Freedom

Sometimes we get confused. Sometimes peace rallies turn into anger rallies. Personal convictions get confused for morals and morals are forgotten. Visions of Jerry Falwell get confused with Christianity as a whole. Is it that the pro-war and anti-war people are diametrically opposed? It seems so at times, but I’m not sure this is true. It is probably an opposition characterized by more than simply different means to the same end, but I don’t think that either group is against Justice, Peace, Freedom and all of those abstract ideas we hold so dear. We have different definitions of these concepts, however, and we certainly have different means to get to those ends.

The War for example: The pro-war people think that the war will lead to the freedom of, and justice and peace for the Iraqi people. The War, however, has imprisoned Iraqi people in their homes—out of fear of car bombs, suicide bombers, accidental fire, intentional fire, soldiers who’ve forgotten which ones are the bad guys, etc. The policy in Iraq is also forcing a democratic government on the state. How is that free? I agree that democracy is a great idea, but it is not always the most functional vehicle in all societies. What about the right to choose a governing system? Plus, considering the great risk of running for office in Iraq, it is likely that some of the most qualified leaders didn’t even apply for the job.

On the domestic side, freedom is being challenged every day. How gay marriage and abortion became the most important or at least most talked about issues today should be a mystery to us. It is not. This administration has a very clear stance when it comes to freedom at home: we don’t want you all to be free, just the people who voted for us, and even they should have to pay for our war and for drilling in our national treasures like the Arctic Refuge. What about the legislation to ban gay marriage promotes freedom? What about limiting women’s rights regarding their own bodies promotes freedom? What about forcing Terri Schiavo to stay alive for 15 years in a hospital with a feeding tube in her belly promotes freedom? I suppose it is the freedom for the right-wing, conservative Christian people who were conned into voting for a order-taking businessman. They were conned into voting, and now as a consolation prize, Bush wants to give them what they’ve asked for: an end to gay marriage, rights over other women’s bodies, and control over someone’s life who does not want to continue to live. All of these issues are personal issues—especially gay marriage. Gay marriage is not going to hurt you! Gay people in general are just as productive and positive members of society as ‘straight’ people. Why has this become such a big issue? My theory is that Bush/Cheney/Rove et al, being businessmen, used it as a selling point--only. They knew that they would have passionate people supporting them on the extreme and plenty of people in the middle who didn’t have an opinion at all who would stay with them. And the passion of the few would rumble with the many. It’s too bad that Kerry couldn't explain his alleged flip-flopping a little better—Kerry: it’s called thinking. You think. And thinking requires considering both sides—this happens to be something that our current administration does not do very often. To them issues are black and white and decisions are easy.

The election was won out of fear. Fear that the administration created by pouring gasoline (the war in Iraq) on the fire of terrorism.

Freedom is a long term process. We are currently fighting a war and destroying the very geographic area where civilization began: Mesopotamia. When I heard BBC reports about fighting along the Tigris and Euphrates a couple of years ago, I thought back to 6^th grade where I learned about those places and I cried. How can we destroy our roots?

So I went to the Peace Rally in Boston today. I was not that impressed. Howard Zinn was there. He didn't seem impressed either. There was some lady walking around saying "Where's Noam Chomsky? He never comes to these things." My favorite sign, which I ripped off above, was a picture of a gas can pouring gas on a fire: the gas can was labelled "War" and the fire, "terrorism." Pretty clever. There were a lot of pierced and tattooed anarchists. There were a few Bush supporters who of course waved American flags as if it belonged to their party. My least favorite sign was "Take That! You hippies! 4 more years!" How does name-calling convert people? Do you think we fear you? I'm sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please hang up and try your call again. This is my first anything-near-political post, so be gentle. It's my first time.