None of this makes sense…

In the lunchroom today:

• A conversation revolved around one of the members of the Dixie Chicks, who evidently said that she was ashamed to be a Texan (I assume because of Bush’s current political stance). The group was cackling because country-western stations are boycotting their songs and some of the Dixie Chicks’ concert engagements have been cancelled. “Well, what did they expect?” said one of my luncheon partners. I pointed out that if she were speaking out because of personal convictions then perhaps you had to admire her for being willing to give up so much income, even if you didn’t agree with her. I’m not sure that I convinced too many people.

• Another conversation centered on the testimony a Sunday school teacher gave his students at the church of one of my luncheon companions. “He said that he had to tell the kids something very important. Back in the sixties our church told the young men what to do. They told him to be a conscientious objector, so he did. Now, looking back, he feels guilty. He feels like he’s done nothing for his country.” When I pointed out that his feelings didn’t stem from becoming a conscientious objector, but were instead rooted in the fact that he allowed others to do his thinking rather than reach a conclusion on his own, I got another set of blank looks. I must be having a “please kick me” day, because I persisted. I pointed out that this was just the flip side of the situation they’d been discussion regarding the Dixie Chicks. This was a man who failed to think on his own and came to regret it. That started a barrage of its own … the man couldn’t have ignored his church and gone to Viet Nam because it would have ostracized his church, his friends and his family. I did not point out that sometimes the right decision is the hard decision, and this man is hardly in a position now to blame others for a decision he made over thirty years ago.

• In still another conversation it was said that “In the end, the man is our President and you have to honor that.” Another person cracked that “Yeah, right … Clinton was president too!” That raised a round of guffaws, and when the laughter died it was pointed out that Clinton had lost his right to our respect because of his morality. By this point I had at least learned to hold my tongue. Nobody would have appreciated it had I observed that it was strange that a man lost respect because he did some extra-marital boinking, but a man was worthy of respect if he was orchestrating a scenario in which thousands could be killed.

While this comes across as though I were against the upcoming war, it’s really just a function of my anti-chameleon tendencies. Put me in with the pro-war bunch and I end up devil’s advocate. But put me in with the anti-war bunch, and I play devil’s advocate there as well. The only place I blend in is with people as bewildered as myself. And that’s not a comfortable place to be either. For someone who keeps harping about having the “courage of one’s convictions”, apparently the only thing I can be convicted of is inability to commit.

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I found an interesting little article yesterday: Passenger finds ‘chilling’ note from bag handler.

To summarize, a passenger traveling from Seattle to San Diego had his bags searched after checking them in. This isn’t a big deal. I think we have all come to understand the necessity for this and accept such heightened security. When the passenger collected his bags and opened them, though, he found the following handwritten note: “Don’t appreciate your anti-American attitude!” This note was apparently a response by Federal Transportation Security Administration inspectors finding a couple of war protest signs in the guy’s luggage.

Did I miss some recent important milestone in this country? Has it become “anti-American” to exercise your first amendment constitutional right? If possession of protest signs has become un-American, can book burnings of “Catch 22” and censorship of “Dr. Strangelove” be far behind?

As it turns out, the passenger (from New Jersey) thought protest signs on people’s front yards in Oregon were something of a novelty. You simply don’t see that in most areas of the East Coast. He picked up a couple of the signs in Seattle because of this. He wasn’t actively picketing anyone, but simply possessed a couple of protest signs as souvenirs. The FTSA is investigating the report and says they will take “swift and appropriate” action if the culprit is found and turns out to be one of their employees. I will be interested to hear what they consider to be “appropriate action”.

Yes, I’m still fence sitting on this whole war issue. I wish I had possession of more facts regarding Iraq’s transgressions, but also realize that there could be legitimate reasons government officials don’t want to release this information in full. I want diplomacy rather than weapons to be the solution. I know this can’t always be the case. I don’t know if we have really reached the end of the diplomacy rope or not.

What I do know is that this situation is apparently opening the door to an old danger. In the 1600’s we burned witches in Salem. In the 1950’s we ruined men’s lives in Washington DC by accusing them of being communist. Shall we now, having crossed the threshold of a new millennium, continue an American tradition of intolerance by persecuting those who have the audacity to speak their minds?

I will never understand someone who purports to be a true American because he recites the “Pledge of Allegiance” with the phrase “under God” in it and because he supports the President blindly, implying anyone who fails to follow his example is anti-American. A “true American” will question things he feels are wrong and will accept that there can be different viewpoints from his own. “I may not like what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” is more than a catchy phrase. It is a cornerstone of this nation. Pull that stone from the foundation, and everything it supports will crumble.

I am rapidly coming to the reluctant conclusion that the terrorists who attacked on September 11th may have already won. They haven’t won because we have increased security inside and outside our borders. They haven’t won because our President sharpens his sword while elements of our population protest for peace. They haven’t won because people have been frightened, cowed into purchasing duct tape and canned goods. The terrorists have won because they have apparently successfully inserted a wedge into our country’s most basic tenets, giving intolerance and Jingoism an opportunity to take hold and grow.

If we as a nation allow this to continue, then it hardly matters if we go to war, if Saddam remains in power, if North Korea has atomic weapons, if bin Laden escapes capture. It won’t matter because we will have lost sight of ourselves. It won’t matter because the things that made America a nation to take pride in will have died and there won’t be anything worth defending.


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I had things to say about my day and doings, but I don’t feel much like it anymore.

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