Republicans in my car
Sep. 13th, 2004 04:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydyI was trapped in the car with a Republican. Well, ok, not a real Republican. Well, not trapped, precisely, either. I was driving and I didn't want to listen to music, so I ended up listening to stuff happening at the Republican convention, and was reminded that I'm an alien. Or maybe everyone else is, I'm never sure.
There was this guy talking. I think he was the one that persuaded the audience to applaud by repeating the last few words of any sentence that he thought ought to be greeted with enthusiasm. We are winning the war on terrorism! Winning the war! *applause* On Terrorism! *applause* We have never been stronger, never been stronger. *applause* We have gained respect throughout the world by being stronger and by being more resolute, being more resolute. *applause* Ok, I'm making all that up, too. But he could have said it, and probably did. I've looked at the transcript, but they're not showing the redudancy, so you'd have to find a recording, which is also almost certainly out there. (I didn't know it at the time, but the speaker was Tommy Franks.)
So far, it was just repulsively jingoistic rah-rah noise. Then he said, and this time I am quoting from the transcript, "The Global War on Terrorism will be a long fight. But make no mistake - we are going to fight the terrorists. The question is do we fight them over there -- or do we fight them here. I choose to fight them over there." I felt suddenly naseous, and thought, "How can he say that? He's saying that Iraqi lives aren't worth as much as American lives." I listened to the cheering and howling with a sudden sense of total alienation.
I remember being a teenager in the mid to late seventies, and thinking, "But surely, we'd never let a child actually starve to death in the United States. The public outcry would be enormous." I when some groups started to include the Vietnamese dead in the casualty count for the Vietnam war, I was impressed with how obvious and necessary a thing that was, and a little bewildered by how furious some other groups were.
I remember the last haze of the idealism of the early seventies, largely out of context. I lived a very insular life at the time, and only the strangest and sweetest bits made it through the filter into my consciousness. For many years I had a very uncritical view of the Sixties and Seventies.
I'm shocked that what I had thought were essential and basic lessons have been forgotten: Never start a land war in Asia. Quagmires are what happens when you don't have an exit strategy. Wars fought by politicians are wars that cannot be won. The fundamental value of a human being does not rest in his citizenship of a particular nation. Human rights aren't just for third world countries anymore. If your attitude toward eroding civil rights is the assumption that they'll never get around to you, you're an almighty fool. Children with flowers can stop guys with guns if society still believes that people are important -- and in Tianmen Square shows us that it doesn't matter how many thousands of peaceful protesters you have, if the government has no respect for human life.
These people scare me, because they never learned any of those lessons. Justice without mercy, power without compassion, faith without humility, they'll run us over with tanks as the Chinese did twenty years ago, if it suits them. Slowly, they're convincing my countrymen that to do so is for the good of all. I find myself wondering, what would it be like to die in the streets, or live in solitary confinement for 30 years. I assure myself that I'm being over-dramatic, but then I think about Tommy Franks and the value he puts on human life, and I wonder. Iraqis today, perverted bi-sexual polyamorist atheist peace activists tomorrow? Did I mention that I was scared?
There was this guy talking. I think he was the one that persuaded the audience to applaud by repeating the last few words of any sentence that he thought ought to be greeted with enthusiasm. We are winning the war on terrorism! Winning the war! *applause* On Terrorism! *applause* We have never been stronger, never been stronger. *applause* We have gained respect throughout the world by being stronger and by being more resolute, being more resolute. *applause* Ok, I'm making all that up, too. But he could have said it, and probably did. I've looked at the transcript, but they're not showing the redudancy, so you'd have to find a recording, which is also almost certainly out there. (I didn't know it at the time, but the speaker was Tommy Franks.)
So far, it was just repulsively jingoistic rah-rah noise. Then he said, and this time I am quoting from the transcript, "The Global War on Terrorism will be a long fight. But make no mistake - we are going to fight the terrorists. The question is do we fight them over there -- or do we fight them here. I choose to fight them over there." I felt suddenly naseous, and thought, "How can he say that? He's saying that Iraqi lives aren't worth as much as American lives." I listened to the cheering and howling with a sudden sense of total alienation.
I remember being a teenager in the mid to late seventies, and thinking, "But surely, we'd never let a child actually starve to death in the United States. The public outcry would be enormous." I when some groups started to include the Vietnamese dead in the casualty count for the Vietnam war, I was impressed with how obvious and necessary a thing that was, and a little bewildered by how furious some other groups were.
I remember the last haze of the idealism of the early seventies, largely out of context. I lived a very insular life at the time, and only the strangest and sweetest bits made it through the filter into my consciousness. For many years I had a very uncritical view of the Sixties and Seventies.
I'm shocked that what I had thought were essential and basic lessons have been forgotten: Never start a land war in Asia. Quagmires are what happens when you don't have an exit strategy. Wars fought by politicians are wars that cannot be won. The fundamental value of a human being does not rest in his citizenship of a particular nation. Human rights aren't just for third world countries anymore. If your attitude toward eroding civil rights is the assumption that they'll never get around to you, you're an almighty fool. Children with flowers can stop guys with guns if society still believes that people are important -- and in Tianmen Square shows us that it doesn't matter how many thousands of peaceful protesters you have, if the government has no respect for human life.
These people scare me, because they never learned any of those lessons. Justice without mercy, power without compassion, faith without humility, they'll run us over with tanks as the Chinese did twenty years ago, if it suits them. Slowly, they're convincing my countrymen that to do so is for the good of all. I find myself wondering, what would it be like to die in the streets, or live in solitary confinement for 30 years. I assure myself that I'm being over-dramatic, but then I think about Tommy Franks and the value he puts on human life, and I wonder. Iraqis today, perverted bi-sexual polyamorist atheist peace activists tomorrow? Did I mention that I was scared?
