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Monday, November 13, 2006

Weird fantasies about war critics

Over at the Tanker Brothers blog, "Mel" has a post about Soldiers VS Anti War Protestors 11/13/06:

It's usually a waste of time to try to do a reality-check on something that's reads like political propaganda of the OxyContin variety. But sometimes I find myself doing it anyway, and this is one of those times.

Mel was surfing the Web on Saturday night and he checked out a site called Zombietimes, which I had never heard of before, and he didn't provide a link. I could have looked it up myself, I guess. But he said it featured "grown adults into their 50’s and 60’s protesting naked through public streets where children were present" and I don't seek out Web sites like that. Britney Spears' snake-handling video is wild enough for me. But apparently these scantily-clad folks were protesting against some war. Or war in general, he doesn't actually say.

Then he referenced as a contrast a 19-year-old soldier, also not otherwise identified and no link provided, who before he died in combat, had said, "If I could keep one dad from going to Iraq and I could take his place instead, then I'll feel like I’ve accomplished something".

He continues:

This wonderful young man with so much to look forward to died, on the other side of the world from his family and friends so these people had the right to walk down a public road naked and chant ridiculous nonsense.

I actually found the Zombietimes site VERY interesting, although it pains me that Soldiers I have so much respect for are fighting for these peoples rights to live free in such a prosperous country when they can find nothing better to do than simper and carry on at their perceived injustices.

And by paragraph three, the nudist parade has become a demonstration for world peace, a theme they apparently chose by chance:

Honestly, I would be very interested to know how baring yourself and walking down a public road is going to bring world peace. What we have here is people who have certain proclivities, of which they have the right, that are simply looking for a forum to express them. Hey, why not an Anti War Protest??

Now, I'm felling pretty disoriented by this point. But let's go with the flow for a bit here.

Mel proceeds:

People walking in public with banners proclaiming their support for insurgents and terrorists. Verrry interesting. No seriously, these are the people who seem to enjoy expressing the view that America, under President Bush, is a ‘Police State’. If that is the case, why are you all free to openly support the countries enemies?? Their blatant disrespect and disregard of the Military Personnel who give them the rights to openly proclaim such drivel (for want of a better word) and that of the families of the fallen DISGUSTS me. Women walking bare chested down a public road, many of them with children in tow DISGUSTS me. They can debate that it is natural and beautiful til they are gasping for air, the fact remains that baring your breasts to make a political statement is NOT beautiful. It’s tasteless and vulgar and worse that they should drag children along to witness it.

Uh, dude, if you should ever find yourself on a trip to Europe, you might want to avoid the local TV stations. And maybe the magazine racks, too. Bare women's breasts are not considered obscene there, though not necessarily appropriate to display on all occasions. And, believe it or not, it doesn't seem to have led to any mass outbreak of perversion or anything. I mean, unless the idea of bare boobs DISGUSTS someone so much that they think female breasts are perverted in themselves.

I do have some sympathy, though. The first time I was ever in Munich, Germany, I was walking through the big park in the city called the English Garden. And suddenly I found myself in the midst of a whole bunch of people, men and women, sunbathing buck nekkid! I was shocked and DISGUSTED, I tell you. What made it even worse is that I kept getting lost in the park and wound up walking through the same area at least three times! I was mortified.

Mel continues in this vein, the climax - I mean that in the dramatic sense, now - being:

And let this be a story of thousands upon thousands of brave men and women who would not lay down and take it when their respective countries were attacked on their own soil. Who would not accept the death of even one innocent civilian to terrorism. Who knew what had to be done, what THEY had to do and in that most selfless of acts, they stood up to be counted. Those who are currently deployed, those who have returned and those about to leave – You have earned the right to be called Hero.

If it is indeed the case that the battle lines have been drawn, then I am proud to support the Troops. While they fight on the frontlines of a war zone, I will wholeheartedly take my position in the frontlines of the war at home. Let any person who can not show support to these brave men and women step forward and spew their ignorant garbage, for it only further inspires me to stand by the Soldiers and their families.

