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Wasss once a man
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Posts: 1,430
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Join Date: Nov 2006
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I was writing something that was gonna be even more huge and make everyone think I'm a heck of a lot more seriously political than I am, so I deleted it. That said, I never can keep things brief and have a history of coming across as way more strongly-opinionated than I really am...!
I do just have to say that 9/11 and the invasion/occupation of Iraq are not a "they started it" situation. It's true that potential support to Al-Qaeda and/or other anti-American bodies was one of the justifications the US administration gave for taking action when it did, but the main reason (and what got the UN to sign off on the use of force to protect international security) was the whole WMD thing -- the Iraqi administration was actively developing, or seeking to develop, weapons that (judging by the administration's track record of genocide, invasion, etc) would more than likely have been used on its own people as well as anyone else it wished to oppose.
I may find the timing a bit dodgy (like, why not sooner!) and I'm saddened by the political and social mess that's resulted, but I totally believe Saddam deserved what he got. I don't see that as any kind of resolution/retribution for 9/11 though and I'm still hoping to see Osama apprehended any day now...
I have mixed feelings towards war in general -- I won't say that war won't solve anything, as I do think there are situations where only the application of force will bring about a resolution. As for fighting myself, while I do like the idea of training to master violence (I liked what Storm Shadow was saying when he was training Billy...) I've never had any desire to join the armed forces. I don't really have a patriotic spirit (don't even want to live in my home nation...!) that would get me to go anywhere else to fight on behalf of my country. If everything I knew, loved and held dear were being actively attacked as it was 60 years ago I'd probably feel differently but right now I'd be too questioning of who was actually telling me who to fight, and why. Trying to draw a distinction or links between the actuality and ideal that is my country, and the people who are just in a position of power enabling them to send people to fight to the possible benefit of political & economic agendas which aren't necessarily anything to do with the ideal I want to support. Fighting to stop those who commit human rights violations, general "good versus evil," could motivate me but I do see too much grey in what does & doesn't actually happen (why fight supposedly for that sort of thing in oil-rich countries when there are always reports of atrocities in African nations where nobody intervenes?). Maybe if the UN had armed forces I could join without needing to join Britain's...
I think that's the appeal of GI Joe -- the enemy is outright evil with its own selfish agenda, you can completely justify fighting Cobra when they're a military force performing acts only an opposing force could counteract. And as lehsreh and TG said, the fantasy of the conflict, in imagining and re-enacting it through play, can be a way to vent the violent feelings we all get in a safe way. I bet if things could be as clear-cut as the fantasy of GI Joe, a lot more of the anti-war crowd would want to pick up a gun and try to get a shot at the guy with the blue rag on his head...
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