Pissy about Peace.
It hurts that lately "Support Our Troops!" has become the catch-all phrase for "Support A Military Incursion Congress Didn't Approve!"/"Support A President Who Continually Makes Really Bad Choices!" - and that the word "Patriotism" has become a buzzword for rabid redneck right wing fruitloops who believe in blindly following where lead. What really hurts is that there's a reciprocal lashing back at that attitude, and it's catching all military members in its wake.
What's scary is that now, thanks to the Patriot Act and the Patriot Act Expansion Pack, disagreeing with the right-wingnuts can get you arrested without recourse to trial or even deported. How? Because if you get branded UNAMERICAN, UNPATRIOTIC, and DO NOT SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, that might make you a THREAT TO OUR COUNTRY! Don't think it can happen? Think again.
I'm a peacenik, for lack of a better term. If the world ran according to my design, there wouldn't be war. I support the creation of a Department of Peace, because I believe that if we can have top minds working on how to wage war, we should have an equal number of top minds dedicated on preserving peace. I don't support police actions, because I don't believe any country has the right to enforce their views on another. I don't believe we're inciting peace in the Middle East, not with this "America Uber Alles!" attitude.
Do I support our military? Hell yes. Because those men and women volunteered, I currently don't have to worry that young men right out of highschool will be drafted. They are doing what they believe is their duty to their country, and they deserve to be supported in that. I support military members because I don't want my siblings coming home to hatred the way my uncles did after Viet Nam.
Do I support the orders our military has to follow? Hell no, and I'm working my ass off to see to it that the next President is someone who won't give such awful orders. I've given up on the current President and am simply waiting him out while concentrating on my Congressmen/women. The time to be active, the time to be lobbying for a better person in that seat, is not in the time immediately preceding an election - it is in the four years preceding the election.
Do I support the police action in Iraq? Absolutely not. If I were the person who had to make the decision, Iraq would be working out it's own government and our troops would be home. Because I would be spending a greater portion of my time cleaning up New York and deciding what kind of fitting memorial to put up where the towers used to be.
Do I support peace? Unilaterally yes. That's the goal I choose to put my time and energy and creativity behind. It saddens me that so many people who claim to have the same goal waste so much of their time and energy directing hate at the military. Be angry, be outraged, be fueled with the fire of riteous indignation - go for it! But find a constructive outlet for it. Write Congress. Write the President. Volunteer some time for a peace-seeking group. Write an op-ed piece. Hold a rally. Lobby Congress. Speak up. Make yourself heard. Just make sure that what is being said is directed toward the ears that need to hear it, the ones who give the orders. That's where change needs to happen.
So mote it be.
-Peregrine
What's scary is that now, thanks to the Patriot Act and the Patriot Act Expansion Pack, disagreeing with the right-wingnuts can get you arrested without recourse to trial or even deported. How? Because if you get branded UNAMERICAN, UNPATRIOTIC, and DO NOT SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, that might make you a THREAT TO OUR COUNTRY! Don't think it can happen? Think again.
I'm a peacenik, for lack of a better term. If the world ran according to my design, there wouldn't be war. I support the creation of a Department of Peace, because I believe that if we can have top minds working on how to wage war, we should have an equal number of top minds dedicated on preserving peace. I don't support police actions, because I don't believe any country has the right to enforce their views on another. I don't believe we're inciting peace in the Middle East, not with this "America Uber Alles!" attitude.
Do I support our military? Hell yes. Because those men and women volunteered, I currently don't have to worry that young men right out of highschool will be drafted. They are doing what they believe is their duty to their country, and they deserve to be supported in that. I support military members because I don't want my siblings coming home to hatred the way my uncles did after Viet Nam.
Do I support the orders our military has to follow? Hell no, and I'm working my ass off to see to it that the next President is someone who won't give such awful orders. I've given up on the current President and am simply waiting him out while concentrating on my Congressmen/women. The time to be active, the time to be lobbying for a better person in that seat, is not in the time immediately preceding an election - it is in the four years preceding the election.
Do I support the police action in Iraq? Absolutely not. If I were the person who had to make the decision, Iraq would be working out it's own government and our troops would be home. Because I would be spending a greater portion of my time cleaning up New York and deciding what kind of fitting memorial to put up where the towers used to be.
Do I support peace? Unilaterally yes. That's the goal I choose to put my time and energy and creativity behind. It saddens me that so many people who claim to have the same goal waste so much of their time and energy directing hate at the military. Be angry, be outraged, be fueled with the fire of riteous indignation - go for it! But find a constructive outlet for it. Write Congress. Write the President. Volunteer some time for a peace-seeking group. Write an op-ed piece. Hold a rally. Lobby Congress. Speak up. Make yourself heard. Just make sure that what is being said is directed toward the ears that need to hear it, the ones who give the orders. That's where change needs to happen.
So mote it be.
-Peregrine
posted by Peregrine at 12:19 PM
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