Chrisonomicon

Friday, March 14, 2003

Via A&L today, Oriana Fallaci explains to pacifists that, "When peace stands for surrender, fear, loss of dignity and freedom, it is no longer peace. It's suicide." Fallaci argues two reasons we should not wage war on the Middle East and yet ends with a particularly strong one for it. What I really resonate with is Fallaci's insistence that this war is not aimed at liberation, as the Bush administration would proudly claim -- "Humanitarianism has nothing to do with wars" -- nor is it a war over oil. It is a war based on pure politics.

Resolutely:

What if instead of becoming democratized by the Pax Americana the whole Middle East blows up and the cancer multiplies? As a proud defender of the West's civilization, without reservations I should join Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair in the new Alamo.

I'd be much more willing to support this administration's aggression and defend America's Alamo with my life if I didn't feel like I was being led along by Bush and the media, however -- being told to look one way and believe in the propagandized rhetoric of freedom, security, unity, and Happy American Family Values or be labeled "unpatriotic." If they'd cut with the thinly-veiled humanitarianism and come clean about their true intentions regarding the threatening instability of Islamic extremists, they'd garner a great deal more support from people who are tired of being urged to play along in this make-believe Hollywood-scripted Greek tragedy, I'd imagine.