It's been a while since I posted any over pretentious psuedo political drivel
So, unless Elizabeth convinces me to do something else tomorrow, I am going to go to the anti war march in DC. I havent been to one of these things for a while, and I kinda miss all the dirty hippies and misguided idealism that they entail. Actually, I dont shower enough and am a misguided idealist too, so really every day is like a protest for me.
The problem is, that while I am certainly a crazy anti war pacifist, I do not wholly agree with the premise of immediately pulling out of Iraq. I mean we certainly shouldnt be there in the first place, but it is fairly clear that it is in everyone's best interest to restore at least a sembelance of order and stability before we leave instead of going in, fucking everything up and then saying "its your problem now".
Unfortunatly, "bring the troops home now" is a lot easier to put on a sign or turn into a chant than "Lets negotiate a reasonable time table for pulling out our troops that allows for the appropriate training of Iraqi troops to take care of themselves, but also does not prolong our involvement and brings our troops home as soon as is responsibly possible", so as such, the tone of this event is the former. Like John Stewart said once, and I paraphrase, "your never going to get a huge mass of people to march around a city shouting 'Let's be reasonable!!'".
Another point is that it seems relatively likely that we will end up pulling out of Iraq before we are done anyway simply so that Bush can recover politically and to make other politicians look better before the midterm elections (or maybe I'm just too cynical). The question is, does calling for immediate withdrawl influence that, or does it simply speed up the inevitable and thus save lives?
I find it hard to know what the best course of action is, since really, its a loose loose situation. But I dont think, no matter how many people march around saying we should get out now, that it will actually happen. Ideally, the kind of outpouring they are expecting Saturday, along with the abysmal (I think its something like 60% disagree with the war) support for the war, will inspire the administration to visibly work to speed up the transfer of power. I think that if we make it clear we are on our way out, and not there to occupy indefinately, we will help to reduce the impetus for violence.
People motivate behind extremes, but policy is much more moderate and slow to change. Regardless of the opinions of the people, even if they are the majority, they will not cause immediate or extreme changes. The best we can hope for is to influence the descisions of the people in power. After all, a bunch of people in the streets really have no idea how geopolitics, foreign policy, and military strategy works. I often doubt if the administration does either, but they are the ones who theoretically know how to make good descisions in these matters, so hopefully they can take a hint as to what direction the people want them to move in, and make small, yet bold, moves in that direction.
Ok, that was enough for me. The other reason to go to DC is a free concert on the mall with Thievery Corporation, Joan Baez, Bouncing Souls...etc, none of which I am crazy about, but hey, its free. Also, I seem to have an almost journalistic curiosity to observe events like this, even if I dont fully agree with them. Oh, and that Cindy Sheehan lady is supposed to speak, which should be interesting.
Now, feel free to criticize away about my misguided ideas and poorly argued points
The problem is, that while I am certainly a crazy anti war pacifist, I do not wholly agree with the premise of immediately pulling out of Iraq. I mean we certainly shouldnt be there in the first place, but it is fairly clear that it is in everyone's best interest to restore at least a sembelance of order and stability before we leave instead of going in, fucking everything up and then saying "its your problem now".
Unfortunatly, "bring the troops home now" is a lot easier to put on a sign or turn into a chant than "Lets negotiate a reasonable time table for pulling out our troops that allows for the appropriate training of Iraqi troops to take care of themselves, but also does not prolong our involvement and brings our troops home as soon as is responsibly possible", so as such, the tone of this event is the former. Like John Stewart said once, and I paraphrase, "your never going to get a huge mass of people to march around a city shouting 'Let's be reasonable!!'".
Another point is that it seems relatively likely that we will end up pulling out of Iraq before we are done anyway simply so that Bush can recover politically and to make other politicians look better before the midterm elections (or maybe I'm just too cynical). The question is, does calling for immediate withdrawl influence that, or does it simply speed up the inevitable and thus save lives?
I find it hard to know what the best course of action is, since really, its a loose loose situation. But I dont think, no matter how many people march around saying we should get out now, that it will actually happen. Ideally, the kind of outpouring they are expecting Saturday, along with the abysmal (I think its something like 60% disagree with the war) support for the war, will inspire the administration to visibly work to speed up the transfer of power. I think that if we make it clear we are on our way out, and not there to occupy indefinately, we will help to reduce the impetus for violence.
People motivate behind extremes, but policy is much more moderate and slow to change. Regardless of the opinions of the people, even if they are the majority, they will not cause immediate or extreme changes. The best we can hope for is to influence the descisions of the people in power. After all, a bunch of people in the streets really have no idea how geopolitics, foreign policy, and military strategy works. I often doubt if the administration does either, but they are the ones who theoretically know how to make good descisions in these matters, so hopefully they can take a hint as to what direction the people want them to move in, and make small, yet bold, moves in that direction.
Ok, that was enough for me. The other reason to go to DC is a free concert on the mall with Thievery Corporation, Joan Baez, Bouncing Souls...etc, none of which I am crazy about, but hey, its free. Also, I seem to have an almost journalistic curiosity to observe events like this, even if I dont fully agree with them. Oh, and that Cindy Sheehan lady is supposed to speak, which should be interesting.
Now, feel free to criticize away about my misguided ideas and poorly argued points
posted by Unknown | Friday, September 23, 2005
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