With so many humanitarian atrocities continuing to happen here locally on the Central Coast, in our state, across the United States and globally, I’ve spent many sleepless hours pondering how I’ve become so disillusioned and frustrated with Americans. Until this year, I’ve been proud to be an American and part of our society that I believed fundamentally stood up for human rights and spoke out when we encountered examples of human rights abuses. But, alas. We have mistakenly elected a government that places a high value on power and profit. Not that there’s anything intrinsically wrong with that. This is, after all, the land of capitalism. But everything goes awry for mankind when power and profits stomp all over human rights. We are now witness to this happening every day, and yet we’re largely silent.
We have watched Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as 300,000 Russian soldiers, 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers, and more than 12,000 civilians have been killed, yet we’re silent. We have watched the genocide being perpetrated on Palestinians in Gaza—the constant bombings of civilian targets, the systematic mass starvation and famine, the estimated 93,000 Palestinians killed, with almost 60 percent of that being women, children, and the elderly. And yet Americans are not only silent but continue to support Israel with the funds, weapons and tools they require to continue this genocide.
The war in Sudan has caused the largest humanitarian crisis on record, with civilians bearing the brunt as international humanitarian laws continue to be ignored with the continuation of rampant ethnic cleansing and sexual violence. Americans don’t even talk about Sudan. Myanmar is now one of the top three global crises due to the worsening military conflict and the devastation of that country’s water and health systems. I would bet that more than half of Americans have no idea what or where Myanmar is. Burkina Faso remains in the top ten of global crises for the third year in a row due to armed groups continuing to displace millions of civilians and viciously attacking hospitals, schools, and communities. Raise your hand if you even know what Burkina Faso is. I’ll wait. And this list goes on with Lebanon, Syria, Mali, Haiti, Somalia, etc. And Americans remain silent.
In our own great country, which daily seems to be getting less great, Americans remain silent on racial abuses of American citizens perpetrated by people who are paid by us to protect and serve our communities. Americans remain silent on the horrendous mass murders of our children in their classrooms by lunatics with guns. Americans remain silent on the politically motivated violence and murder that is becoming the new normal. Across this “land of the free,” people are being swept up every day by unidentified, masked and heavily armed groups headed for detention, deportation or just being disappeared. But all we hear are crickets.
It’s no wonder that I feel this disappointment and frustration with Americans. And I’ve been trying to come up with a simple phrase to express it. Then the other night I attended the Steve Earle concert at The Fremont theater in downtown SLO. Great concert, by the way. I was particularly struck by Chris Pierce, the singer/songwriter who opened for Earle.
He is known for his compassion and humanity, which is evident in his lyrics. He uses his public platform to speak up about the things we should all be making noise about. One of his songs in particular struck a chord with me, because, in it, I found that simple phrase I’ve been looking for to describe the growing apathy and detachment of Americans. “American silence is a crime.” That’s it. Not complicated at all in a time where Americans, especially our elected officials, should be standing up and strongly speaking out against humanitarian atrocities. “American silence is a crime.” Δ
R. DeMilo writes to New Times from Arroyo Grande. Send a response for publication to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Aug 14-24, 2025.
“We have watched Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as 300,000 Russian soldiers, 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers, and more than 12,000 civilians have been killed, yet we’re silent.”
Perhaps NATO and the US military industrial complex shouldnt have insisted on putting their hostile military infrastructure on the Russian border.
Your numbers aren’t even close and the losses are lopsided. The Zylenski regime has managed to get at least 1 million Ukrainian soldiers killed while Russia has lost maybe 300k.
Zylenski is a dictator and western PUPPET with no public support who is not even elected.
His regime snatches young men off the street to die for him. He is totally corrupt and probably has billions of our tax dollars in offshore accounts. The man is hated by everyone and the sooner Trump drops him the better. Like any losing side, Ukraine is sending boys and old men to war now, everyone else is dead.
