I was going to do as Rintrah said he was doing, that is, try to ignore this war as much as possible.

But it just isn't possible, and I found myself spellbound as I watched live coverage of four hours of battle at Umm Qasr last night. Just the thought of live broadcasts from the front lines left me totally awestruck. That is a tremendous freeing of information control restraints. International tv coverage, live. Nothing barred, no editing, no covering up bayoneted babies in yurts.

Tanks lobbed shells into bunkers, troops emptied clips into windows, jets dropped bombs on buildings. It wasn't the canned "Lights Over Baghdad" footage of the Gulf War, or some newsreel shown at 11 of previous events, clipped down to five or ten seconds and shown to the left of some talking head. It was real, and it was happening as I was watching.

It's a totally new concept, and maybe it will have some effect on people to show them that maybe the proverbial wool isn't always being pulled over their eyes. Some things are true.

I am horrified by some of the signage I've been seeing (here as well as in the media) about the war. There have been some very anti-soldier statements being made, some very hateful things said about Coalition troops.

The Dixie Chicks said (before retracting it) that they were ashamed to be Texans (in reference to Bush). Sometimes I am ashamed to be an American. People's vehemence (on all sides) sometimes gets so out of hand that it becomes no longer about the issues (whatever canned opinions people have about them) and more about hate. It's ok by me if you oppose the war, but it isn't ok to hate the troops fighting the war. Granted, Americans are free to think and say what they wish and that is precisely what many Americans have given their lives for in the past.

I wish people could respect that.

To everyone who is either supporting or opposing the war: hating the other side isn't the answer. When you bring your emotions to the table, you lose your freedom to think. You become a mere puppet of your anger, your outrage, or your sense of moral superiority.

The politics surrounding this war, in combination with public opinion I've observed in the past, has led me to the ultimate conclusion that no one has claim to be right, and when people begin to make or believe that claim (as they inevitably do), it is at that point where talk (and whatever semblance of rational thought) ceases, and human animal emotions and violence begins. Idealism and moralism lead only to conflict.

But of course, I could just chalk it all up to the inherently violent animals that we are. As even a recent video game commercial acknowledges, civilization is only skin deep. Our religions, our nationalisms, our morals, our laws, and much of our art--all of this supposed "civilization" is a mere self-imposed facade to allow ourselves to deny that we are, in fact, beasts.

~Halcyondream~

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