Sooo, various towns in Vermont are voting to impeach Bush. In Putney it was unanimous. I haven’t read the resolutions, but I assume they are polite wordings of the “lied to get us into an illegal war” accusation. If they really got rolling, I imagine the spying on civilians and torturing prisoners ideas got in there as well.
These resolutions have no force, as everyone, including these various townspeople, knows. These amount to much less than a non-binding resolution of the Senate. But people feel unheard, so they go where they can to make a statement, like grafitti artists. Just because these resolutions can’t make anyone do anything, they do give the satisfaction of having made a statement. People sometimes like to declare to the world, or to their posterity, “Yes these things happened, but I didn’t agree.” I think I understand the motivation.
There are other things happening beneath the surface, however. I would note first that the idea that the Bush opposition has not been heard is preposterous. It is embarrassing, in fact, to imagine having to point that out to a usually-rational friend. The debate about Iraq takes place every day, dominating the news. I think people are fairly well-aware that the Democrats are angry, angry with Bush, with the War in Iraq as a primary focus of that. Anyone who feels that they are not being heard is not absorbing some very obvious data. Their feeling must come from something other than the facts in hand.
What they are upset about, then, is that the country is not doing what they want. There is a belief that we are doing what some other people want. That we might not be doing quite what anyone wanted, but hammered out a consensus, seems not to enter the equation for them. It’s an us-them, and they feel they have been robbed.
I am trying to see how this is different from a child’s perception of the world, and I’m not coming up with anything but better vocabulary as a divider. Children believe that if you are not doing what they want, you must not have listened. They find it impossible to imagine that you could understand their point of view and not agree. Personality disorders, BTW, have a similar organization of reality. If you really listened, you would have to agree.
This making a statement to distance yourself from the president, or the administration, or American culture, has become quite common in the 21st C. From the “Not In Our Name” campaign to the Dixie Chicks, there has been this run on Americans going out of their way to secede from the Union. They wash their hands of this enterprise by the other Americans. They apologize to “the world” for the actions of their countrymen.
I doubt that this is brand new, but I can’t think of earlier examples. Perhaps Vietnam protest had some of this, but I can’t come up with any. Nor can I think of examples of this happening in other countries. Someone in the UK has likely done it, for much the same reasons as their American counterparts. That, I would count as the same example, not a separate example.
Do what we say or we’ll publicly disown you. It seems an odd contradiction among a people who stress our common lot in other areas. We are to care about pollution, and poverty, and education, because they “affect us all.”
Puzzling.
6 comments:
We don't accept the rationale for the war in Iraq as coherent or valid.
So, we see our fellow citizens being killed and maimed for no reason. We see hundreds of billions of dollars of money stolen from our children for no reason.
If you can imagine what it would be like to value the lives of your fellow citizens and value the future of your children then you would be able to understand why people would speak up for those things.
You present yourself as retreating into a realm of abstraction wherein you can't understand anyone valuing the lives of their fellow citizens or valuing their children's future. But I believe you can imagine what it would be like to value those things. I have that kind of confidence in you.
I expect that you were not indifferent when 3000 Americans were killed on September 11. I expect that if someone stole thousands of dollars from your children, you would not be indifferent about it.
We'll keep repeating ourselves as long as our fellow citizens are being killed and maimed for no good reason and money being stolen from our children for no good reason. We do that because we experience these things as important.
I notice that you defended the actions of the war opponents without once addressing my points.
As to realms of abstraction, I think I'll take that the other way. I have a growing suspicion from your many comments that your professed valuing of your fellow-citizens is a self-deception. I actually work alongside a few OIF and Afghanistan vets - more Gulf War vets, though - and of that small sample I can assure you that they agree with me more than with you. I also see the dark side and high cost that some pay for being in war, and have combat PTSD training. I haven't had any soldiers from Iraq yet, but I've had two from Afghanistan and any number from the Gulf War. Their immediate difficulties upon return are not something I am like to make light of. It can be rough.
Tangent: many returning combat vets have PTSD symptoms for a few months after return. Most recompensate quite well, though intermittent symptoms can persist even for years. These guys pay a high cost for us.
I don't see anything except repetition of the same abstractions from you, though. Come to think of it, anyone professing to care deeply about large numbers of people they don't know causes me to raise an eyebrow. Is it really true that you care deeply about 200,000 soldiers you don't know and millions of children not yet born? How do you manage a level of caring which is usually beyond mortals?
Everyone I know was upset about 3000 people being killed on September 11th.
You are telling me that that whole phenonemon is mysterious to you. You don't understand people valuing the lives of their fellow citizens and being upset when their fellow citizens are killed for no reason.
I thought if you used your imagination you could imagine having that kind of feeling, but if you insist that you can't, I guess you can't.
But if you can't imagine that kind of feeling the reaction of human beings is going to be "puzzling" to you. No way around it.
Thank you for proving my point. You couldn't have done it better if I had scripted it for you.
and being upset when their fellow citizens are killed for no reason.
We believe there is a reason. You can't accept that.
I know you believe you have a coherent reason. You won't debate anymore or accept any standard of logic or coherence for presenting the reason. But it is reason enough for you to participate in killing and stealing and torturing.
Children believe that if you are not doing what they want, you must not have listened. They find it impossible to imagine that you could understand their point of view and not agree. Personality disorders, BTW, have a similar organization of reality. If you really listened, you would have to agree.
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