the writing of john scott ridgway
What could I ever say about Iraq and Afganistan that has not been said better elsewhere by people who know more?
After the zillions of blogs going this way and that as the slow trickle of knowledge about the real war came out and replaced the one Rumsfeld and Bush made up for the press, I am wary myself of reading anything more on the topic, let alone writing about it, but it is on my mind a lot, and I can do my best, one of the things blogs are truly about -- record being an educated writer from a working class background living in the culture of the city and writing about how the times and the present state of knowledge are effecting what I am going through -- whether I am noticing or not.
Like most of the Citizens of what used to be called The Free World, when this horror story started, I was carried away on the same puffy white, dreamy lies that the media reported as true -- the lap dogs most of them have become. I believe in war in certain circumstances, and though Bush has been an Enemy of the People all his fucking life, I somehow decided that this time the snake would not be a snake and I wouldn't get bitten.
Now I of course bear a big, embarrassing scar and the poisen to this day sets my soul trembling.
Hindsight is 20 20. Admitting one has been fooled and acted wrongly is the human condition, the way we as a culture and an individual learn.
When the war was starting, in the emotional wake of the 9-11 catastophe, I held out hope for some Team America to swoop down and remove the evil dictator. I laughed off the part of the film where the Team nearly destroyed everything in the middle east to get one terrorist.
Bush and company lied their asses off, got us into a war.
Surprise, surprise, the guy who gives tax breaks to the rich (making for more yacht sales than ever before) and fights a raise in the minimum wage gave the USA another reason to ignore the poor and dump all that money in the pocket of the oil companies and halliburton and all the little buddies from way back of conservative forces within the american intelligence community.
I thought they were going to get Sadam out and the people would rejoice. I've seen too many war movies where I rooted for my favorite movie star to live, like us all...
I guess the whole minority group holding onto power over the majority by force thing is never easy to change.
History tells us that usually civil wars have to force voting to change such a situation. They also tell us that these powerful minority groups are forces to be reckoned with, and better negoitiated with than fought.
Unfortunatly, now the USA has become a lightening rod for every kid across the world who is religiously addled enough and sick of their life enough to gain the respect and adulation of everyone they know by dying as a hero. Every adolescent boys fantasy is being offered by entire societies. Can you imagine if the catholics suddenly decided to start raising suicide bombers to take control from the Baptists? Then the Baptists starting doing so? How about all these countries that have schools where america is referred to as Demonic? Can you imagine giving those kids, no matter where they are in the world, a dream of dying a hero -- they don't have to imagine how people will behave at their funeral, either; they have seen the parades and the family checks and the respect that a suicide bomber brings to their family.
It took this war to wake america up to what is going on in the middle east. And it took this last election to tell their leaders that they know what is what, and expect them to act up the ideals that most of us generally live by.
I feel like my life is in split screen, and down in one corner the war is always playing... or at least, that is a movie I am thinking about doing. Just a guy going through the day to day ignoring the box in the corner with the war.