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Stories from a man who fails to meet media expectations of what it means to be gay:
white, frivolous, over sexed yet sexless, shrill, single, stylish, a clown, unimportant, et al.
03/23/2003
I've been ill since this latest war began.
I've been ill since this latest war began. Alison Bechdel once had a joke about new world order flu, and I think I have the newest version of it, imperial american congestion. I'm sure that it is no surprise that self described weepy, tree hugging, knee-jerk liberal me is opposed to this war, or at least, opposed to the way we have ended up in war.
I am one of those folks who would probably have been for forceful action if the current administration had actually tried for diplomacy and talk, instead of essentially announcing from the beginning that we were going to invade no matter what weapons inspectors found.
The idea of imperialist America has been on my mind lately. Warranted or not, when it comes to war, the self-image of this nation had once been that of Uncle Sam. The patriot farmer. The reluctant hero. The plain speaking person who knows good from wrong and does not what is easy, but rather what is right. We may be at fault for not paying as much attention as we should to the rest of the world, but at the same time, we do not bully and invade other countries simply because we can. We do not start fights, but when forced to do so, we do end them.
When did this change? When did we trade in Uncle Sam for a gun totting, steroidal, aggressive, GIJoe playing, schoolyard bully aiming for a fight? When exactly did diplomacy become a bad word?
For whatever reason, even pretending to enter into warfare as a last resort instead of as the first and only option proved to be too much trouble for this administration. Even though such an illusion could have provided this country with more than just a handful of allies.
Even if this had happened, there still would have been protests against war of course, but had we tried diplomacy, and had a real alliance of nations opposed to the current Iraqi government been built; I think those opposed to this war, would not include almost every other nation on the planet.
The only cost of diplomacy would have been time, and for whatever reason, it appears that time is the only thing we as a nation could not afford.
I am pessimistic.
I am not filled with unquestioning patriotism, but I am filled with questions. Namely who exactly is going to make money off of this war? Considering tax cuts that are being pushed through in the middle of all this, the answer may just be people who already have money.
I am jaded.
I am left wondering why exactly Iraq? The connections between Hussein and Bin Laden seem hazy at best, and the idea of suddenly needing to liberate people from a cruel dictator seems hard to believe. After all, dictators are a dime a dozen, and as a nation we usually do not particularly care, so why specifically Iraq? Why invade a nation that has been beaten down by decades of conflict and where half of the population is under the age of 15? Why invade a nation where, as the media has repeatedly reassured us, victory will be swift. Why invade an oil rich nation? This is of course, sarcasm.
I am concerned.
I am worried over the fate of soldiers (many of whom were probably in elementary school during the last gulf war). I am worried over what will happen next.
More later,
nico
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