(no subject)
Okay, , so this may piss some people off.. but I have to post it.. it's the best thing so far that I've read on this War thing...
so I pass it on to the rest of you...
It's an "Ed-itorial" from a local, erm, celebrity, Ed the Sock
Well, the war has started, so at this point debating whether the US should or should not have attacked Iraq is like meditating on the loss of your virginity.
Not that I have any problem with opposition to war. My problem is the shallow nature of the thinking that usually accompanies these protests.
We're comfortable here in the West. To us, war is nothing but a theory…like lottery winnings, it's something that happens to other people. We've been taught about the world in the most basic broad strokes - "peace is good, war is bad". This is a great thing to teach our children, but it would be nice if we could all grow up and recognize 'war' as a concept is distinct from war in reality.
As a concept, nobody likes war. We'd all like a world without it, but what we really need is a world without the need for war - without the provocations and injustices that make conflict unavoidable. A world that is simply without war is not necessarily an idyllic paradise. Nobody was making war on Iraq before Wednesday, does that mean life was a dream for the Iraqi people?
Make no mistake, the Iraqi people were not living happily. Saddam has been starving them and tyrannizing them for two decades, but more so over the last 10 years when sanctions gave him greater levers of control over his people. And who thought those sanctions were a good idea? Oh yeah, the UN.
And speaking of the UN - if they have lost relevance, as some claim, it's their own fault. It is a UN resolution that Iraq has been flouting…how can the UN maintain credibility when they don't even enforce their own edicts? Saddam had enough time to prove he was complying with disarmament orders - if he doesn't have prohibited weapons programs, then why didn't he prove it to the UN's satisfaction? And if he does have prohibited weapons, then why should we turn a blind eye?
There are those who believe that Saddam has been brutalizing his people, but that we don't have the right to interfere in the affairs of a sovereign nation. Okay then, tell me what right do we have to stop a man beating his wife? What right do we have to remove children from abusive homes? After all, it's going on within their family, within their house. Why? Because it's wrong, and if someone has the power to stop it, they should. Saying the ongoing suffering of the Iraqi people is not our problem is a cop-out, so get the saddle off your high horse.
Whether you believe this war is about oil, securing western interests in the near east, neutering a military threat or any other such thing, the end-product will be ridding the Iraqi people of a nasty oppressor.
Will innocent Iraqis die in this campaign? Undoubtedly. Would innocent Iraqis have died if Saddam was left alone? Yes. Was there a way to end their suffering without violence? No. None at all. And that's the problem with "War is Bad, Peace is Good". In theory it's an absolute, in practice it isn't.
I think the underlying anger fueling the protestors comes from their confusing how the world should be with how the world is. When the suffering of others is out-of-sight, out-of-mind, all's quiet on the western front. But war makes the truth of the world unavoidable and, like someone rudely awakened from a pleasant dream, it makes us angry. But don't shoot the messenger.
I'm not glad that this war is going on. In fact, it makes me mad. But I'm not mad at the Americans for taking action, I'm mad at the world we live in for making it necessary.
I'm Ed the Sock.
original link *HERE*
so I pass it on to the rest of you...
It's an "Ed-itorial" from a local, erm, celebrity, Ed the Sock
Well, the war has started, so at this point debating whether the US should or should not have attacked Iraq is like meditating on the loss of your virginity.
Not that I have any problem with opposition to war. My problem is the shallow nature of the thinking that usually accompanies these protests.
We're comfortable here in the West. To us, war is nothing but a theory…like lottery winnings, it's something that happens to other people. We've been taught about the world in the most basic broad strokes - "peace is good, war is bad". This is a great thing to teach our children, but it would be nice if we could all grow up and recognize 'war' as a concept is distinct from war in reality.
As a concept, nobody likes war. We'd all like a world without it, but what we really need is a world without the need for war - without the provocations and injustices that make conflict unavoidable. A world that is simply without war is not necessarily an idyllic paradise. Nobody was making war on Iraq before Wednesday, does that mean life was a dream for the Iraqi people?
Make no mistake, the Iraqi people were not living happily. Saddam has been starving them and tyrannizing them for two decades, but more so over the last 10 years when sanctions gave him greater levers of control over his people. And who thought those sanctions were a good idea? Oh yeah, the UN.
And speaking of the UN - if they have lost relevance, as some claim, it's their own fault. It is a UN resolution that Iraq has been flouting…how can the UN maintain credibility when they don't even enforce their own edicts? Saddam had enough time to prove he was complying with disarmament orders - if he doesn't have prohibited weapons programs, then why didn't he prove it to the UN's satisfaction? And if he does have prohibited weapons, then why should we turn a blind eye?
There are those who believe that Saddam has been brutalizing his people, but that we don't have the right to interfere in the affairs of a sovereign nation. Okay then, tell me what right do we have to stop a man beating his wife? What right do we have to remove children from abusive homes? After all, it's going on within their family, within their house. Why? Because it's wrong, and if someone has the power to stop it, they should. Saying the ongoing suffering of the Iraqi people is not our problem is a cop-out, so get the saddle off your high horse.
Whether you believe this war is about oil, securing western interests in the near east, neutering a military threat or any other such thing, the end-product will be ridding the Iraqi people of a nasty oppressor.
Will innocent Iraqis die in this campaign? Undoubtedly. Would innocent Iraqis have died if Saddam was left alone? Yes. Was there a way to end their suffering without violence? No. None at all. And that's the problem with "War is Bad, Peace is Good". In theory it's an absolute, in practice it isn't.
I think the underlying anger fueling the protestors comes from their confusing how the world should be with how the world is. When the suffering of others is out-of-sight, out-of-mind, all's quiet on the western front. But war makes the truth of the world unavoidable and, like someone rudely awakened from a pleasant dream, it makes us angry. But don't shoot the messenger.
I'm not glad that this war is going on. In fact, it makes me mad. But I'm not mad at the Americans for taking action, I'm mad at the world we live in for making it necessary.
I'm Ed the Sock.
original link *HERE*