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gurdonark"Christ, have mercy upon us.
Freud, have mercy upon us.
Life, have mercy upon us."
--Stephen Vincent Benet, from the poem "Minor Litany"
Tonight I went to our neighborhood Persian restaurant. The owner knows my wife and I as newly frequent customers, so he came over to speak to me. When he saw I had brought a science fiction book to dinner (my wife being out of town), we began discussing books. I knew he is trilingual, so I asked him which language he prefers to read in--French, English or Farsi. He told me that he found Farsi capable of expressing incredible poetry, but that he was more comfortable in French, which he spoke more fluently and found more evocative than English. We laughed about the inadequacy of subtitles. I told him the story of how I toured the Swiss parliament once. I speak schoolbook German. When we got to one chamber, the tour guide explained in German that we were in the Mendenhall, and gave a discourse about how each chair had a special meaning, depending on the canton of the delegate who sat in the chair. She asked me if I knew an English word for the concept of a "mendenhall". I shrugged; I wasn't sure. She finished the long German explanation. Then she turned to the Brits and Americans on the tour, and said, in English, "this is a lobby". We went to the next room.
Last night, I wrote my senators. Today, I feel that I am one of millions of voices not being heard.
Last night I went to senate.gov, so that I could send electronic mails to my senators opposing the war. I considered setting my e mails out verbatim here, so that I have the assurance they would be read by somebody, but I must confess that they contain nothing I have not read on LJ for months on end now. I set forth my position--that UN action is the only permissible action given these circumstances--and that the arguments I felt existed for military action in 1991 and in Afghanistan could never translate into an argument for this planned conflict. I made clear that I am not a "dove for all purposes" in this particular vein. I told the senators, perhaps superfluously, that I love my country and would support our troops in the field. As an aside, I hang my head with shame whenever I think of the kids on the left in the sixties who harrassed military enlisted people for the sins of politicans and generals.
I told the senators that I felt this war placed our country in needless peril, when other options exist. I felt we will win this war, and lose the peace. I expressed my sharp concern about what adverse homeland fallout from war could do to our flailing economy (I pointed out that the airline industry in particular is deeply vulnerable). I sent off my long e mail. This noontime, the radio told me that Mr. Bush had given a press conference which said, in essence, that tomorrow marks the "end of diplomacy". I know my e mails were just two more "clicks" in a poll. I've even read that a paper letter "counts for more" than an e mail. But I still can't help but feel that nobody is listening.
I spent today in rural Texas, driving and walking around, visiting off-the-beaten track flea markets and junktique shops. I found a 1961 book called "Fallout Protection--What to Know and Do about Nuclear Attack", published by the US government. The book is filled with words which seek to "prepare" one for nuclear conflict. Although we have seen a great many parodies of this type of work, I thought it significant that the work's tone is spare and direct--on page 38, the book states "the world and your community would be shattered by a nuclear war". This book was issued when I was two years old. I grew up believing I would see a Soviet/US nuclear war someday.
Now the Soviet Union collapsed of its own design flaws, and there is the potential that the world will never have to see the great communist/capitalist confrontation which I believed would one day consume my childhood. Instead, we must confront the issues which fester in the wake of the end of the Cold War. Both the Taliban and the Iranians stem from the derivatives of the Cold War. The Taliban and other mujaheddin were our armed "counterweight" to Soviet expansionism in Afghanistan. We overlooked their aims and goals, so long as one of their aims was fighting the Soviets. The Iranian Islamic fundamentalist revolution arose in substantial part because we propped up a deeply despotic regime, and radical revolutionaries came to control the rebel forces. Iraq is a very complicated tale of a country which soaked in both US and USSR aid in substantial measure, playing on both the US hunger for an Iran enemy in the region and the Soviet hunger for a government reasonably friendly to its flawed brand of Marxism.