Don’t believe any propaganda from the western press, Zylenski is a total crook and completely unfit to hold his office. Further, if anyone did any basic research, they would understand that Ukraine has always been Russian. The actual name of its capital is “Kievan Rus” (“Rus” means RUSSIAN) https://www.worldhistory.org/Kievan_Rus/
R.Demilo:
The “crisis at home” is intricately related to the BS the US is doing abroad. The 350 billion dollars handed to the Zylenski regime to pay for western made Ukrainian weapons, Ukrainian pensions, and Ukrainian public salaries comes at the expense of what remains of our social safety net, social spending, and the purchasing power of the dollar. It is all paid for through deficit spending which is itself paid for through selling our national debt instruments and money printing.
R.Demilo:
The “crisis at home” is intricately related to the BS the US is doing abroad. The 350 billion dollars handed to the Zylenski regime to pay for western made Ukrainian weapons, Ukrainian pensions, and Ukrainian public salaries comes at the expense of what remains of our social safety net, social spending, and the purchasing power of the dollar. It is all paid for through deficit spending which is itself paid for through selling our national debt instruments and money printing. The reason we don’t have national public healthcare for everyone is because of the trillions we waste on foreign entanglements and managing what was a global empire in a formerly unipolar world. The reason Grandma and grandpa are surviving on dog food is because our tax dollars go right into the pockets of the shareholders of defense contractors. The reason young people aren’t forming families is because the American war machine must be fed and aside from weapons manufacturing, there are no jobs. Gone is the industrial capacity of America. Our economy consists of gyms, nail salons, cannabis dispensaries, liquor stores, and taco shops.
Bring our troops home, cut the defense budget 80 percent, and do business, not war.
Fly, you need to do a little more research. My grandmother was Rus ( Ruthenian, not Russian) which is a distinct Slavic ethnicity from Russians, and includes Poles, Slovak, Lithuanians and Belarus. She came to America shortly before WWI when Russians and their Magyar thugs were burning Byzantine Catholic Churches and stealing property.
Steve:
“…when Russians and their Magyar thugs were burning Byzantine Catholic Churches and stealing property.”
This is the same thing your buddy Zylenski is doing to ethnic Russians in what was eastern Ukraine. He has outlawed the Russian church, bombed Russian churches, outlawed Russian language text books, closed opposition media, and cancelled elections. Talk about a fascist state. His days are numbered too. This is why many of us voted for Trump, to get rid of Zylenski’s Nazi regime and end this war. I’m hoping Trump’s meeting with Putin in Alaska brings this about. Your Democrat party is the war party.
It’s easier for you to nit pick minor historical details than address why in God’s name we are wasting our precious tax money on this thug named Zylenski. And yes, Ukraine historically is Russian, whether you or your grandmother like it or not.
Do you relish the idea of killing Russians? Lindsey Graham and the entire Washington consensus does too. Ukrainians are having a hard time finding graveyards big enough to accommodate all their fallen soldiers.
Rather than disparage Russia, why don’t you ask yourself why NATO and your own government provoked Russia to the point they felt it necessary to invade? None of this needed to ever happen accept that your own military industrial congressional complex insisted on getting Ukraine into NATO. Why? Because they would be required to purchase American weapons from American arms manufacturers. Probably the same companies you are invested in.
If you really cared about your grandmother’s people, you’d dump all your stock in American arms manufacturers rather than profit on the deaths of Ukrainians. Until then, it’s all just hot air. So really, it’s you who, by extension, are killing Ukrainians. You can discuss history with me all day, but don’t try and lecture me about morality or integrity, sir.
Perhaps some ‘minor historical details’ like the Holodomor or tanks rolling into Prague explain Central Europe’s desire for an organization like NATO.
Steve:
Yes, I’m familiar with those events. but the Soviet Union collapsed decades ago and as such, NATO should have been disbanded years ago. Russia’s incursion into Ukraine wasn’t to expand its territory, it was to protect ethnic Russians in East Ukraine. You know, the ones Zylenski was lobbing bombs onto for years prior to Russia going into Ukraine. What you’re really trying to convince me of, as is all of the western mainstream press to everyone else, is that Russia wants to basically march all the way into London and Paris, lol. I think this is the same lie being told 60 years ago about North Vietnam, the so called “Domino Theory.” I shouldn’t be surprised you’ve resurrected it, after all, if you are a Boomer it’s what you grew up on.