Let them bring their ignorance to this site so that they may see how we react. Let them see their hate bind us closer as we stand together as one, united in our quest to fight for the freedoms we so enjoy. Let them see there is no place for their venom on these pages.

What the [Cheney] does any of this mean? First of all, in last week's midterm elections a majority sharply rejected the administrations war policies. So far, I haven't heard of one single case of people showing up to the polls in the nude. Or even women showing up with bare breasts.

Now, there are lots of strange people out there and I certainly don't feel moved to try to defend every public action by every war critic. But I've been opposed to the war since before it started and have followed the news on the war closely and also on antiwar sentiment and protests. And don't remember ever even hearing about the Zombietimes site. It's not hard to dig up extreme-sounding examples of things on the Internet. But if you look at some of the better-known antiwar sites, like Antiwar.com or TomPaine.com to name just two, I don't think you'll find them much focused on promoting nudity.

The point of Mel's post is that if you support The Troops and respect what they are doing, you must be, well, at least you must be not demonstrating against the war. And that the large majority of Americans who are critical of the war and want an exit sooner than later are DISGUSTING.

Well, I guess if you believe it you believe it. But there's a rhetorical trick involved, which is to equate the performance and heroism of individuals soldiers to the desirability of the war itself.

And it's worth contrasting the line of argument to the real world:

1) Many war critics are soldiers or veterans themselves, including veterans of the Iraq War. What polling data is available indicate that, if anything, soldiers serving in Iraq are even more in favor of an early withdrawal than the public in general. And even without polling data, why would we expect the soldiers as a group be any different in their opinions of the war policy than the public of which they are a part?

2) Were these alleged demonstrators actually carrying "banners proclaiming their support for insurgents and terrorists"? Nudists for Osama bin Laden? Bare boob owners for Islamic theocracy? Hard for me to picture.

3) But whoever it is that Zombietimes supports, it's ludicrous to try to portray war critics generally as supporting The Terrorists. If you have reliable reports of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Jack Murtha or Jim Webb carrying "banners proclaiming their support for insurgents and terrorists", then provide the links to the stories.

4) Anyone over the age of 14 or so is perfectly capable of distinguishing between the service and sacrifice of individuals in a particular role and the reasons they wound up there in that role. Jim Webb, the newly-elected Senator from Virginia, has a son in the Marines stationed in Ramadi. Particularly since he's a former Secretary of the Navy, I can't imagine he has any difficulty distinguishing his son's service and accomplishments from his criticisms of the policies the administration is applying in the Iraq War.

5) Mel describes himself as being "in the frontlines of the war at home". What war? The cultural war against Web sites showing nude pictures on Saturday nights? The war against the substantial majority of the American public who have rejected continuing the Iraq War?

A last observation about identifying the soldiers with the war. This happens in every war. The idea of giving up the fight seems to some substantial portion of the public like it would be dishonoring the dead. The various sides in the First World War thought that way as well. And the crowned heads of Europe insisted that the war had to be carried on, for over four years of largely pointless killing, as it turned out. And at least four of those great empires (Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman and Russian) fell as a result of the war. Whatever the emotional appeal, continuing fighting is not always the best policy.

This is one area, though, where very personal ways of coping with war spill over into the larger political discussions. When people lose a loved one, whether in war or otherwise, it's normal for the survivors to develop some sort of "survivor's mission". In wartime, some who have lost soldiers close to them develop a survivor's mission to cheer for the cause as a way of remembering. Others take an opposite approach, like Cindy Sheehan, and try to do something to end the war and prevent others from having to endure the same sacrifice. Other people find other kinds of survivor's missions. As a way of adjusting to a loss, you can't necessarily say in general that one way is necessarily better than others.

But the policy decisions on a war are not the same as admiring the soldiers, or honoring their memories. A country should never go to war lightly. But neither should it continue fighting if it becomes pointless, or, more generally, if the likely costs of the war exceed the benefits that can reasonably be expected to be gained.

And that can't be determined simply by reference to the individual heroism of the soldiers fighting the war.

posted at 5:11:00 PM by Bruce Miller

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