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"gone to soldiers...everyone"
"gone to soldiers...everyone" i spent yesterday with a close friend, we had dinner and then watched Pan's Labyrinth together. i know that by now most of you all have seen this movie so i won't give a summary but rather deal with my visceral reaction ot it - despite it being my third viewing. the battle of good vs evil is played out at any number of levels in this film. but what struck me this time, was the courage. the courage of Mercedes, of the little girl, of the mother (yes, even her), of the resistance fighters. and it sticks with me this morning....made the more evident by reading Skier0752's blog on media. what does it take for any of us to reach that point of outrage? to make us take a stand and do something that has mind bending consequences but cannot be denied? to choose to fight back even when you know that it may be a battle you cannot win. i was a revolutionary in the 60's, filled with righteous anger at the war in VietNam. we provided sanctuary to an awol soldier. we marched and were beaten/gassed for exercising our right to assembly and free speech. i wrote pamphlets for the black panthers and served as a spotter for their rallies. we spent hours with others of like mind, strategizing how to make an impact, how best to show the government and the world that there were millions who did NOT support this war. when Iraq became an issue, at a training for people who hadn't done political protest, my friend and i were part of the staff. what struck me then was the dearth of young people participating. i guess what i am trying to figure out is where's the outrage? where's the fire of youth that looks at a situation and screams no fucking way? are our young people so geared to financial success, so disassociated with the humane that this holds no thrall? see, i don't think so. i think they're out there, in large numbers, just as appalled as we were in the 60's and just as frightened. but for some reason, they're quiet. and i want to know why you think that is so. thanks for thinking on a Sunday morning - sticks her tongue out at Skier. You cannot conceive the many without the one. |
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6/3/2007 8:58 am |
Very interesting essay.
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Well...I think there are a couple key differences from Vietnam: 1) The precipitating factor of this current war was 9/11 (yes I know Iraq wasn't behind 9/11...but that was the administration's excuse to go in there). So because the war was precipitated by an actual attack on our country, people may feel hesitant to criticize, fear that they will be branded as unpatriotic. 2) No military draft. I'm not saying the activism of the 60's was necessarily motivated by self interest, but there was that extra 'edge' of knowing that you, or a brother, or a friend, could be pulled off to serve in that war.
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6/3/2007 1:32 pm |
WE....SMA hit it right on the head...there is no draft and no outrage to go along with it....Outrage is much easier to come across when it's you rear end on the line..... But, that is just a delayed skiers attitude while waiting for planes that never come on time....pffft.
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I for one would like to see a line item on my tax return showing the cost of the war -- but I know it will never happen. Hopefully people will wake up soon and realize what it's personally cost them. As it stands, each man woman and child has a personal bill of over $4,000. That's $16K for a family of four. And now the Preznit is telling us this nonsense may go on for another 50 years. So, a child born today will have shelled out $200,000 in today's numbers. I'll bet most people haven't even socked that much into their 401k's. And, whoops -- there goes junior's college fun. I hope it will sink in to more than a few that a large chunk of this has been "misplaced" or has gone to private "industry". Our Preznit lists his taxable income at $642,905 for 2006. Doesn't seem to be very much for a man whose family has made a fortune in oil and the military industry, and sold his stake in the Texas Rangers for $14 million, does it? But then, maybe he manages his money even more poorly than he's managed this war...or then again, maybe the lion's share of the loot is carefully hidden in a Swiss bank account...
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6/4/2007 12:55 am |
No draft and perhaps more importantly no Kennedy, no leaders who inspire Americans to do the right thing for their country. Kennedy was an insperation or amabe it was in the air, but there was a feeling that we were going to do the right things that needed to be done like end racism. Popular folk singers were going into dangerous places, college students were shot but they believed it must be done. John Lennon says he's more popular than Jesus. Free speech movements, SDS, LSD, women's liberation, Black Panthers, from which sprung large organizing efforts. CBS Walter Cronkite in support of the Vietnam war comes back from Vietnam and says it's a tragic mistake. Today General so and so on CBS says the same about Iraq and he's fired. The White House has learned how to propagandize more effectively. The Democrats are Republicrats (Rats for short) arguing against Bush for vote getting and then voting for him. We have no flag to rally around. The mass media supports the war or tells us "If we leave there will be chaos" There are no prominent voices on the left, no Jerry Rubin, no Mario Savio, no Bernardine Dohrn, no Pete Seeger, no Bob Dylan, no Joan Biaz, No Buffe Sainte Marie, No Phil Ochs, no Timithy leary, no Merry Pranksters, No Hog Farm, no "relivant" music, no Tom Hyden, No Jane Fonda, no John Lennon and Ono Yoko singing "Give Peace a Chance",no live battle scenes of soldiers having their guts blown out. No live coverage of a burned naked child screaming running down the street. No live coverage of a man being summarily exicuted by a shot to the head. It's all very sanitized and propagandized for our nightly news consumption. Embedded news reporters from TV news owned by Walt Disney showing the handpicked troop who want to come back and fight for the freedom of Iraqi's. 9/11 played over and over and over and over til it's burned into the American psyche. Terrorists are everywhere; orange days, Yellow Days, red days, Green days. Support our troops but don't bother me I've got a mortgage or a college education to get through so I can have the super-lifestyle. We'll vote for Democrats and hope they can do something and if they don't oh well, what's new? Perhaps I'm being a bit cynical. Perhaps the battle is being fought only in the halls of government rather in the streets of YourTown USA. We shall see.
