Some Thoughts on Democrats and Liberals and the War Protesting Going On
My response:
Re: your first paragraph: What we’re doing is also against the charter of the U.N., which governs disputes between nations. I see no reason why we shouldn’t be at war if all diplomatic efforts had been exhausted. However… they hadn’t. I have yet to see the Iraqis meet with *anyone* on this issue in talks. There’s also the fact that *none* of our tips to the weapons inspectors paid off, so unless Bush wants to argue human rights (which he really hasn’t mentioned in depth yet and this scares me because it *is* compelling — he just hasn’t looked at it yet), we have no legitimate reason for being over there.
Re: your comment that protestors are a bunch of psychos: Rush Limbaugh isn’t the best source to quote because he has an agenda. (Stick to news sites, not talking heads whose bark is bigger than their bite.) I’m protesting this war and I don’t support Saddam in the least. This ain’t a black and white issue.
Re; Rachel Corrie: Israel has committed quite a few human rights atrocities and it irritates me how people automatically assume that all Palestinians are Muslim fundamentalists when quite a few are Christians. (Tears down that “us” and “them” argument real fast, doesn’t it?) I applaud Rachel for standing up for what she believes in because she believed that the Israelis were wrong. *I* believe that the Israelis were wrong — I had classes on this conflict alone as a Religious Studies major in college. I’ve looked at both sides of the issue and both sides have made some big mistakes.
And for the record, I am a Democrat and a “liberal” (though back home I’m a “conservative” — interesting how labels shift depending on the company one keeps). I am morally certain, I don’t hate conservatism, I think capitalism has problems but we can work with them, I don’t hate people who have a clear idea of right and wrong, and I trust people who are confident in their faith and opinions… because I am one. I do, however, dislike those who generalize about others based on the rantings of people like Limbaugh, O’Reilly, Hannity, and their leftist equivalents.
So… I think I’ll echo Drina: quite a bit of unnecessary hostility going on here against Democrats and liberals. And you complain that I’m a little hostile toward Bush?
At least he didn’t say “they hate us because we’re free”.
Jen –
With the font you’re using, I think it’s extremely hard to read italics. Maybe try bolding things instead? Or different sizes/colors?
to me, i’m prejudice against this guy you linked because his domain is “avoidingthedevil.” yeah, i’m biased.
there’s such hostility on both sides, but i think a lot of that has to do with vocal people who say stupid stuff. yeah i know, brilliant observation. the other thing, on a smaller scale, that annoys me are people on either side that only care about supporting the “correct” party – which always happens to be *their* party.
and the palestinians vs. the israelis. exactly. i totally agree. from the little i know, it’s obvious they are both screwing up in that situation. and it’s not all about religion (and why is it ever us vs. them with the muslims? i will never understand people who see it that way.)
to be fair, the domain is “avoidingevil” not “avoidingthedevil”. 🙂
he slammed me for my thoughts on bush and called me on my hostility. in the spirit of keeping accountability, i am doing the same.
I’m staying out of the barbs … I just wanna know if its okay to skip skool and lay down somewhere … I don’t care WHAT the protest is, as a 43 year old dad of a lively 3 year old, I’ll take my naps where I can get’m !-)
if it’s a good enough cause, get some attention for it, even if it means lying in the middle of the beltway taking a nap or something. well… i’d skip skool but apparently, i’m just one of the slacker generation. :p
(my lively creatures followed me into the living room this morning instead of keeping jon awake. jen has had 3 hours of sleep. jen is not coherent.)
And I quote from the State of the Union Address (January 28, 2003) (WARNING: A bit graphic)
“The dictator [Hussein] who is assembling the world’s most dangerous weapons has already used them on whole villages — leaving thousands of his own citizens dead, blind, or disfigured. Iraqi refugees tell us how forced confessions are obtained — by torturing children while their parents are made to watch. International human rights groups have catalogued other methods used in the torture chambers of Iraq: electric shock, burning with hot irons, dripping acid on the skin, mutilation with electric drills, cutting out tongues, and rape. If this is not evil, then evil has no meaning.”
I stand corrected.
Hey thanks for the accountability, I did quit… really.
Well…you’re right that Bush hasn’t discussed the humanitarian stuff as much as other things leading up to the conflict. But he has mentioned it several times that I’ve heard.