress of our "good, American" goals - and, ahem, for a price, of course.

But the thing is, whatever you think of these "contractors", piracy would be over. End these pointless "wars", bring our troops home or deploy them to meaningful conflicts, and use these companies to fight the lesser wars on the trade routes.

The ship that was hijacked and re-taken is owned by a company called Maersk. If the US releases these contractors from service, they'll be available for companies like Maersk to hire. If Maersk sends out its cargo ships with a small compliment of these highly trained, ex-military types on board, armed to the teeth, mind you, they'll take out these pirates on first contact. And with all of the money they'll be getting paid to do so, they will continue to develop technology and fighting techniques to outwit and outmatch the pirates. Fighting pirates is not like fighting elusive terrorists - the enemy is clear and they always go after the same targets. It's much more like a traditional military engagement, except the private mercenaries will far outpace the pirates. The pirates WILL evolve and adapt - and the companies will stay ahead of them because they'll have more money to hire more people and develop more and better technology and assets, and other companies will see how much success they're having and hire them as well.

Private military should be hired by private companies to protect their private property. The United States Navy should not be tasked with hunting pirates, and private military should not be fighting US wars. We're all mixed up. I CAN'T be the only one to see this...

Note: Didn't think I'd go the military route after the racism opening, eh? :)