No, what’s really going on is the West, through NATO, wants to carve up Russia and steal all it’s resources. Unfortunately, this isn’t the early 90s right after the USSR collapsed. Russia is strong, homogeneous, advanced, and beating the crap out of NATOs proxy, Ukraine. Pity a million Ukrainians died needlessly and we’ve wasted 350 billion dollars helping them do so. The US will walk away like nothing happened, just like in Afghanistan, Vietnam, Libya, Iraq, etc. Meanwhile, America gets poorer and poorer. Ukraine isn’t some sort of innocent victim in all this.
We’re on the verge of national bankruptcy, ironically enough, just like the Soviets when they collapsed, lol:
https://youtu.be/bD0_diUJTmg?si=780u1VsBrn…
Greetings R. DeMilo,
Thank you for writing your letter. May it be that more of us speak out and take action.
Why only until this year did you believe our society “fundamentally stood up for human rights and spoke out when we encountered examples of human rights abuses”? To take only a single example, one which you cited in your letter: the latest war in Sudan began in 2023.
Can you plausibly argue the People of United States, as a whole, fundamentally stood up for human rights when U.S. troops invaded Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam? When U.S. airmen dropped more bombs on Cambodia and Laos than the total tonnage of bombs the Allied air forces dropped during WWII? When the U.S. troops brutally crushed the Filipino independence movement in the first decades of the 20th century? When U.S. troops massacred native tribespeople at Sand Creek, Bear River, Marias River, and Wounded Knee? And most sadly, those are just a few instances of direct action by U.S. soldiers.
Can one plausibly argue the People of the United States have stood for human rights, when U.S. government officials and overt and covert operatives have supported murderous dictatorships throughout recent history? To name only a few closer to home: El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Chile.
Can we plausibly argue the People of the United States stand for human rights, when for decades upon decades, U.S. workers have manufactured weapons intended to kill, which at the direction of elected U.S. representatives, U.S. government civilians and contractors then sold to other countries, and people in those other countries used those weapons to maim and kill soldiers and civilians alike?
Sincerely,
ForUsTheLiving
ForUsTheLiving;
My point exactly.
R. Demilo, Thank you for your excellent statement. I agree. The line you found, “American silence is a crime,” is so true.
It is much like the appeasers in 1930s Germany that led to the Third Reich and its fuhrer.
I cannot stand silent! Protest, boycott and General Strikes are what Americans need to do to end this current American dictator from his goal of his racist fascist fourth reich, to please his owner and boss V. Putin.
He brags that he is a dictator, so I can no longer call him our president.
If we want to have any rights and a free country, it is time for all Americans to stand up and non-violently resist and fight these fascists who have taken over our Government!
Scott:
Dragging out the ol’ Chamberlain trope are you? “Peace in our time,” right? God forbid our president engage in diplomacy. Allow me to remind you and all the other readers of a quote attributed Goebbels, an actual Nazi:
“Naturally the common people don’t want war . . . but after all it is the leaders of a country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or parliament or a communist dictatorship. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.”
Every time people like smear the rest of who actually don’t prefer to die in a nuclear war, the closer you get to Goebbels,
In case you haven’t done so, I’d encourage you to watch “Dr. Strangelove” before you continue to prostrate yourself before the military industrial complex, because that is what you are calling for. More war, more death. This is your deepest wish, you warmonger. Scott Jenkins: The voice of weapons manufacturers.
Trump is literally sitting down with Putin trying to stop a completely NATO driven war and it’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen. As your pal Hillary Clinton said, if he could pull this off, he should be given a NOBEL PEACE PRIZE.
I wonder if Trump, MAGA or any other of Putin’s useful idiots realize what the Russian Empire’s neopanslavism entails. Russia will expand to the Baltic states, Eastern Europe and the Balkans, and of course their religion will be imposed along with the occupation. With the complicity of Patriarch Kirill, the ex-KGB billionaire heading the Russian Orthodox Church, up to 150,000 trafficked Ukrainian children are available on a database, sortable by age, gender, eye color etc. Similar to the 80,000 children still missing from Trump’s first term, sent to “Christian” charities, but at least incels will be able to get teenage brides with good, Aryan genes.
