about this war...
Mar. 20th, 2003 07:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
memevectorI feel sad about the war plans, in a "bad things are gonna happen now and there's nothing I can do about it" kind of way.
I wrote to Tony Blair already, a month ago. I said I know ze has sources of information that I don't, so therefore logically if I knew what ze knew then maybe I would be convinced. But right now I was not. And I said "write back if you like". Although I was writing more for my own conscience than because I really thought ze would even see my letter emself.
Well, ze didn't write back, and I am still in much the same place - not convinced by the arguments I've heard in favour of going to war at this point. Not like "I know for 100% sure that it's not the right thing", and willing to hear more arguments in favour, but just not convinced. Not that my opinions seem likely to affect the happening of the war anyway, so in a way it's of little moment whether I agree with it or not.
But the thing is, regardless of the subsequent outcomes, and regardless of what people might say later about whether or not it "proved justifiable", there is no way to have a war without people dying and being injured and being bereaved. And there is no way to have a war without leaving some people at the end of it really angry and more likely to be violent than they were before. So even if I were sure that it was going to have some long term results I want, I would still be sad about it.
I'm not like "could never endorse any war" because I'm really glad that I didn't grow up under Hitler so I am glad that people stopped em and the armies under zeir command. But at the same time it's like: human beings are capable of so much, what is it gonna take to shift the culture to the point where other solutions kick in before we get to this stage, and we don't need to fight each other?
Also I've been thinking about responses to the war. Like what is there for me to do in the world, that seems like a fitting expression of where I'm coming from.
I was thinking of a quote from Alice Walker: "... human compassion is equal to human cruelty ... it is up to each of us to tip the balance."
and another one from Iain Banks,
... that people were people, much the same everywhere, and when they appeared to do things that were stupid or evil, often you hadn't been told the whole story, but that sometimes people did behave badly, usually because some idea had taken hold of them and given them an excuse to see other people as expendable (or bad), and that was part of who we were too, as a species, and it wasn't always possible to know that you were right and they were wrong, but the important thing was to keep trying to find out, and always to face the truth. Because truth mattered.
So in a way I think the most appropriate response is to practise not seeing any other human beings as bad (which is my policy anyway). Like Tony Blair who is doing what ze thinks is right (and fuckin' 'ell I'm glad I've not got zeir job). And other people I might disagree with. And Saddam Hussain as well, even though I don't endorse zeir actions. Ze is still a human being, and if I'd had zeir childhood then I might be a lot more like em than I am. And I don't need to ditch that thought in order to think about how best to stop em doing horrible stuff.
I was also thinking as a response to the war I'm gonna give some money to Childline. Obviously that's not about trying to prevent the government from going to war with Iraq. But having read Alice Miller on Hitler's childhood (and on the childhoods of various other people who seemed outstandingly impaired in the empathy department), I feel like there's a connection. I also like it because it's a recognition that not everyone in this country can count on having all their human rights recognised either (though I'd consider giving money to some kind of "rebuild Iraq" thing too). And in any case it's certainly a move in the direction of the future I wanna build.
Well that is what I think today anyway :-)
I wrote to Tony Blair already, a month ago. I said I know ze has sources of information that I don't, so therefore logically if I knew what ze knew then maybe I would be convinced. But right now I was not. And I said "write back if you like". Although I was writing more for my own conscience than because I really thought ze would even see my letter emself.
Well, ze didn't write back, and I am still in much the same place - not convinced by the arguments I've heard in favour of going to war at this point. Not like "I know for 100% sure that it's not the right thing", and willing to hear more arguments in favour, but just not convinced. Not that my opinions seem likely to affect the happening of the war anyway, so in a way it's of little moment whether I agree with it or not.
But the thing is, regardless of the subsequent outcomes, and regardless of what people might say later about whether or not it "proved justifiable", there is no way to have a war without people dying and being injured and being bereaved. And there is no way to have a war without leaving some people at the end of it really angry and more likely to be violent than they were before. So even if I were sure that it was going to have some long term results I want, I would still be sad about it.
I'm not like "could never endorse any war" because I'm really glad that I didn't grow up under Hitler so I am glad that people stopped em and the armies under zeir command. But at the same time it's like: human beings are capable of so much, what is it gonna take to shift the culture to the point where other solutions kick in before we get to this stage, and we don't need to fight each other?
Also I've been thinking about responses to the war. Like what is there for me to do in the world, that seems like a fitting expression of where I'm coming from.
I was thinking of a quote from Alice Walker: "... human compassion is equal to human cruelty ... it is up to each of us to tip the balance."
and another one from Iain Banks,
... that people were people, much the same everywhere, and when they appeared to do things that were stupid or evil, often you hadn't been told the whole story, but that sometimes people did behave badly, usually because some idea had taken hold of them and given them an excuse to see other people as expendable (or bad), and that was part of who we were too, as a species, and it wasn't always possible to know that you were right and they were wrong, but the important thing was to keep trying to find out, and always to face the truth. Because truth mattered.
So in a way I think the most appropriate response is to practise not seeing any other human beings as bad (which is my policy anyway). Like Tony Blair who is doing what ze thinks is right (and fuckin' 'ell I'm glad I've not got zeir job). And other people I might disagree with. And Saddam Hussain as well, even though I don't endorse zeir actions. Ze is still a human being, and if I'd had zeir childhood then I might be a lot more like em than I am. And I don't need to ditch that thought in order to think about how best to stop em doing horrible stuff.
I was also thinking as a response to the war I'm gonna give some money to Childline. Obviously that's not about trying to prevent the government from going to war with Iraq. But having read Alice Miller on Hitler's childhood (and on the childhoods of various other people who seemed outstandingly impaired in the empathy department), I feel like there's a connection. I also like it because it's a recognition that not everyone in this country can count on having all their human rights recognised either (though I'd consider giving money to some kind of "rebuild Iraq" thing too). And in any case it's certainly a move in the direction of the future I wanna build.
Well that is what I think today anyway :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2003-03-20 05:42 am (UTC)Laurence