Subject:
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Re: Just Teasing, I Have No Intention of Debating Any of This...
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Fri, 21 Mar 2003 15:40:29 GMT
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Viewed:
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424 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Christopher L. Weeks writes:
> If we are securing freedom from tyrany for
> the people of a fantastically rich culture who can be our friends going into
> the future, this might be a noble action. But if, as it appears -- it is
> merely an oil grab, then this will be the shame of an entire generation of
> Americans. Because you and I have allowed this to happen.
I've been wondering about that point for a few weeks, and it's given me
perspective on a similar issue from a few decades ago (my apologies to those
among us who've already heard this story):
Anyone who invokes Godwin's Law with the same zeal that burn patients press
the morphine button should stop reading now.
I knew a guy about ten years ago who condemned the 1930's & 1940's-era
German citizens who allowed the Holocaust to occur, and he expressed his
disgust that they didn't rise up or oust Hitler or do *something* about it.
Further, he felt that, since the Germans didn't do anything to stop it, then
their inaction was an implicit endorsement of the massacre. I must confess
that, at the time, I was inclined to agree with him.
Now, however, that we are living under an appointed regime accountable to
none and which feels free of any obligation to the citizens, laws, or
Constitution of the United States, I realize that we face a dilemma very
similar to that of the German citizens during WWII (though I don't really
believe Dubya is as bad as Hitler).
I denounce this stupid war, and I abhor Bush's f**k-everyone-else
diplomacy, and I am disgusted at his obvious pandering to the rich and to
the Far Right and to multinational corporations and to oil interests.
That's all well and good, but what can I do about it? I honestly can't
think of a single thing that I can do that would have any impact upon the
Bush Regime or its policies.
Some people might suggest that I should organize or participate in anti-war
rallies, but we've seen how the corporate media marginalize such
demonstrations. Some others might suggest that we simply vote to effect a
change in Washington, but we've seen how accountable Bush is to vote counts.
So what's the answer?
Even my public school education had moderately good history lessons about
Pizarro and his decimation of the Incas. Pizarro had cannon and firearms,
not to mention horses and European diseases, and he (and his company) easily
overwhelmed the Incas. I know two guys who drove tanks in Desert Storm I,
and both of them independently recounted for me the abyssmal conditions
under which Iraqi soldiers were living, such as the sharing of a communal
rice bowl and the use of carrier pigeons for conveying messages. Relatively
speaking, the disparity between our technology and that of the Iraqis was
not terribly different from Pizarro and the Incas. In addition, I've read
that somewhere around 100,000 Iraqi troops and between 3000 and 35000
civilians were killed.
History will not look kindly upon our treatment of the Iraqis in 1991 or 2003.
Dave!
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