Okay, so I don't get political here. I
don't. This is my happy place, and I don't do politics here.
But I'm bothered. On the front page of my local newspaper this weekend, a professor of mine from college was pictured protesting the war in Iraq right here in River City (no, I don't live in River City) with a big sign claiming, "TOLD YOU SO!!!"
*facepalm*
My initial response was immediate -- "What the f--??!!"
I was just instantly pissed. I mean, I knew she was the broomstick-skirt-and-Earth-shoes-wearin' hippy-type that loved Arbor Day poems and didn't like rhyming poetry. Yes, she was my creative writing teacher, and while she couldn't help but give me A's, she clearly didn't like doing so. She never liked my topics, never liked my either dark or comic themes, etc.
I didn't write about trees. Heh.
Anyway, I guess I just never expected her to be a war protestor. Maybe I never expected ANYONE to be a war protestor. At least not anyone I knew personally.
Color me surprised.
So I just sat there, staring at that unrelenting, grainy newsprint picture and wondering just what the hell she thought she was trying to prove. I guess I can understanding protesting a war on general principles, maybe, but..."TOLD YOU SO!!!"??
Told who? Told them what?
Told the President that war in Iraq was evil? Sure ya did. Told the government that keeping our military boys -- God love 'em, and I am being entirely serious -- in a hostile country was dangerous for so long? Duh. That's what they signed up for.
Seriously. Told who what?
It seems to me that protesting a war 4 years in progress is kind of a lesson in futility in the first place. It's locking the barn door after the cow's already out.
It also seems to me that leaving such a hostile place before some lasting local order is put in place is another lesson in futility. It's like quitting your antibiotics after three days because you feel better. It will only create a stronger, mutant version of the disease you started the antibiotics for in the first place.
So why protest at all? We all want our boys home. Of course we do. We don't want a one of them hurt or killed. But...they're soldiers. It's what they do.
Sure, it's terrible that 2300+ of our brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, nephews, nieces, cousins, etc. have died. It's terrible. And I'm sure their families don't really want to hear that their loved ones died with honor in glorious battle.
But face it, folks. After four years of battle, our losses should be
staggering. 2300+ just isn't that bad, comparatively. I don't even have to link to our losses in, oh, World War II. Or Vietnam.
Which brings me to another point. There's a very fine line between protesting war and protesting those who fight it. After all, the protestors are already pointing accusing fingers at our President -- TOLD YOU SO!!! -- and at the government. They already loathe and despise our tactics. How long before the cries of "baby-killer!" ring not at our country leaders but at those carrying out orders?
Sure, this is a free country. Sure, protest is a valid political tool that does, as nothing else (even a representative government) can -- give every single civilian a voice that speaks directly to the President and, indeed, the world. Sure, no one wants to be accused of being a good little Nazi.
But dammit, people, we are at WAR. This is not some indefinable thing, some police action, some future-named Bush-gate. This is war, and it will be fought. We cannot leave before we're done, or we will face a stronger, more hate-filled foe.
How do these protestors really think September 11, 2001, came to pass? Forget the conspiracy theories. What it really comes down to is that we didn't finish a war, and those left behind entrenched more fully in their hatred of us.
We cannot allow that kind of enemy at our backs. Simply put.
Sit down and protest something useful, people. Protest taxes. Protest...I dunno...poor education. Protest bad commercials.
No!
Protest reality TV! THERE'S an evil foe, right there!
That's it, people! Protest against reality TV, the evil in our midst! It's inhumane! It's atrocious! Down with reality TV!