A cry for peace
Am spamming my own journal today, but don't much care.
I'm releasing my opinion column here first, hoping to get some feedback before I put it in the Northern Review. Please leave me a comment (especially criticism) if you read it.
When I spoke out against the invasion of Afghanistan shortly after September 11, I was physically beaten at school, and reprimanded time and time again by my peers. It silenced me; back then I was afraid of speaking out and appearing too far out from the crowd. Fortunately, I am no longer afraid.
I have withheld speaking on this topic for quite some time. It is a decision I now regret.
War is a psychological and ideological construct; perhaps one of the most powerful in existence. Invoking War causes us to take honor from one person’s death, and joy from another. With War, we can do the same with a hundred, or a thousand deaths. It enables us as people to take pride from killing. With War, we can replace ‘murder’ with ‘success’ and ‘victim’ with ‘casualty.’ War enables us to turn our grief into honor for our loved ones, and anger at those we blame. War is a dangerous tool.
As a tool, War has been used for millennia. It has been used to oppress, to conquer, to obliterate and annihilate lands and people. It has been used to justify murder, rip people of their freedoms, and galvanize people against one another. The trouble with War is that as a means to an end, it is cyclical. War shall eternally beget War.
When we invaded Iraq in March of 2003, we were not beginning a war. We were not even starting a sequel to Operation Desert Storm. We were killing mothers and fathers, soldier and civilian alike. The children of those parents will remember that American bullets ended their parents’ lives. We were killing uncles and aunts, cousins and brothers and sisters. We were killing friends and loved ones. Those who lived will remember the rain of fire from American bombs, whether their loved one was a Sunni or Kurd, civilian or soldier, peace-lover or terrorist. No matter the odds or the circumstances, they will remember their Alamo, their Pearl Harbor, their 9/11.
We did not start this cycle of war. We will never know who did. But we can end it. If we do not, it will bring our destruction. Already, it has brought the destruction of our rights and privacies. In the name of War, we gave our law enforcement authorities the right to arrest and hold us without charge or trial. We gave them the power to search our e-mails, phone conversations, even library records without warrant. The President we elected (whether we voted for him or not) gave them the power to spy on us without warrant. Our invocation of War to protect our nation’s freedoms has led us to strip our nation of its freedoms.
We must stand against the propagation of War. When the proposition next comes to us, we must refuse the sword, or we will face our end by it.
I'm releasing my opinion column here first, hoping to get some feedback before I put it in the Northern Review. Please leave me a comment (especially criticism) if you read it.
When I spoke out against the invasion of Afghanistan shortly after September 11, I was physically beaten at school, and reprimanded time and time again by my peers. It silenced me; back then I was afraid of speaking out and appearing too far out from the crowd. Fortunately, I am no longer afraid.
I have withheld speaking on this topic for quite some time. It is a decision I now regret.
War is a psychological and ideological construct; perhaps one of the most powerful in existence. Invoking War causes us to take honor from one person’s death, and joy from another. With War, we can do the same with a hundred, or a thousand deaths. It enables us as people to take pride from killing. With War, we can replace ‘murder’ with ‘success’ and ‘victim’ with ‘casualty.’ War enables us to turn our grief into honor for our loved ones, and anger at those we blame. War is a dangerous tool.
As a tool, War has been used for millennia. It has been used to oppress, to conquer, to obliterate and annihilate lands and people. It has been used to justify murder, rip people of their freedoms, and galvanize people against one another. The trouble with War is that as a means to an end, it is cyclical. War shall eternally beget War.
When we invaded Iraq in March of 2003, we were not beginning a war. We were not even starting a sequel to Operation Desert Storm. We were killing mothers and fathers, soldier and civilian alike. The children of those parents will remember that American bullets ended their parents’ lives. We were killing uncles and aunts, cousins and brothers and sisters. We were killing friends and loved ones. Those who lived will remember the rain of fire from American bombs, whether their loved one was a Sunni or Kurd, civilian or soldier, peace-lover or terrorist. No matter the odds or the circumstances, they will remember their Alamo, their Pearl Harbor, their 9/11.
We did not start this cycle of war. We will never know who did. But we can end it. If we do not, it will bring our destruction. Already, it has brought the destruction of our rights and privacies. In the name of War, we gave our law enforcement authorities the right to arrest and hold us without charge or trial. We gave them the power to search our e-mails, phone conversations, even library records without warrant. The President we elected (whether we voted for him or not) gave them the power to spy on us without warrant. Our invocation of War to protect our nation’s freedoms has led us to strip our nation of its freedoms.
We must stand against the propagation of War. When the proposition next comes to us, we must refuse the sword, or we will face our end by it.