I hear voices who consistently say that everything in this situation is the United States' fault, but such a view ignores altogether many Cold War complexities, as well as the historical fact that the forces which have given rise to some of these tensions have existed in this region long before the United States was active in this region. In the case of Islamic fundamentalism, some of the issues predate the existence of the US. In a more modern vein, the baathists in Iraq did not merely take pages from the Stalinist playbook; they actually wrote a few especially barbaric plays of their own. I am also intrigued that so few people have recognized the possibility that the Bush administration is not moved by ulterior motives, but instead by their own asserted motives--and that those motives are deeply, tragically, fatally flawed. I think that even in the opposition, too many on the left are willing to give them the credit of having a useful ulterior motive, when in fact I fear that they mean what they say--and live in a "world all their own" in which they've convinced themselves they are right, come what may. I fear that the problem now is that they have heard the American people, and do not believe them.
A book which stays on my bedside table is called "Cacti and Succulents, a Concise Guide in Color". It is an English translation of a Czech book. The left-hand page in the text covers a single cactus or succulent species. The right-hand page contains a drawing of the species of cactus discussed, done in full color drawing by an artist named Jirina Kaplicki. Professor Kaplicki apparently was an artist who worked in Prague during the 1950s and 1960s. I imagine an artist painstakingly doing these nature sketches of blooming cacti. I read this book for a relaxing escape from the day to day stresses of the world. The book was first published in translation in the UK in 1968. Tonight I wonder, perhaps improbably, what the authors of this book on cactus were doing when the Soviet tanks rolled in, after millions across the world cried out for Czechoslovakia to go free.
I do not give the Iraqi government a "free pass" to oppress its people, including this week's apparent move against certain of the Kurdish people. I do hope that regime change can be affected in Iraq someday, and that a true Iraqi democracy is one day achieved. I despair of people who do not see the horrors that people living in nations like Iraq face every day. I am not moved by the argument that prior US wrongs in supporting Iraq against Iran somehow should lessen my revulsion towards Mr. Hussein.
Tonight it's easy to despair of words. In 2000, the majority of people voted against the current president, who took office based on an electoral college vote (and I'll skip tghe attendant controversy). During that election, crucial votes were stripped from the center left candidate by those casting a "protest vote" in favor of Mr. Nader. The folly of this tactic on the left is now fully home to roost, as isolationists turned born-again international intervenors daily show us their lack of appreciation of the nuance of this situation. But I do not believe that 100,000s of thousands marching in the streets will avert this war. I frequently think agitprop is better at preaching to various choirs than at really effecting change. I am frustrated by the fact that our government just won't read the tea leaves. But I must admit I'm also frustrated that the millions weren't in the streets--and the ballot boxes--when the 2000 election was in swing. We are literally one president and three senate votes from not being on the brink of an Iraqi war.
Today I bought, for 3 dollar and 50 cents, gourds which had been made into maracas, with ornate little wooden handles, and little paintings that said "Mexico" on them. This bit of faux folk art for tourists shows so much craft. I look at these trinkets and listen to the radio, and the world seems so out of sync with my hopes and dreams.
The more curious thing of all is that I believe that the US has a consensus about spending the money to track down and arrest the remaining 9/11 terrorists. I believe an overwhelming majority of Americans, including myself, suppported our action in Afghanistan. I even believe that most people in this country support a more aggressive UN, even if that means that violation of UN sanctions lead to military action. But I am amazed that so many indicators are present that this potential war is fraught with peril, and yet nothing changes.
I cannot help but believe that the misplaced brinksmanship by the current administration is leading us down the wrong path. I want Iraq contained; I think most do. But the instability that appears to me likely in this bleak time worries me. I find it particularly ironic that Mr. Bush campaigned as a Middle East isolationist. He reminds me for all the world of an ex-smoker speaking about cigarettes.
But the hard part now is that I feel that until the next election, no change can be effected. The next months are going to be difficult, and lives will be lost. I think back on the well-taken conservative criticisms of our brushfire action in Somalia, and then marvel that this government now proposes to occupy a nation of twenty five million people.
