June 14, 2007

• Tardy as Usual

  I have long ago faced this fact about myself:  I am a sporadic joiner (of organizations, causes, etc.), and an even less continuous participant.  Occasionally, I visit some of the many Xangans to whom I have subscribed.  There is no way I could read the blogs of all of them all of the time, but still when I read a comment that intrigues me on someone else’s site, or see an unfamiliar nic that catches my eye, I click on it and if I feel there’s something there worth returning to, I subscribe to yet another one.

  For years now, most of my Xanga surfing was done at the very top of my subscriptions list, visiting those sites most recently updated.  I missed a lot of people that way, mostly the ones who are not on Xanga at the same times of day when I am usually here.  Recently, I found what may be a fix for that.  I asked a whole bunch of my subs to be my friends, so now I have their profile pics showing up randomly in my friends box, to remind me of them.  This is working out nicely, so far.  If I haven’t been around to see you lately, and if you care about that at all, friend me and you may start seeing comments from me more often.

  One of the causes I impulsively joined and continue to support in principle, while I have been neglecting to blog about it, is One Million Blogs for Peace.  The effort to enlist a million blogs in a year is in its thirteenth week, a quarter of the way through that year, and the current count is 611 – maybe a few of you could join, too.  Nobody will force you to blog about it or show up to shame you if you don’t.  Eight Tuesdays have passed since the one week in which I posted my first take on a Tuesday topic.  Here is my tardy attempt to play catch-up:

  Thirteenth Tuesday Topic
  Tuesday, 12 June 2007
  In combatant countries in the Iraq War, myopia seems to keep misgivings about the War at bay amongst much of the
  population.
  The media and politicians are able to collaborate in getting citizens to ignore the travesties of a War that has
  enacted a civilian death-toll equivalent to at least twenty-one September 11th’s.
  What types of daily activities or behaviors (as opposed to large one-time protests) do you think can help alert these
  populations to the fact that this is unacceptable?
  What do you think of the idea of refusing to rise for anthems or pledges in combatant countries until the War is ended?

  The effectiveness of such inaction would probably depend on how many people participated.  I have not stood up for the Pledge or the Star Spangled Banner, nor have I voiced the Pledge of Allegiance, since… let’s see now…  forty years– not since 1967, if memory serves.  Surely I am not the only person still doing not doing that.  At school functions while my son was still a student, I would occasionally look across a row of seats and see someone else of approximately my age, sitting there, apparently also protesting a war long abandoned, or expressing disillusion with our country’s government.

  We might make it more effective by tugging on the shirttails of those beside us and in front, urging them to sit down in protest.  I don’t know.  Do you think it would work?

  Twelfth Tuesday Topic
  Tuesday, 5 June 2007
  Assuming you had access to relatively limitless resources, what do you think would be the ideal event to protest the Iraq
  War?
  Describe in detail how you would plan, recruit for, and conduct the event.

  Something big and splashy like dumping blood on the White House…  We would have to act fast from start to finish, not to get caught before the plan was executed.  We could gather some online friends and fellow bloggers for peace, then we’d calculate the volume of blood that once flowed in the veins of everyone killed since we invaded Iraq (estimated, an average of all the conflicting figures), buy or hire helicopters with the kinds of buckets used to dump water on wildfires, and contact some slaughterhouses about buying blood… or we could simulate it somehow.  We’d need to hack into military computers and civilian phone systems to prevent the mobilization of anti-aircraft fire and the scrambling of fighter jets.  Then, after they tracked us down, we’d all make eloquent, impassioned pleas for peace at our trials and executions.  [BTW:  if anyone tries to actually do this, it wasn't my idea.]

