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The modern “heroization” of Jimmy Carter by people who never experienced his presidency has frustrated many of us who did experience it. Those were difficult times. But…
While I appreciate this dose of reality, I don’t think the occasion of his death is the appropriate time to post it. Give the man and his family some respect.
He was a moral man who tried his best, made mistakes, and was possibly a little better person than we all strive to be. He brokered a Middle East peace treaty that was ground breaking. No need to shit on him now.
Supported the invasion of East Timor by the (then) fascist Indonesian government
Backed apartheid South Africa’s invasion of Angola and supported right-wing militias in the country
Blocked reparations to Vietnam after the failed US invasion and occupation
Backed fascist militias in Afghanistan in opposition to the democratic government
Supported the destabilisation of Grenada after the election of a socialist government leading to the eventual invasion and occupation by his successor’s administration
Facilitated and supported a fascist coup in Liberia
Established the ‘Carter Doctrine’ which publicly asserted US imperialist designs on the Persian Gulf, particularly its oil, and has informed US neo-colonial policy in the region ever since
Supported murderous dictatorships in Cambodia, El Salvador, Iran, Somalia, South Korea, Turkey
He was a monster
Counterpoint fuck that guy. He deserves to be shit on. No one in the US ruling class deserves respect
Yeah, I guess… on the other hand, Idk why he had a “tankie” turn post-presidency
Because he didn’t lol
Idk if you’re illiterate as a Russian peasant but okay, here’s the comment
Open to China’s rise to power
“And do you know why? I normalized diplomatic relations with China in 1979. Since 1979 do you know how many times China has been at war with anybody? None. And we have stayed at war,” he said. The U.S., Carter said, has been at war for all but 16 years of its 242-year history. He called the United States “the most warlike nation in the history of the world,” because of a tendency to try to force others to “adopt our American principles.”
Carter suggested that instead of war, China has been investing in its own infrastructure, mentioning that China has 18,000 miles of high-speed railroad.
“How many miles of high-speed railroad do we have in this country?” Zero, the congregation answered.
“We have wasted I think $3 trillion,” Carter said of American military spending. “… It’s more than you can imagine. China has not wasted a single penny on war and that’s why they’re ahead of us. In almost every way.
Sympathetic to North Korea, to the point he even negiotiated with them in the 1990s to let them give up their nukes:
“And the North Koreans suffered because the United States did everything possible to destroy their economy. And we did everything possible to boost South Korea’s economy. And so we condemn North Korea because its economy is lagging behind and its people are starving.”
And a Chavista:
“Electoral process in Venezuela is the best in the world." The comments were made in 2012, just three weeks before Venezuelans re-elected Chávez for his last term in office.
“There are 92 elections that we monitor, I would say that the electoral process in Venezuela is the best in the world,” he said in an annual speech at the Carter Center in Atlanta. He stressed that the system is fully automated, which makes counting faster.
He even admitted America’s electoral flaws
At the time, Carter also revealed his opinion that in the US “we have one of the worst electoral processes in the world, and it’s almost entirely due to the excessive inflow of money,” he said, referring to the lack of control over private campaign donations.
The Carter Center was one of the only Western NGOs to declare that the 2004 referendum in Venezuela (an attempted legislative coup, following the failure of the military coup in 2002) was fair and free.
And Palestine:
In his book Carter argues that Israel’s continued control and construction of settlements have been the primary obstacles to a comprehensive peace agreement in the Middle East. That perspective, coupled with the use of the word Apartheid in the titular phrase Peace Not Apartheid, and what critics said were errors and misstatements in the book, sparked controversy. Carter has defended his book and countered that response to it “in the real world…has been overwhelmingly positive.”
Wow what a revolutionary
Idk if you’re illiterate as a Russian peasant but okay, here’s the comment
You didn’t link to this, just the entire thread. I had no clue what you refering to. Oh and
It’s always appropriate to speak the truth.
Presidents are faced with all kinds of choices between two bad options. They become known for the one they choose. We don’t get that kind of reckoning.
Like, I voted for Kamala. Looking at me through the eye of history’s telescope, some would say I voted to support genocide in Lebanon. I could argue well, there was a worse option and I didn’t vote for that one.
Do we know what Jimmy Carter was rejecting when he chose the options he did? I don’t.
Like Pontius Pilate said to Jesus, “What is truth?”
I get it, you want to whitewash him because you’re whitewashing yourself. You supported genocide and it behooves you to position yourself as if that wasn’t an affirmative choice by absolving a historic monster who actually had full agency over his actions.
A neoliberal and a war criminal.
is there a president that didn’t commit war crimes?
I’m pretty sure that the President of my University never committed war crimes…
Oh you mean those presidents…
Even university presidents can’t exactly meet this standard, mine pushed anti-Palestine and censored pro-Palestine rhetoric, arrested 20 protestors, fired the head of the student newspaper after they criticized the arrests, and kept inviting weapons manufacturer representatives on campus and probably had investments in them too.
Kind of a weird question— and I’m not defending whatever the article is alleging— but what’s the point of trying to smear Carter’s memory?
He’s dead. Nobody praises the bad things he might have done. This feels like an attempt to instill even more tiredness into an already exhausted society— “see? Even the guy everyone likes sucked! Nobody should be thought of as good, you must keep this in mind.”
This doesn’t help unions. This doesn’t help the left. This doesn’t help anyone. Americans are rightfully haggard and all remaining energy should be spent trying to keep the upcoming administration in chaos to minimize harm or supporting good people. Why waste time trying to diminish the memory of a man who, far as I can tell, has done nothing but good the past 40 years?
And fuck, haven’t we had enough negativity? Many days I avoid social media entirely because it’s just negativity upon negativity. I genuinely can’t fathom a single positive or useful takeaway from media like this.
Why shouldn’t someone that felt betrayed by a politician write about their experience? Why shouldn’t people learn about these perspectives?
“Can everyone quit being so negative” is an awful take when talking about politics/politicians.
because it only makes sense in a vacuum, if you compare carter’s time to anyone else’s, it holds up fine if not great.
it’s bullllllshit