Location: Living room.
Listening: Fortunate Son, Creedence Clearwater Revival.

I wanted to write an entry to address some of the frustration I've been feeling at the current climate at work and, in some ways, on lj. I've been subjected on several occasions to long rants about the (hopefully not yet inevitable) "upcoming war", and, after chewing on them for a little while, I wanted to put forth my opinion on them thoughtfully and briefly.

I have absolutely no problem with anyone who is in support of American pretty much unilaterally invading Iraq. I want to get that out in the open before I say anything else. It seems a very cliched and sappy "let's all love another" sentiment, but really. We're all individuals who have been shaped in different ways by different experiences. As a result, we have different perspectives on current events. I can often be at peace with this reality.

However, my peace tends to be shattered by those who feel the need to be, in my view, overly aggressive and overly hostile in voicing their opinions on either the left or the right sides. I will come out and say that I have witnessed several nasty, personal, and largely ad hominem attacks on the anti-war folks from the "pro-war" folks. At best, this is really poor rhetoric. At worst, it's just plain common. If you want to sit down and provide me with a list of reasons why you feel that we should go to war, by all means do so. We can have a rational and civil discussion and, hopefully, both end up learning something. However, the moment you start throwing around phrases like "Hippie Go Home", I'm going to discount you completely. Forget for a moment that the term "hippie" is inappropriate, as it references a specific subculture that is, frankly, no longer in cohesive existence in our society. Also forget for a moment that the term has become a perjorative catch-all used by those in opposition to environmental, civil rights, pacifist, etc. groups to characterize anyone involved with said groups. Forget all of that, and it boils down to being a cheap shot that is about as relevant to the situation as telling me that I'm a pinko commie fag because I don't support military action in Iraq. Insulting me personally will get you nowhere--and will make you look ultimately incapable of having an intelligent debate on the real issues. And by the way, I am home--which I think is what really sticks in your craw. You have to share a country with the likes of me. Deal with it like an adult and not a child trying to defend his territory at the swingset.

That said, I would like to ask all of the "pro-war" folk out there one simple question--what are you willing to invest in this "war"? Are you standing in line at the local recruiting office, signing on the dotted line to suit up and go out and defend the ideals that you so fervently give lip service to? Are you writing letters to servicepeople already in the Gulf, showing your support? Or are you simply sitting back on your sofa and playing armchair-pundit while allowing others to put their lives on the line to defend U.S. supremacy (or, as you would likely characterize it, "democracy, freedom, and the American Way"--which includes your right to call me a hippie and tell me that I should be deported for my "unAmerican" views)?. I'm preparing to put my job on the line (in a miserable economy) to march in the snow against what I feel is wrong. Are you preparing to offer your life or the lives of your loved ones to defend what you feel is right?

Before I go any further, let me mention here that I have a former fiance in Korea and an uncle, cousin, and co-worker (whose wife is expecting their second child in May) who could be called up for service any moment now. I think of them every time I read the news. I actually come from a family in which almost every male has served in the Army or the Navy. My great-grandfather was a highly decorated veteran of two World Wars and my grandfather went to Korea when he was younger than I am now. I consequently am not unaware of what armed conflict in the Gulf could mean to people close to me--and, by extension of empathy, to those who are not close to me. Who might you lose if we decide to invade? Or are you, like the majority of the current members of Congress, a spectator for whom war will never be anything more tangible than images on a screen?

If you believe so strongly, then do something about it. Tell your siblings, cousins, lovers, friends, to go enlist and fight for the cause--or, better yet, do it yourself. Don't sit listening to conservative shock radio or watching Fox news or reading the newspaper and then presume to tell people who are putting their feet to the street and making their feelings known that they should shut up and "love it or leave it". Don't tell me that you're contributing because you slapped a flag sticker on your bumper like everyone else and their mother did after 9-11. If you were such a fire-spitting patriot this whole time, why wasn't that flag sticker already there? Don't tell me that you keep up on current affairs and have all of the answers when you haven't even bothered to read Condi Rice's paper on whitehouse.gov (by the way--check her sources--any good scholar will tell you that a paper supporting the US position that is derived almost solely from State Department documents is shaky logic at best. It's much like crafting an argument supporting the validity of a company's mission statement based on statements made by the CEO who wrote the statement in the first place). Don't tell me that we know that Saddam has chemical weapons (of course we know, we gave them to him--or didn't you know that?). Don't tell me that America had nothing to do with creating this problem (or haven't you seen the picture of Rumsfeld shaking Saddam's hand, back when Iraq was useful to us in fighting Iran?). Don't tell me that you're knowledgeable and then talk to me about a "smoking gun" (there isn't one--even Ari Fleischer (you know him, of course, White House press liasion? Or you do not bother to read his daily briefings either?) will admit that when pressed), a "coalition of the willing" (the US, Spain, Bulgaria, and the UK so far with little promise of more support in sight), or any of the other catch-phrases that we've having hammered into our collective consciousness. Give me an argument that you've formulated based on your own contemplation of all of the facts--not just the soundbites that you're being fed with a silver spoon for all of the ten minutes that you read the paper or watch TV everyday.

If you can't, then you'll forgive me if, the next time you call me "hippie", I call you "puppet".