I think people have to keep speaking up, and trying to effect change. But I also think people have to keep hope,even when our government doesn't listen. When Republicans boycott the Dixie Chicks for speaking out, I have to buy Dixie Chicks CDs. I went for lunch to a German restaurant. There were only two tables filled; the owner said that he worried that customers were avoiding him due to the German stance on the war. I plan to eat there again. On the other hand, we have to make sure that soldiers in the field are not blamed for Mr. Rumsfeld's war. If the war is to be fought, it must be won, as losing it will not add to world stability. But although I will be loyal despite my dismay, I cannot help but think that this war should not be taking place, and nobody is listening.
Freud, have mercy upon us.
Life, have mercy upon us."
--Stephen Vincent Benet, from the poem "Minor Litany"
Tonight I went to our neighborhood Persian restaurant. The owner knows my wife and I as newly frequent customers, so he came over to speak to me. When he saw I had brought a science fiction book to dinner (my wife being out of town), we began discussing books. I knew he is trilingual, so I asked him which language he prefers to read in--French, English or Farsi. He told me that he found Farsi capable of expressing incredible poetry, but that he was more comfortable in French, which he spoke more fluently and found more evocative than English. We laughed about the inadequacy of subtitles. I told him the story of how I toured the Swiss parliament once. I speak schoolbook German. When we got to one chamber, the tour guide explained in German that we were in the Mendenhall, and gave a discourse about how each chair had a special meaning, depending on the canton of the delegate who sat in the chair. She asked me if I knew an English word for the concept of a "mendenhall". I shrugged; I wasn't sure. She finished the long German explanation. Then she turned to the Brits and Americans on the tour, and said, in English, "this is a lobby". We went to the next room.
Last night, I wrote my senators. Today, I feel that I am one of millions of voices not being heard.
Last night I went to senate.gov, so that I could send electronic mails to my senators opposing the war. I considered setting my e mails out verbatim here, so that I have the assurance they would be read by somebody, but I must confess that they contain nothing I have not read on LJ for months on end now. I set forth my position--that UN action is the only permissible action given these circumstances--and that the arguments I felt existed for military action in 1991 and in Afghanistan could never translate into an argument for this planned conflict. I made clear that I am not a "dove for all purposes" in this particular vein. I told the senators, perhaps superfluously, that I love my country and would support our troops in the field. As an aside, I hang my head with shame whenever I think of the kids on the left in the sixties who harrassed military enlisted people for the sins of politicans and generals.
I told the senators that I felt this war placed our country in needless peril, when other options exist. I felt we will win this war, and lose the peace. I expressed my sharp concern about what adverse homeland fallout from war could do to our flailing economy (I pointed out that the airline industry in particular is deeply vulnerable). I sent off my long e mail. This noontime, the radio told me that Mr. Bush had given a press conference which said, in essence, that tomorrow marks the "end of diplomacy". I know my e mails were just two more "clicks" in a poll. I've even read that a paper letter "counts for more" than an e mail. But I still can't help but feel that nobody is listening.
I spent today in rural Texas, driving and walking around, visiting off-the-beaten track flea markets and junktique shops. I found a 1961 book called "Fallout Protection--What to Know and Do about Nuclear Attack", published by the US government. The book is filled with words which seek to "prepare" one for nuclear conflict. Although we have seen a great many parodies of this type of work, I thought it significant that the work's tone is spare and direct--on page 38, the book states "the world and your community would be shattered by a nuclear war". This book was issued when I was two years old. I grew up believing I would see a Soviet/US nuclear war someday.
