Reagan: A Quick Overview
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past week, you probably realize that former president Ronald Reagan is dead. Okay, dead president, sad I guess. Now, I've heard my fair share of good and bad things about him, but the way the news and people on the internet are glorifying him is unbelievable. "I lost a hero and a patriot," they moan through irritated eyes. First off, let's get one thing straight - the guy was almost a hundred years old and suffering from Alzheimer's. Now, since most of you have probably only heard of Alzheimer's and not actually experienced it like I have (through my great grandfather), you probably only have a mild picture of the disease. Yes, you lose your memory. That's what you lose first. But it's not the only thing. This disease is interesting in a purely terrifying way; it eats away incredibly erratically. First, they are forgetful. Then they are insane. I mean literally; my grandpa went from not remembering my name to being convinced we were hiding his clothing in the refridgerator. The refridgerator. They then usually collapse inward with what little there is left. Something has to replace the empty, so they start convincing themselves that they've always done certain bizzare routines and whatnot. My grandpa's two favorite phrases were "I always..." and "I never...", as in, "I always eat ice cream until I vomit on the floor," and "I never feed my dog or myself. That's what you're for." But I'm getting away from the point. The point is that people should be happy that Reagan died; he got out of the Hell that Alzheimer's is.
But I'm not focusing on that. What I am focusing on is my irritation at the pedestal they (read: conservative Republicans) put this guy on. Now, I don't want to downplay his achievements, his SDI program contributed (not entirely, but it did help) to peace and nuclear disarmament with the Russians, thanks to a fairly open-minded Mikhail Gorbachev. Hist trickle-down theory economy also had some benefits, as in the stockmarket exploded (nevermind the fact that within a few years it crashed again). But those seem very mild in comparison with the negatives he brought to this country.
Take for example again his trickle-down economy, or Reaganomics. I won't go into the details of how douchy it is to name an entire economic system after yourself, but rather into the details of how it directly affected America. As I stated before, it did help us push out of a recession - temporarily. It also sucked the life (and money) directly out of less privledge areas, like the guh-hetto. Because of the horrible conditions and financial failures of people in said area, combined with a new drug on the streets (crack!), the primarily African-American community plummeted into a horrifying life of drug death and gang violence that still exists today. Drug dealing replaced jobs; crack addiction replaced every priority. You could say that Reagan is indirectly responsible for the way areas like East Oakland are today. What a patriot.
Let us also take a gander at how he handled the AIDS crisis. When AIDS started plummeting up, first in gay men and then quickly into everyone (the stereotype of this being a gay man's disease hence being untrue), the Reagan adminstration did....NOTHING! Yes, because Ronald Reagan pretended that this issue was nonexistant, a feeling of shame that still comes with the disease now combined with no funding or research on how it was spread or how to prevent it has lead to the deaths of over 200,000 people. That's almost four times the amount of people who died in Vietnam, if you need a reference. What a fucking hero.
Of course, many have billed him as the "disarmer of Communism" or whatever. I won't even get into the less provable things. The bottom line is that if you are reading this, chances are you are American, and as such you are free to feel and think whatever you want. But before blindly standing behind a man who is practically a Holocaust unto himself, maybe you should look back and reconsider.
But I'm not focusing on that. What I am focusing on is my irritation at the pedestal they (read: conservative Republicans) put this guy on. Now, I don't want to downplay his achievements, his SDI program contributed (not entirely, but it did help) to peace and nuclear disarmament with the Russians, thanks to a fairly open-minded Mikhail Gorbachev. Hist trickle-down theory economy also had some benefits, as in the stockmarket exploded (nevermind the fact that within a few years it crashed again). But those seem very mild in comparison with the negatives he brought to this country.
Take for example again his trickle-down economy, or Reaganomics. I won't go into the details of how douchy it is to name an entire economic system after yourself, but rather into the details of how it directly affected America. As I stated before, it did help us push out of a recession - temporarily. It also sucked the life (and money) directly out of less privledge areas, like the guh-hetto. Because of the horrible conditions and financial failures of people in said area, combined with a new drug on the streets (crack!), the primarily African-American community plummeted into a horrifying life of drug death and gang violence that still exists today. Drug dealing replaced jobs; crack addiction replaced every priority. You could say that Reagan is indirectly responsible for the way areas like East Oakland are today. What a patriot.
Let us also take a gander at how he handled the AIDS crisis. When AIDS started plummeting up, first in gay men and then quickly into everyone (the stereotype of this being a gay man's disease hence being untrue), the Reagan adminstration did....NOTHING! Yes, because Ronald Reagan pretended that this issue was nonexistant, a feeling of shame that still comes with the disease now combined with no funding or research on how it was spread or how to prevent it has lead to the deaths of over 200,000 people. That's almost four times the amount of people who died in Vietnam, if you need a reference. What a fucking hero.
Of course, many have billed him as the "disarmer of Communism" or whatever. I won't even get into the less provable things. The bottom line is that if you are reading this, chances are you are American, and as such you are free to feel and think whatever you want. But before blindly standing behind a man who is practically a Holocaust unto himself, maybe you should look back and reconsider.
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