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6/4/2007 4:44 am |
we....as you know, my son is of an age where his political awareness is starting to bloom, and he is quite the debator! during a discussion considering the "war" in his history class one day, he and one other teen were the only ones falling to one side. the predominant feeling of the class was, in the words of my son, that "ALL risk must be calculated". to them, that meant that they were taking a risk by standing up against the war and there was no benefit for them that they could see right now. my son argued that a benefit doesnt have to be personal to be worthwhile....and pointed out that a possible draft would touch them all. he and i discussed this at length. it saddens me that even he feels so powerless in the world around him. i hear from him every day a feeling that he has grown up with so much corruption and abuse of power all around him, it seems useless to speak to those who smile and nod and reach for their political gain anyway. *sigh* hmslf and i are TRYING to raise a couple of political activists. but, alas, they are both a few years away from voting....
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6/4/2007 8:02 am |
WE, What have the youth to be outraged about? There are being conditioned and bred to not care about anything that doesn't effect them personally. How many times have we heard someone say; "As long as it doesn't infringe upon my rights, it is ok." It isn't just the youth anymore, it is all of us. We are becoming ever more isolated within the context of social interaction. What yap about freedom, not understanding that we really are not free! Everything is instant gratification, set up this way on purpose, to keep us from engaging, which will ultimately lead to our self-destruction. Do you remember President Bush's state of the union address in 2002? "American's have made enough sacrafices." Huh? We have? Oh yeah, long lines at security check points! The Horror! My point is that we do not know nowadays what sacrafice is. The ever consumate spin doctors have framed the "debate" over Iraq or "terrorism" in such a way that you are outcasted or deemed "liberal" if you disagree or do not support it. Think about the stigmatism associated being labeled a "liberal" has? One could equate it to being called a "commy" or a "nazi." What's the real problem? People do not question anymore. They accept blindly or disagree on political terms. There is nothing deeper than that. I know many will disagree with this, but Politics is a low art form. It leads to the compromise of one's self. Once, one gives up their conviction for the sake of compromise, there is nothing left to stand on, except a false sense of equilibrium amongst your political adversaries and peers. One has to act on conscience, which unfortunately is too often ignored. "I can't get involved. I am too busy raising a family. I have too much work to do."........Ah, the crossroads......
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I'm like a fish out of water living in a conservative part of the country. But I wonder what the rest of the country is like. Are the young people not more active on the east or west coasts? John Lee Hooker Recommended: [blog lucyjane78]
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A really intelligent post and some fine and truly deserved comments here. I believe that although there are a number of similarities between Iraq and Vietnam, including the fact that neither was/is unwinnable, there are also some profound differences. One of these is the degree to which the influence and pervasiveness of the media in all walks of life has developed and evolved. The 60s still had a degree of naïveté. Arguments in the west were simpler, and therefore easier to whip up a particular worldview. Now they are more subtle - greyer, and the way in which these arguments can be manipulated has become much more sophisticated. One of the problems now is an inability to see the wood for the trees. The islamic fundamentalist argument is much more direct, has a (I would argue somewhat warped) religious and moralistic dimension, including the concept of eternal reward for the "faithful," has a generally simpler and less sophisticated and more embittered audience. In truth we might win the war of minds in a century or so, when all the environmental issues surrounding our lifestyle have been resolved, but we won't win the war of their minds now. The other key dimension is the fact that there isn't the draft, which I believe catalysed reaction in the 60s, so we see our soldiers as brave professionals the rest of us do not want to betray, even though they are fighting for a mistaken cause. I do like the way your posts really get me to think and reflect. Write on, dear wicked one. warm xx
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As always wicked...your post is thought pervoking...The coments you have recieved as well...I remember the draft doggers living on the streets here in Canada...i am speaking of the vietman war...War i see no sense in it ...As for Bush i have little respect for him....he needs to end this now...
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6/11/2007 8:18 am |
I think Pan is dead on. Why are we being protected from seeing graphic images? Do you think it is perhaps that the media doesn't want to be responsible for causing an "uprising?" I just cannot help but wonder though, all of the people that make decisions for the networks, didn't they see this once before? I have to question why they do not want to do it again. Being a conservative WE, doesn't mean being a republican, just like being a democrat doesn't mean being a liberal. I love you dear.
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