  Eleventh Tuesday Topic
  Tuesday, 29 May 2007
  Cindy Sheehan, perhaps the most famous personality in the effort to end the Iraq War in America, announced yesterday that she
  is leaving the peace movement.
  She cites extreme disillusionment with both American politicians and the peace movement in general, as well as personal
  exhaustion and strife, as her reasons for the departure.
  What do you think of this decision and its reasoning?
  What impact, if any, do you think her announcement will have on the peace movement?
  What parts, if any, of her frustration do you relate to?

  I can totally relate to her frustration.  I think that her departure must have caused a minor blip in attention and interest at the time, to whatever extent it received media play.  This is the first I’d heard of it.  I don’t think she stated her real reasons for quitting, or at least not all of them.  I think it is entirely her own business what she does.  Ms. Sheehan looks nice and has a sweet voice, but she is a lousy public speaker.  Either she has doubts about what she is saying, or she has personal self-esteem issues, and they come through in her speeches.  I wouldn’t want her as my spokesperson, y’know?

  Tenth Tuesday Topic
  Tuesday, 22 May 2007
  Over 1,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since three US soldiers were kidnapped in Iraq.
  During that time, the predominant focus of thousands of US troops has been to locate those three soldiers.
  What does this say to you about the priorities and ethos behind the Iraq War?

  Well, duh!  It’s war.  Any suggestion that war is moral, reasonable, humane, just, or even-handed, is jingoistic propaganda or disinformation.

  Ninth Tuesday Topic
  Tuesday, 15 May 2007
  
  Well more foreign soldiers have now been killed in Iraq than were killed in the 9/11 attacks.
  
  While there are obvious distinctions in the manner of death and status of the dead (civilian vs. military), the fact remains
  that each dead person leaves a gaping and torturous hole in the world of the people they leave behind.
  
  Could you imagine politicians leveling the same rhetoric against the Iraq War that was leveled against 9/11?
  
  Do you feel that those responsible for perpetrating the war have any sense of this responsibility they bear?
  

  We must try and remember that some of the impact of the absence of those soldiers is lessened by the fact that many of the civilian members of their families are also dead.  Politicians who do not toe the chauvinistic, nationalistic, patriotic line are committing political suicide.  One of the men who perpetrated this war was was taught by his mother that he has a moral responsibility to wage a crusade against the enemies of Christ.  I don’t suppose he is in close enough touch with reality to care about the deaths of heathens and unbelievers.  As for his advisers and supporters, I would assume that a few of them have nightmares of guilt, and are doing massive amounts of alcohol and other drugs to compensate.  A suicide or two among those in power now would not surprise me.

  Eighth Tuesday Topic
  Tuesday, 8 May 2007
  
  Describe the political and governmental format for Iraq that you feel gives Iraq its best chance at long-term peace.
  
  What do you see as potential pitfalls of other systems?
  

  
  

  No comment.

  Seventh Tuesday Topic
  Tuesday, 1 May 2007
  
  The United States Congress passed a bill last week limiting war funding and calling for substantial withdrawal by next
  March.
  
  President Bush is expected to veto. It is also expected that there are insufficient votes to override this veto, and this
  will lead to negotiations on a compromise bill.
  
  Do you trust those who are against the war in the US Congress to stick to their policies and stand up for peace? If not, do
  you find any wholly political solutions likely or viable for the short-term in ending the Iraq War?
  

  No, and NO.

  Sixth Tuesday Topic
  Tuesday, 24 April 2007
  
  It has recently been revealed that at least two highly publicized accounts of U.S. soldiers in the Iraq War were largely, if
  not wholly, falsified.
  
  What does this say to you about the motives of those prosecuting the Iraq War?
  
  How much faith do you have that any of the information we are getting about Iraq has validity?

  See my “Tenth Tuesday” answer above, regarding propaganda and disinformation.  This is war.

  If I appear cynical — if it seems that I am being hard on the anti-war movement, I apologize.  I support the anti-war movement in principle.  In theory, anti-war movements are fine and noble endeavors.  In practice, they don’t have enough firepower to be effective against the machinery of the military-industrial complex.

  

  • 3:54 pm
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