Now the Soviet Union collapsed of its own design flaws, and there is the potential that the world will never have to see the great communist/capitalist confrontation which I believed would one day consume my childhood. Instead, we must confront the issues which fester in the wake of the end of the Cold War. Both the Taliban and the Iranians stem from the derivatives of the Cold War. The Taliban and other mujaheddin were our armed "counterweight" to Soviet expansionism in Afghanistan. We overlooked their aims and goals, so long as one of their aims was fighting the Soviets. The Iranian Islamic fundamentalist revolution arose in substantial part because we propped up a deeply despotic regime, and radical revolutionaries came to control the rebel forces. Iraq is a very complicated tale of a country which soaked in both US and USSR aid in substantial measure, playing on both the US hunger for an Iran enemy in the region and the Soviet hunger for a government reasonably friendly to its flawed brand of Marxism.
I hear voices who consistently say that everything in this situation is the United States' fault, but such a view ignores altogether many Cold War complexities, as well as the historical fact that the forces which have given rise to some of these tensions have existed in this region long before the United States was active in this region. In the case of Islamic fundamentalism, some of the issues predate the existence of the US. In a more modern vein, the baathists in Iraq did not merely take pages from the Stalinist playbook; they actually wrote a few especially barbaric plays of their own. I am also intrigued that so few people have recognized the possibility that the Bush administration is not moved by ulterior motives, but instead by their own asserted motives--and that those motives are deeply, tragically, fatally flawed. I think that even in the opposition, too many on the left are willing to give them the credit of having a useful ulterior motive, when in fact I fear that they mean what they say--and live in a "world all their own" in which they've convinced themselves they are right, come what may. I fear that the problem now is that they have heard the American people, and do not believe them.
A book which stays on my bedside table is called "Cacti and Succulents, a Concise Guide in Color". It is an English translation of a Czech book. The left-hand page in the text covers a single cactus or succulent species. The right-hand page contains a drawing of the species of cactus discussed, done in full color drawing by an artist named Jirina Kaplicki. Professor Kaplicki apparently was an artist who worked in Prague during the 1950s and 1960s. I imagine an artist painstakingly doing these nature sketches of blooming cacti. I read this book for a relaxing escape from the day to day stresses of the world. The book was first published in translation in the UK in 1968. Tonight I wonder, perhaps improbably, what the authors of this book on cactus were doing when the Soviet tanks rolled in, after millions across the world cried out for Czechoslovakia to go free.
I do not give the Iraqi government a "free pass" to oppress its people, including this week's apparent move against certain of the Kurdish people. I do hope that regime change can be affected in Iraq someday, and that a true Iraqi democracy is one day achieved. I despair of people who do not see the horrors that people living in nations like Iraq face every day. I am not moved by the argument that prior US wrongs in supporting Iraq against Iran somehow should lessen my revulsion towards Mr. Hussein.
Tonight it's easy to despair of words. In 2000, the majority of people voted against the current president, who took office based on an electoral college vote (and I'll skip tghe attendant controversy). During that election, crucial votes were stripped from the center left candidate by those casting a "protest vote" in favor of Mr. Nader. The folly of this tactic on the left is now fully home to roost, as isolationists turned born-again international intervenors daily show us their lack of appreciation of the nuance of this situation. But I do not believe that 100,000s of thousands marching in the streets will avert this war. I frequently think agitprop is better at preaching to various choirs than at really effecting change. I am frustrated by the fact that our government just won't read the tea leaves. But I must admit I'm also frustrated that the millions weren't in the streets--and the ballot boxes--when the 2000 election was in swing. We are literally one president and three senate votes from not being on the brink of an Iraqi war.
Today I bought, for 3 dollar and 50 cents, gourds which had been made into maracas, with ornate little wooden handles, and little paintings that said "Mexico" on them. This bit of faux folk art for tourists shows so much craft. I look at these trinkets and listen to the radio, and the world seems so out of sync with my hopes and dreams.
The more curious thing of all is that I believe that the US has a consensus about spending the money to track down and arrest the remaining 9/11 terrorists. I believe an overwhelming majority of Americans, including myself, suppported our action in Afghanistan. I even believe that most people in this country support a more aggressive UN, even if that means that violation of UN sanctions lead to military action. But I am amazed that so many indicators are present that this potential war is fraught with peril, and yet nothing changes.
