Non-interventionists are often criticized by their opponents for inciting anger with their “anti-American” statements. The truth tends to put people off, and I get that. I rejected as preposterous the idea that America could somehow be anyway responsible for 9/11 until I saw firsthand what actually goes on in countries the U.S. government decides to “liberate.” I went through a sort of denial until it became impossible to view the military’s treatment of the Iraqi people as anything but disgusting and inhumane.
Naturally the abuse reaches a tipping point beyond which some individuals decide the only option is to retaliate. This is true of virtually every culture, but it’s especially true in Muslim culture, something about which few outsiders know the first thing. I admit to understanding very little, but I learned enough in the Middle East to know that when the head of a household is dishonored in some way, he is obligated to make a token attempt at regaining his honor.
That people get angry over hearing about blowback, or that cause and effect applies just as much to foreign policy as it does domestic policy, is a good thing. They should be upset to learn they’ve been lied to their whole lives. To finally be presented with all the evil that is being done with their money and in their names can be a painful or jarring experience.
To learn your government has exploited your fears to consolidate power and wealth ought to make anyone outright livid. That they use the soldiers you hold in such high esteem as disposable pawns in a real-life chess match to expand their control only makes matters worse. Realizing that instead of being safer we’re actually more vulnerable (and poorer) because of the intervention should be the last straw for anyone still unconvinced that things must change.
Instead of directing this outrage at those who are revealing the truth about the Empire, it should be aimed squarely at the State and those politicians who seek to perpetuate the Great Lie.
January 31st, 2012 at 10:01 am
Painful, but true. My first “awakening” was the Book, The Roosevelt Myth.I read it with skepticism but the truth kept popping up in unexpected places. Then along came the Korean War, then the Vietnam War….
.Realizing the reality of what you have laid out so well, is truly painful for people which is why patience is necessary. I cannot imagine a parent who praised their child’s decision to join the military, encouraged it even, then that child being maimed or killed. How terribly difficult it must be to ever be strong enough to face the reality that the war was a sham.