The Dogs of War: A Diatribe

by Patrick O'Malley

To be honest, I’m still not sure about this war one way or the other. I haven’t been sure from the beginning. What I am sure of is the need to be extremely wary of people who are very far to either side. That is, the staunch pro-war/anti-war people. To be clear I’m not talking about any politicians here, only the public. We all saw plenty of their demonstrations on television during the war, especially at the outset. Just to prove to myself that I’m not crazy I’ve done a lot of reading and have followed this war closely, gathering news from as broad a range as possible. But having done that it still seems to me that, if you consider the argument from both camps with an open mind, it’s unlikely you’ll find yourself 100% decided either way. How can you be when the ‘facts’ are so disputed and the true motives are so clandestine and variegated? That’s why I’m frightened of the hardcore pro-war and anti-war people. They’re not considering the situation, weighing the evidence and reports, and objectively deciding what they do or do not agree with or believe. No doubt the emotions run strong in all facets of the Iraq war, but to have a validated opinion and be an informed citizen one must be more objective. This point is perpetually misconstrued. Obviously every person has emotions about the war, one way or the other. And worldwide people are still emotional enough about terrorism to let it affect their judgment of all world affairs, for better or worse. To me though, that’s a cop-out. It’s too easy to be totally behind Bush, the administration, and the war with your reason being that you still feel hurt, vulnerable, and angry after 9/11. It’s too easy to prop your beliefs upon the moral high ground there. It’s also too easy to yell ‘No War!’, call our soldiers baby-killers, and carry a ‘No Blood for Oil’ picket sign. And too many of these wingers use hatred or distaste of the alternative argument as a reason to support theirs - classic bandwagon propaganda. And fundamentally flawed logic, really.

And unfortunately everyone’s figured out (or remembered; i.e. Fuckin’ Commies! They’re everywhere!) how easy it is to bash and condemn anything that’s not 100% on either side of the debate. Case in point: The Dixie Chicks. This is truly hilarious. What a bunch of mass-hysterical pandering. So okay, I get it, country music has a tough and, shall we say, loyal following. But it’s not enough to pull them from radio, they’ve got to gather their records together and publicly bulldoze them in effigy? (On a side note said bulldozing incident was the best reality television I’ve seen yet. Yee-haw! Get them Saddam-huggin’ Dixie bitches!) Not even anyone from the anti-camp has come to their rescue. All this labeling and name-calling has really gotten out of hand. I don’t think I’ve heard one person properly refer to anything as anti-American. Every time I’ve heard that term used it’s been wrong. Horribly, flagrantly wrong. In just about every instance that someone or something has been derided as anti-American it’s been just the opposite, the definition of American. How do these people define the American ethos? As a place where if you vocally and publicly disagree with the mainstream, well informed or not, you’re outcast? Aren’t America’s most robust roots those of questioning the administration, it’s power, and it’s course; not to mention the freedom to do so regardless of circumstance or societal status?

I can hear another label coming my way. Any hawks reading this are about to lambast me as someone who doesn’t support the troops. Right. I don’t support the troops, I don’t. I hope they all die horrible, torture-filled Iraqi deaths. What a moronic deduction from a bunch of mal-informed, bias-crazed idiots attempting to humanize their argument! So it’s one or the other according to the ‘support the troops’ group. Fine. So if I’m not sure that the war in Iraq is a good idea, then I’m for American troops dying en mass. Isn’t that what’s being implied? That’s their argument. That’s what they’re exploiting. Now decide if you want to be lumped in with that. As if public dissent will somehow emotionally cripple our troops in Iraq. The anti’s are exploiting the exact same thing for their own benefit, saying basically that if you’re for the war then you wish death upon innocent Iraqis, and don’t forget those women and children! They’re the real cash crop for exploiting fragile emotions! Oh yeah, I can just feel support for the war diminishing. Mmmmm . . . . diminished support. Unfortunately all this shallow, mindless propaganda works great on Americans. I wonder why.

So why is it important to remain objective? For one it’s the first step to having your own unique point of view and being able to ignore the American media’s black and white portrayal of possible war-related points of view. It’s also important to remain objective simply because that’s how the administration and the military look at it. Weigh the costs against the possible outcomes, is it worth it? And most importantly, how will it look? How will the U.S. be perceived? Obviously the military is excellent at manipulating this, how many dead bodies did you see on television coverage? Because that’s where most Americans get their news. The military kept the bodies well hidden, even from the embedded reporters. Not that any network would dare show them; of course not American soldiers, but hardly even any Iraqi soldiers. Why must we be treated like children? We should be constantly reminded of the human costs of war, no matter how heart-wrenching it is to see. You don’t have to agree with me. But to disagree you need to be informed and ponder at great length that information; as fewer and fewer Americans do these days.

As I’m digging I see rational points behind both sides, albeit hidden beneath layers of bias, presumption, and thick emotion; to speak nothing of the rampant misinformation we all must sift through. In the few places that informed people are making logical arguments without the aforementioned noises that continually cloud lucid political argument, I find I can gather some information needed to properly inform myself. Try it yourself. Step one: never watch the Fox News Channel again, step two: read foreign press instead, and step three: question all motives. If you’re unlike most Americans, that is you can hold two differing thoughts or competing points of view in your head at the same time, you have a lot of thinking to do.

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