I cannot help but believe that the misplaced brinksmanship by the current administration is leading us down the wrong path. I want Iraq contained; I think most do. But the instability that appears to me likely in this bleak time worries me. I find it particularly ironic that Mr. Bush campaigned as a Middle East isolationist. He reminds me for all the world of an ex-smoker speaking about cigarettes.
But the hard part now is that I feel that until the next election, no change can be effected. The next months are going to be difficult, and lives will be lost. I think back on the well-taken conservative criticisms of our brushfire action in Somalia, and then marvel that this government now proposes to occupy a nation of twenty five million people.
I think people have to keep speaking up, and trying to effect change. But I also think people have to keep hope,even when our government doesn't listen. When Republicans boycott the Dixie Chicks for speaking out, I have to buy Dixie Chicks CDs. I went for lunch to a German restaurant. There were only two tables filled; the owner said that he worried that customers were avoiding him due to the German stance on the war. I plan to eat there again. On the other hand, we have to make sure that soldiers in the field are not blamed for Mr. Rumsfeld's war. If the war is to be fought, it must be won, as losing it will not add to world stability. But although I will be loyal despite my dismay, I cannot help but think that this war should not be taking place, and nobody is listening.
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no subject
The other day I bought Dijon mustard which was imported from France.
And, given my intense cologne addiction, I refuse to boycott French perfume!!!
no subject
Date: 2003-03-17 09:12 pm (UTC)I like that movie Play it Again Sam, where Woody Allen makes a big show of getting ready for a big double date by splashing on Canoe, and then his date asks her female friend, "Are you wearing jasmine?".
Re:
Date: 2003-03-17 09:19 pm (UTC)I think there's nothing wrong with France. They make fine products. I almost wouldn't dare voice my opinion in public, though. Some people think the USA should ban all French products from coming over. What kind of country would tell you what you could and could not buy? Oh yeah, I forgot, Bush is president.
Bleh, I hate politics. :)
Your comment about jasmine made me laugh, though, since I tasted jasmine yesterday.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-16 10:06 pm (UTC)the soldiers on both sides of the line have the support of the majority, even in the USA. may mercy rest upon all.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-17 09:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-17 04:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-17 09:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-17 05:01 am (UTC)The best tool of fascist dictatorships has always been propaganda and a firm controlling hand on the means of its dissemination. The MEDIA. I know a lot of people just routinely blame the media for everything, but in this specific case--the media IS very much to blame for disseminating propaganda that is allowing this war machine to roll forward.
Jon and I got into an argument over this on Saturday. I said the single most important story that the news should be covering right now is TRUE public oppinion of this war. Polls, and their results are being skewed and reported unfairly so as to give everyone the impression that the majority of people are in FAVOR of this war. ---How is it being done? look at the questions--- DO YOU SUPPORT THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES? ---people answer yes. That answer is taken to mean that you support the President's actions. When the very next question on the poll might be-- DO YOU SUPPORT A WAR AGAINST IRAQ?-- you might answer NO. The answer that makes the headlines is the first one--- see what I mean.
I read verbatim from an issue of Newsweek-- page 34, Feb 24, 2003-- an article title'd The Great DIVIDE by Christopher Dickey-- an article flanked by a large illustration of the demonstration in London of over one million people against the war. It begins:
"Lines of crosses, thousands upon thousands, overlooking the beaches of Normandy, bear witness to the vast wars that raged across Europe in the last century and to the blood of Americans who lost their lives in them. People in the United States are remembering those crosses these days and that blood, and wondering why so many europeans seem not to remember. Because right now Americans are under threat. And Americans are about to go to war with the murderous regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. And when they look at their old allies like the french--especially the French--what they see are perfidious diplomats trying to wriggle out of any risky commitment:"cheese-eating surrender monkeys," in a memorable phrase right-wing commentators picked up from "the Simpsons" cartoon show."