Steve:
“… up to 150,000 trafficked Ukrainian children are available on a database, sortable by age, gender, eye color etc. Similar to the 80,000 children still missing from Trumps first term, sent to Christian charities, but at least incels will be able to get teenage brides with good, Aryan genes.”
Again, none of those would have ever have happened if the US and NATO didn’t insist, after decades of useless accommodation by Russia, on overthrowing a democratically elected Ukrainian government in 2014 and dangling NATO membership in front of Ukraine with the promise of installing hostile military infrastructure in Ukraine right on Russia’s border. As you cry crocodile tears “for the children,” you have yet to address these facts. Russia had a massive natural gas pipeline just opened in Germany (NORD STREAM I/II) at the outset of this debacle. This is yet another reason the US provoked Russia to invade. The last thing the US wanted is a powerful Germany fueled by cheap Russian gas. None of this happened in vacuum. Why have you ignored this? The Ukrainian project has failed and there are no more men in Ukraine to fight Russia. If you are so gung ho, why don’t you and Sean Penn just go to the Ukrainian front? I hear it’s a real breeze.
This road to fascism began with the election of Ronald Reagan.
Reagan is where modern American fascism began with his double dip recessions, and the christian coalition and moral majority courtesy of Karl Rove and Ralph Reed.
Then GHW Bush and his drummed up First Bush war in Iraq to cover for his recession in 1990.
Then Newt Gingrich’s and the GOP’s, Contract On Americans. Boehner, Ryan, McCarthy, et al.
Then Dubwa Bush and his handlers/puppeteers Cheney and Rumsfeld and their wars of lies in Iraq for oil and $$$ for Halliburton, to cover up for the Massive Enron Fraud of 2001.
They all paved the way and laid the red carpet for this dictator wannabe in the White supremacist House.
Trump is putin’s puppet, his “useful idiot,” along with the GOP and the confederate spawn like speaker mike johnson and liar mitch mcconnell.
The GOP since Reagan have always been trying to destroy Our Democracy and government, and replace it with their Privatized fascist dictatorship.
Protest, take nonviolent action and hopefully we can defeat this fascism who has taken over our government!
If 4% of Americans protest and cause a General Strike, we may be able to beat back this fascist regime, and save our democratic republic.
Scott:
Despite all of what you said, not one Republican administration armed a rogue administration on Russia’s border (Ukraine) with American weapons, provided with American targeting data, who literally fired missiles into the Russian heartland multiple times less than 9 months ago. But the Democrats sure did under the Democratic commander-in-Chief, Joe Biden. In plain English, the Democrats were bombing Russia. Think about that for a moment.
Less than 9 months ago, as Ukraine bombed the interior of Russia, my family and I were looking for bomb shelters for the inevitable nuclear response from Russia.
Yeah, I’d gladly live under the fascist regime you described and discreetly ignored the Democrats role in also creating, if it meant not starting a nuclear war and dying.
The Democrats are the war party and very willing to kill us all.
Screw NATO, screw war.
Greetings Fly,
What would you propose the U.S. Government and the People of the U.S. do, with regards to the war in Ukraine?
Sincerely,
ForUsTheLiving
ForUsTheLiving:
I would propose:
1. Having the Commander in Chief immediately halt all weapon deliveries.
2. Encourage Ukraine to declare neutrality.
3. Hold elections in Ukraine so all the people left in Ukraine can actually vote for a legitimate government.
4. The US should leave NATO and let Europeans build their own self defense forces.
5. Create a Truth and Reconciliation Commission so members of Zylenski’s corrupt regime can come clean.
6. I would also stop sending any money to Ukraine. Why are we paying the pensions and salaries of their workers when Americans are living under bridges and taking out loans for groceries here?
This war didn’t happen in vacuum. Russia was provoked and did the same thing the US would do if Russia insisted on installing hostile military infrastructure in Tijuana. Why is this even a subject for debate?
NO NUKES. NO WAR.
Dear Fly,
My apologies, I lost this thread. Thanks for sending your list.
You did not mention Russia in the list. Would you not apply your third point to Russia as well?
Cordially,
ForUsTheLiving