Angry Mothers and Opposing Views

Haven't said much on the political front lately, so here goes... maybe I can bring some clarity to my own mind.

This Sheehan thing has put me into an irrational blunder of mixed feelings over how media-propagated sides, or opponents, i.e., conservatives and liberals, are handling the whole idea of an 'anti-war' movement. There are so many people with so many different views on this whole mess (although we can generalize, of course-- these people don't agree with the war, while these people do), that it would be rather difficult to come to a happy little consensus over the myriad of factors involved in this complex ordeal. No matter which angle you come at this from, there is always an opposing angle, sometimes reasonable, other times not. Cindy Sheehan may not be entirely reasonable considering the circumstances, but then again, none of us ever really are, not entirely anyway-- to say that we are is absurd in itself. And besides, the whole idea of being reasonable has become less about making any effort to be logically consistent, and more about saying that one simply has reasons-- who cares about whether or not they hold up under closer examination. In many cases, one need not even a reason, or justification, but instead an appearance of reasonableness (I suppose dubya fails in both of these categories; never consistent, and hardly appears to be reasonable). Which is exactly what I'm getting at, on this tangent. How is it that one gains trust and 'capital', as it were, by appearing as the antithesis of rationality? I'll tell you how. By setting a new standard for rationality that involves NOT BEING RATIONAL. BRILLIANT! Anyway, back to the start-- rewind.

Cindy Sheehan is one person with proverbial balls big enough to camp out in a ditch next to dubya's ranch, not to mention the others who have joined her in recent days. One crazy neighbor has fired a shotgun (?not sure if just in the air or actually at the Sheehan camp?) to scare them, while another has driven through the camp with some kind of bar-chain thing that plowed over dozens of white crosses originally meant to be a symbol of memorium and support for soldiers fighting in Iraq. And another neighbor has offered up his land for the Sheehan camp as a show of support.

What Sheehan and millions of other people in the country (and world) do share -- aside from all the in-betweens, such as whether our army should pull out now, or how doing so would be handled -- is a desire to know what happened, and what is happening, in regards to this fruitful endeavor of removing bad people from power. This is simply a desire for some kind of explanation, straight from the freaking horses mouth-- one that includes justifiable reasons.

One has to wonder, what goes through Mr. Bush's head as he passes a group of concerned parents? They have their opinion, I have mine, and there's no way in hell I'm going to tell them why every reason I gave for invading this country turned out to be a flop, because if I do, I'll get in big trouble and the people won't like me anymore. Yeah. I'm sure it can't be that simple, though one might infer that it is exactly the case. Amidst all of the noise, all of the opposition, this administration has done nothing short of making a mockery of viewpoints and opinions outside of their own, presumably for the purpose of maintaining a certain 'status', like kids playing king of the hill on a playground, pushing others down at the mere notion of anyone else reaching the top. Already we've got a profile of negative attributes that Sheehan might have: her husband filed for divorce, she's grieving and irrational, her extended family doesn't support her... maybe so, but it doesn't change the substance of her argument. An argument which is, the way I understand it: my son died in Iraq and I'd like to know why. None of your reasons are or have been justified-- until they are, I don't think our soldiers should be there.

I personally don't think that up and leaving Iraq would be a good way to go considering the colossal degree of responsibility that has been forced upon us by going there in the first place, but finding a decent answer for why we are there is certainly desirable. Such an answer might make due with a dose of accountability, which in turn could bring some clarity to certain foreign-policy decisions.

But such dreams seem fleeting. The whole concept of accountability has evolved into a steaming pile of defecation just as much as rationality has become you're daily serving of Bazooka Joe comics. Some people are beginning to see this. Apparently it's showing in the polls. Meanwhile our leaders are taking a break from varying degrees of soap-opera madness-- including, but not limited to: the president's involvement with regards to the exposition of an undercover CIA operative, the ongoing defiance of congress and the will of the public, and news reports that might be found on the internets.

If it takes a bunch of angry mothers to raise awareness, then so be it. Better angry mothers than empty slogans and inconsistent rambling.