Disclaimer: Before anyone goes off the deep end, this is partially a parody of that silly rant thread from earlier. That being said, there is a point here if you are willing to look for it...
I'm not ashamed of people who are different from me, this isn't about pro-war conservatives or anti-war liberals, or any other combination. This is about people who have latched on to one of the most disturbing trends in America today.
Like a lot of poorly thought out positions, this trend comes from something President Bush said..."You're either with us or against us", and while many Americans think the comment rather ill-advised, certain people have grabbed hold of it like a drowning man to a life preserver. Those 7 words form the basis of the uncompromising black and white view of the world that has truly transformed what could have been a reasonable debate into a pointless rant-fest.
Like I said before, it's not about being pro-war or anti-war...it's about people who don't understand there can be more than two sides to an issue, people who's binary way of viewing the war on terror has convinced them their fellow Americans are the real enemy. It's about not being able to understand the difference between wanting a plan for winning in Iraq, and wanting to pull out with the job half-finished. President Bush himself doesn't seem to understand the difference, despite a growing concern for just how exactly the US is going to deal with serious obstacles to winning the war in Iraq, Bush continues to respond that now isn't the right time to pull out. Which is right, but that's not the problem being discussed. And like lemmings, the black and white crowd is following Bush off this cliff, complaining that anyone who asks for specific plans wants to pull out of Iraq without winning. Nothing could be farther from the truth, it is a desire to win in Iraq that prompts most of these questions. Tough talk and patriotic bluster are not plans, and pretending otherwise isn't going to win anything.
But it goes far beyond just the war in Iraq, here at home a disturbingly large number of our elected representitives made the mistake of not understanding the difference between defending the US and renewing the Patriot Act, and many Americans followed right behind them. Nevermind that analysis after analysis, much of them done by our intelligence and law enforcement agencies and the 9/11 investigation group, suggests the Patriot Act doesn't solve any of the issues in our law enforcement and intelligence setup and pose serious legal and ethical questions. All that matters is that these people were told that the Patriot Act would help fight terrorism, and being against it must mean they support the terrorists. The existance of a third option, introducing measures that actually solve our defense problems, never occured to a lot of people, because the idea that it is possible to oppose both the Patriot Act AND terrorism never crossed their minds.
That all being said, this disturbing lack of understanding isn't why I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed because these people are so quick and so willing to visciously attack their fellow Americans for nothing more than having a different view of the war on terror. The absolute arrogance these people show in thinking that they alone want to defend America makes you wonder just what this country stands for any more. Whatever happend to the basic ideals of this country, the idea that democracy's power comes from many different viewpoints? The comparison has been beaten to death, but the sort of behavior shown by these people reminds me of nothing so much as the "patriots" supporting the communist witch hunts during the red scare. Suggesting that there is only one way to think if you want to support your country is one of the most un-American ideas in history, and words about fighting for freedom and liberty ring hollow in the face of that kind of belief.
The irony is that this plays right into the terrorists' hands. Instead of pulling together and coming up with a well thought out plan comprised of many different ideas, we've managed to turn on each other to the point where I'm fully convinced many Americans have forgotten just who it is we're fighting.
I'm not ashamed of people who are different from me, this isn't about pro-war conservatives or anti-war liberals, or any other combination. This is about people who have latched on to one of the most disturbing trends in America today.
Like a lot of poorly thought out positions, this trend comes from something President Bush said..."You're either with us or against us", and while many Americans think the comment rather ill-advised, certain people have grabbed hold of it like a drowning man to a life preserver. Those 7 words form the basis of the uncompromising black and white view of the world that has truly transformed what could have been a reasonable debate into a pointless rant-fest.
Like I said before, it's not about being pro-war or anti-war...it's about people who don't understand there can be more than two sides to an issue, people who's binary way of viewing the war on terror has convinced them their fellow Americans are the real enemy. It's about not being able to understand the difference between wanting a plan for winning in Iraq, and wanting to pull out with the job half-finished. President Bush himself doesn't seem to understand the difference, despite a growing concern for just how exactly the US is going to deal with serious obstacles to winning the war in Iraq, Bush continues to respond that now isn't the right time to pull out. Which is right, but that's not the problem being discussed. And like lemmings, the black and white crowd is following Bush off this cliff, complaining that anyone who asks for specific plans wants to pull out of Iraq without winning. Nothing could be farther from the truth, it is a desire to win in Iraq that prompts most of these questions. Tough talk and patriotic bluster are not plans, and pretending otherwise isn't going to win anything.
But it goes far beyond just the war in Iraq, here at home a disturbingly large number of our elected representitives made the mistake of not understanding the difference between defending the US and renewing the Patriot Act, and many Americans followed right behind them. Nevermind that analysis after analysis, much of them done by our intelligence and law enforcement agencies and the 9/11 investigation group, suggests the Patriot Act doesn't solve any of the issues in our law enforcement and intelligence setup and pose serious legal and ethical questions. All that matters is that these people were told that the Patriot Act would help fight terrorism, and being against it must mean they support the terrorists. The existance of a third option, introducing measures that actually solve our defense problems, never occured to a lot of people, because the idea that it is possible to oppose both the Patriot Act AND terrorism never crossed their minds.
That all being said, this disturbing lack of understanding isn't why I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed because these people are so quick and so willing to visciously attack their fellow Americans for nothing more than having a different view of the war on terror. The absolute arrogance these people show in thinking that they alone want to defend America makes you wonder just what this country stands for any more. Whatever happend to the basic ideals of this country, the idea that democracy's power comes from many different viewpoints? The comparison has been beaten to death, but the sort of behavior shown by these people reminds me of nothing so much as the "patriots" supporting the communist witch hunts during the red scare. Suggesting that there is only one way to think if you want to support your country is one of the most un-American ideas in history, and words about fighting for freedom and liberty ring hollow in the face of that kind of belief.
The irony is that this plays right into the terrorists' hands. Instead of pulling together and coming up with a well thought out plan comprised of many different ideas, we've managed to turn on each other to the point where I'm fully convinced many Americans have forgotten just who it is we're fighting.
