I just started reading Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo and I have to say that I am becoming more and more anti-war by the minute (by the way, the Metallica song One is based on the book). In case you don’t know, the book is about a soldier who lost all limbs, his ability to see and his ability to talk after being hit by an artillery shell. It is set in World War I and it is just plain horrific. I don’t know why but I am just creeped out even thinking about it. I respect and understand the peace movement, hippies back in the 60's and Cindy Sheehan a lot more.
There is one thing that has been bugging me these past few days, a question no pro-war person has been able to answer. Is it so wrong to want for peace? Why do so many of the hawks out there see war as a positive thing? Certainly I am not one for a disarmament of everything we have. I do believe that war is in fact justified in certain instances if all forms of diplomacy have failed and an attack from another nation is imminent but why do Americans sometimes seem so eager to go to war?
I am not strictly speaking about Iraq and Afghanistan. There have been many other times when acting with the military was the first and only thing Americans wanted:
Guatemala, Iran, Lebanon, Cuba, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Congo, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Cambodia, Chile, Angola, Libya, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Grenada, Chad, Bolivia, Panama, Somalia, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Bosnia, Yemen, Philippines, Liberia, Columbia
All these have been places where the United States military intervened. It makes one beg the question, Are we a violent nation? Perhaps I am generalizing. Perhaps we are not a violent nation and our government is. But I do not think so. You may disagree with me and say that our government is the violent one. Well, we elect our officials to the federal government. WE elected them. They are one of us. So what does that say about us as a nation, as a society?
Is it so wrong to not want to act militarily? All those countries above, there is NO way that every means of diplomacy failed and war was the only option for every single one. This is my rant for now. I’ll try to make my next one humorous. Maybe something about why my cat Roo Bear is so weird…
There is one thing that has been bugging me these past few days, a question no pro-war person has been able to answer. Is it so wrong to want for peace? Why do so many of the hawks out there see war as a positive thing? Certainly I am not one for a disarmament of everything we have. I do believe that war is in fact justified in certain instances if all forms of diplomacy have failed and an attack from another nation is imminent but why do Americans sometimes seem so eager to go to war?
I am not strictly speaking about Iraq and Afghanistan. There have been many other times when acting with the military was the first and only thing Americans wanted:
Guatemala, Iran, Lebanon, Cuba, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Congo, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Cambodia, Chile, Angola, Libya, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Grenada, Chad, Bolivia, Panama, Somalia, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Bosnia, Yemen, Philippines, Liberia, Columbia
All these have been places where the United States military intervened. It makes one beg the question, Are we a violent nation? Perhaps I am generalizing. Perhaps we are not a violent nation and our government is. But I do not think so. You may disagree with me and say that our government is the violent one. Well, we elect our officials to the federal government. WE elected them. They are one of us. So what does that say about us as a nation, as a society?
I am becoming a bit of a hippy, I'm not denying it and I'll fess up to it. Sometimes I post things and comments on YouTube and a few political news sites. The negativity and name calling on those sites is unbearable sometimes. It's just sad. The things I post often deal with political commentators who I believe lie and distort the truth on purpose, the war in Iraq and health care. Those 3 things are very controversial and people have strong feelings about them. Some people can write some vile things about the way I see things. A friend just told me I should try to get my stuff published somewhere or see if I could be a blogger for a big site. That's not something I'd like to do. I don't like it when people make fun of my views or do the whole name calling thing.
I'm an advocate of health care and I'm anti-war and I'm trying to get people to not be dead. When I get criticized for that, it really bums me out.
Is it so wrong to not want to act militarily? All those countries above, there is NO way that every means of diplomacy failed and war was the only option for every single one. This is my rant for now. I’ll try to make my next one humorous. Maybe something about why my cat Roo Bear is so weird…
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