With the focus on gun control in
the aftermath of Monday shooting
in Boulder,
Colorado, CNN counterterrorism
analyst Philip Mudd went on a rant
criticizing America and
its arrogance.
So let's take a listen to what
he has to say.
And listen closely,
because he touches on things
other than gun control.
>> This will offend you,
I'm an American.
I'm a proud American, but we live
in the United States of arrogance.
If you look at educational
standards in this country,
they are mediocre.
Because we cannot look to Asia and
Europe and say somebody has
a better way.
If you look at access to health
care in this country,
we are mediocre.
Because we cannot look to Asia and
Europe and say,
other people have better access,
we should learn.
If you look at violent crime and
suicide by weapon, and
you look at Asia and Europe,
we simply look at America and
say we're exceptional.
We cannot look at other countries
and say we can learn.
This country has a problem with
arrogance, John,
and you're seeing it In spades.
>> I agree,
there's definitely a problem.
And we certainly have no room
to judge how other countries
conduct their business.
Especially when it comes to issues
like health care and education.
And I have some specific things to
say about those two things
in just a minute, but, Nando,
any reaction to that?
>> Well, again,
I think it's very telling that this
CIA ghoul spitting out just
basic facts about the world.
It goes viral because CNN, which is
nominally a journalistic enterprise
meant to inform its viewers,
does not do that.
The fact that someone, this is like
a glitch in the matrix.
Someone just said very basic,
non-controversial facts and
immediately we're like, whoa,
what's going on?
It's like- >> Totally.
>> We allow this sort of propaganda
to wash over us so much that it
just becomes like background noise.
And, as soon as someone just kind
of goes off script even a little
bit, it's so jarring to us.
I'm sure this guy is just some
loser from the CIA, who cares?
But he has a little bit of
understanding about the world,
and has just said some very,
very basic things.
That things like healthcare in
Europe work much better than here,
even though we pay more than
they do.
That's just a basic fact,
it is uncontroversial.
But for some reason,
it doesn't really break through in
our media because the media
is not designed to inform us.
It is designed to manipulate us and
to propagandize us.
And as soon as someone just kind of
goes off script, it's like, my god,
my god, you gotta watch
what this guy just said.
He's going crazy.
And it's not,
he's just being honest, in a way.
Or just spouting out some very,
very basic truths that should not
be controversial in any way.
>> Yeah, you're right.
I mean, it's a problem when someone
making common sense statements on
cable news is a news event in and
of itself, right?
This is a news story because-
>> Deal in network- >> Yeah, yeah,
totally, totally, but okay, yeah,
so let's discuss, just real quick.
We have a minute left.
But education is broken in
the United States.
We should ban private education.
Sorry, I know people think that
that's insane,
except look at Finland.
They banned private education, and
guess what happened?
Wealthier people in Finland are,
damn, my kids have to go to school
with kids who aren't as wealthy.
We better make
sure that these schools, these
public schools are well-funded.
Finland has a wonderful education
system as a result.
Turns out privatizing things and
having a profit motive behind
important parts of our lives like
education, health care,
doesn't make a lot of sense.
And that's the other thing.
If there's a profit motive on
a fundamental human right,
basic human right like health care,
the system is not going to be some
well-oiled machine.
It's going to put
profits over people.
That's why our system sucks, and
yes, we are arrogant.