[Peace-discuss] [Peace] This list is for brief announcements, e.g., 'Obama slaughters innocents..."
C. G. Estabrook
galliher at illinois.edu
Fri Oct 29 16:56:41 CDT 2010
"... War was really bad, unless your guy backed it. [A] common reaction to the
flyers in O-Land was 'But it's Bush's wars!' This is bizarre. Obama campaigned
promising to escalate war in Afghanistan. He's now escalated war in Afghanistan.
Bush has been gone for longer than most U.S. wars have lasted from beginning to
end. What in the world does Congress or Obama have to do to get ownership of the
wars?"
A Tale of Two Tribes
By David Swanson
Posted on 30 October 2010
On Friday evening, Charlottesville, Virginia's liberals were lined up the length
of the pedestrian street known as the Downtown Mall waiting to get into an event
with President Obama and Congressman Tom Perriello. Meanwhile the rightwingers
(or some of them, because the Tea Party had an event elsewhere) were at an
Americans for Prosperity event in a nearby park. And we misfits were handing the
same flyers to both groups and observing the different reactions.
We were unable to find a single person who was on hand for the purpose of urging
elected officials to do better, to move in a preferred direction on any
important policy. In fact, attendees of the Democratic rally were forbidden to
bring signs and saw no problem with that at all. We discovered that people had
shown up in order to be part of a communal deification or demonization of
elected officials, not to lobby them. This was not about policy, but about group
identity. These two crowds were not voting the lesser of two evils, whichever
candidate they deemed that to be. They were backing heroes and condemning
evildoers, from both sides in a form of tribal madness.
I handed the same flyer to members of the Tribe of O and of the Tribe of No. The
flyers read:
"Jobs NOT Wars
"Tom Votes for War $ — Obama Shows Up
"On July 27, 2010, 115 congress members voted against a $33 billion escalation
of the War on Afghanistan. Tom Perriello voted for it.
"On July 1, 2010, 100 congress members voted to fund only withdrawal from
Afghanistan. Perriello voted against that amendment.
"On March 10, 2010, 65 congress members voted to end the War on Afghanistan.
Perriello voted to keep it going.
"In May 2009, 60 congress members voted against dumping another $97 billion into
the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan. Perriello voted for it. Then, in June 2009,
202 congress members voted against that same war funding combined with a massive
bailout for East European bankers. Perriello voted for both.
"136 congress members have signed a letter promising not to cut Social Security.
Perriello has not.
"Tom Perriello: he listens to Obama. Does he listen to us?
"http://WarIsACrime.org."
Members of the Tribe of No all wore stickers that said "Cut Spending," so I
asked them if they'd like to cut the single biggest piece of spending. Several
of them, when they figured out what that was, said that they certainly would not
and began denouncing me as a member of the Tribe of O. I confess that it drives
me crazy to listen to people yell about cutting spending when they favor both
the largest and the most harmful spending program we have: the Pentagon. So, I
suggested they take their stickers off, and they suggested I leave.
Of course, I don't leave places if someone wants me to, so they told me I had to
leave because they had a permit for the park. When that didn't work they
threatened to call the police, which I encouraged them to do. But cameras were
starting to circle like vultures, and an amicable Republican Party guy quickly
stepped in and advised his brethren that I should be allowed to stay because I
was "anti-Perriello." I made sure he understood that I was anti-Hurt, but that
crisis had passed.
I had some conversations with people in the Tribe of No who agreed with me, and
others who were open to doing so. And it worked as long as we talked about the
wars and the financial cost of the military. If we strayed to any other topic,
such as schools, or the right to bear automatic weapons, or whatever, they
quickly spotted me as a member of the Tribe of O, and collaboration then became
risky if not treasonous.
While I was talking to one Nomian, a young man came up and quickly began yelling
about the need to fund the military or die, and the need to support our wars.
Eventually he showed me his war scars, but what he really wanted to stress
repeatedly was that he had been at the World Trade Center on 9-11. I'm not a
doctor, but when someone goes from zero to screaming in under 6 seconds, I
suspect they may have more to worry about than flawed political arguments.
There was nobody like that in the much larger Tribe of O. The Omians were all
against war, as far as I could learn. They read the first line of the flyer and
eagerly took it. Then they read part or all of the remaining text, and, in many,
possibly most, cases, they gave it back or crumpled it up and threw it on the
ground. They sometimes claimed the facts were wrong, but that was just a
baseless exclamation. Much more often they were simply angry that the facts were
right or considered relevant.
One rational woman said that she understood but "still liked him anyway." Even
in this case, it wasn't a question of calculating the political gain to be had
in voting for a flawed candidate. It was a question of "liking him" or not. This
was the tribe of the candidate backed by the NRA, but all the NRA hats were over
in the park on the heads of the Nomians. This was liberal territory. War was
really bad, unless your guy backed it.