When I read that to Jon-- he was AGHAST as how twisted and skewed it was--not to mention downright insulting to Americans--(we are now all Homer Simpsons?) And yet-- this is exactly the kind of reporting that's been going on the past 6 months. No amount of protest is going to teported truthfully because the agenda at the top level is WAR.
What would happen if it was reported that the MAJORITY of Americans are dead set OPPOSED to this thing?--you think then the senators and congressmen would have to listen? Public opinion is very powerful-- EXCEPT when it's distorted and lied about.
newsweek and normandy
To invoke the white crosses that cover the D-Day beaches as a call to arms is offensive--to everyone.
Re: newsweek and normandy
Date: 2003-03-17 05:32 am (UTC)"Europe and America are largely split over whether a war to change the regime in Iraq is now justified. But the divisions go much deeper than that-- to differing perceptions of history and politics, power and God."
Largely split????---we've never had bombs dropped on US. Our casualties have been military and from a distance. We haven't watched our neighbor children get blown up while they play in the street. But that doesn't mean we're all Homer Simpsons pointing fingers at *cheese-eaters*--
this stuff makes me want to puke.
Re: newsweek and normandy
Date: 2003-03-17 05:49 am (UTC)And I love cheese.
Re: newsweek and normandy
Date: 2003-03-17 05:59 am (UTC)Re: newsweek and normandy
Date: 2003-03-17 06:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-17 06:05 am (UTC)I think that we on the left do not stand up for our values as core American values enough. I think that we can win back Congress and the White House, but it will require more effort by more people. Maybe this situation will finally show folks that the complacent "it doesn't matter what I do" position will expose us to danger. Imagine if the Florida Nader votes had gone for Gore. Imagine if Tennessee had gone for Gore.
Re:
Date: 2003-03-17 06:15 am (UTC)Imagine if what you're being told the majority believe is actually fabricated--- or skewed--by a press that's ultimately reporting to corporate ownership in the same camp as the President.
Can you conceive of such a thing?
Imagine the impact this would have.
War propaganda techniques, lies to the public, are as old as the hills. American people are trying quite valiantly to oppose this war-- but what hope is there when our efforts are negated by false reports?
no subject
Date: 2003-03-17 09:30 am (UTC)and even NPR has begun to edit out anti-war sentiments by callers
one more win for Exxon-Mobile
last night, the latest local anti-war protest did get some coverage but under the pretext "watch and see the melle that ensued"
turned out that one man was arrested at the end for trying to walk back into traffic
Re:
Date: 2003-03-17 10:59 am (UTC)It's really terrible. I see very little difference than living under a totalitarian regime. When news is controlled, the nation is not free.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-17 03:05 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-03-17 03:59 pm (UTC)no subject
I'm getting a wee bit tired of the blame placed on Nader voters. I think they were the ones who really took a stand in the last election. (I didn't always feel that way...but I now think it was a bold, American thing to do...)
no subject
Date: 2003-03-17 02:58 pm (UTC)I believe instead that effective attention through the UN would be paid to Iraq.
I believe Afghanistan would have come out the same way.
I like Nader, even though I do not always agree with him. But I still think voting a protest vote in such a close election was a mistake. I think back to those trade unions who toppled
the Labour government in my youth, and then 12 years of Thatcher ensued. I wonder if they would make the same choice, had they only known.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-17 05:36 am (UTC)Given the cogency of your arguments, I would welcome a special post with the text of your e-mail to your Senators, if you are still tempted to post it. I'd certainly read it.
Now for some coffee.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-17 09:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-17 09:37 am (UTC)there are wonderful lists of all things american to boycott on a french site Contre la Guerre!
we must continue to speak out!
no subject
Date: 2003-03-17 09:16 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-03-17 11:29 pm (UTC)just don't make me give up ze cheez!
no subject
Date: 2003-03-18 10:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-18 10:41 am (UTC)I once commented to a year old post in someone's journal. That was an odd feeling.