Another common reaction to the flyers in O-Land was "But it's Bush's wars!" This
is bizarre. Obama campaigned promising to escalate war in Afghanistan. He's now
escalated war in Afghanistan. Bush has been gone for longer than most U.S. wars
have lasted from beginning to end. What in the world does Congress or Obama have
to do to get ownership of the wars?
Who knows? The important thing was that my friends and I were clearly from the
other tribe, and we were consequently denounced as supporting the Republican
candidate, Robert Hurt.
In fact, I voted for the third-party guy who has no chance because I'd promised
Perriello I would not support him if he kept funding wars. But if you want to
vote for the lesser of the two evils, which is clearly Perriello, knock yourself
out. And if you want to send me more Emails about how you'll protest him AFTER
the election, hey, I can't stop you. But I can remind you to uphold that
bargain. And I can encourage you to declare your independence from tribal
madness as soon as possible.
On 10/29/10 4:10 PM, John W. wrote:
>
> On Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 4:07 PM, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu
> <mailto:galliher at illinois.edu>> wrote:
>
> The aptly-named Mort?
>
>
>
> Nope. You're so far out on the fringe, Carl, I'm not sure you know who the
> REAL Beelzebub is any more. Seriously.
>
>
> On 10/29/10 3:48 PM, John W. wrote:
>>
>> On Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 3:38 PM, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu
>> <mailto:galliher at illinois.edu>> wrote:
>>
>> If they are in fact convinced that War is a Bad Thing, how can they
>> defend The One Who is responsible for it? (My text today is Judges
>> 4.6ff...)
>>
>>
>> While some there are who are non-believers, I have seen no one on this
>> list actively defending Beelzebub.
>>
>>
>> On 10/29/10 3:14 PM, John W. wrote:
>>> Thank you, Carl. I believe I speak for everyone on this list when I
>>> say that you've succeeded in convincing us, at long last, that War
>>> Is a Bad Thing. We owe you a profound debt of gratitude. Or is it
>>> a debt of profound gratitude?
>>>
>>> Reverently.
>>>
>>> John
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 5:15 PM, C. G. Estabrook
>>> <galliher at illinois.edu <mailto:galliher at illinois.edu>> wrote:
>>>
>>> "...Obama is forever 'murdering' people around the world rather
>>> than that his (administration's) policies indeed lead to the
>>> slaughter of innocents..."
>>> --M. Brussel
>>>
>>> "Killing one person is murder; killing thousands is foreign policy"
>>> --bumper sticker purchased from AWARE table at Farmers' Market
>>>
>>> I met Murder on the way -
>>> He had a mask like Castlereagh* -
>>> Very smooth he looked, yet grim;
>>> Seven blood-hounds followed him:
>>>
>>> All were fat; and well they might
>>> Be in admirable plight,
>>> For one by one, and two by two,
>>> He tossed the human hearts to chew
>>> Which from his wide cloak he drew.
>>>
>>> Next came Fraud, and he had on,
>>> Like Eldon, an ermined gown;
>>> His big tears, for he wept well,
>>> Turned to mill-stones as they fell.
>>>
>>> And the little children, who
>>> Round his feet played to and fro,
>>> Thinking every tear a gem,
>>> Had their brains knocked out by them...
>>>
>>> 'And that slaughter to the Nation
>>> Shall steam up like inspiration,
>>> Eloquent, oracular;
>>> A volcano heard afar.
>>>
>>> 'And these words shall then become
>>> Like Oppression's thundered doom
>>> Ringing through each heart and brain,
>>> Heard again - again - again -
>>>
>>> 'Rise like Lions after slumber
>>> In unvanquishable number -
>>> Shake your chains to earth like dew
>>> Which in sleep had fallen on you -
>>> Ye are many - they are few.'
>>>
>>> --from "The Masque of Anarchy," by Percy Bysshe Shelley, written
>>> on the occasion of the "Peterloo Massacre" carried out by the
>>> British Government at St Peter's Field, Manchester, on 16 August
>>> 1819, when cavalry charged into a crowd of 60,000–80,000
>>> gathered at a meeting to demand the reform of parliamentary
>>> representation. (Cf. the attack on the unarmed Bonus
>>> Expeditionary Force - 43,000 marchers, including 17,000 World
>>> War I veterans and their families - in Washington DC on 28 July
>>> 1932 by US army infantry and cavalry supported by six tanks, and
>>> commanded by Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur;
>>> Major, later President, Dwight D. Eisenhower was his liaison
>>> with Washington police, and Major George Patton led the cavalry.)
>>> ___________
>>>
>>> *British Foreign Minister who eventually killed himself by
>>> cutting his throat with a letter-opener.
>>>
>>>
>>>
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