Fear Breeds Polarized Politics in America

There are not two possible political opinions. There are thousands. I would consider myself mostly Liberal politically, and 100% Liberal by the standard definition of the word. Although when I come across an issue, I do not find what Michael Moore or Al Franken thinks of it, then parrot him. If I am interested enough, I will search the web and my public library for news articles, scholarly essays, historical accounts, and the like, trying to get to the truth of the matter.

I do not have a stance on everything. When I do have a stance on something, it is usually not final. I am open to facts which will overturn my argument, or afford me the chance to revise my argument and make it stronger.

I am not anti-conservative. I hold a few beliefs on certain issues considered right-wing, and I have many friends and relatives who are outspoken conservatives who have voted for Bush and will vote for him again in November. I’ve drunk with these people, and grieved with them, and laughed with them. They are not ruining the country. They do not “hate America”. They are not my enemy.

Just because PETA believes that it is wrong to eat animals doesn’t mean I or all Liberals believe the same. In turn, just because some Conservatives believe that segregation should be reinstituted doesn’t mean all Conservatives believe the same. And just because I take issue with the Bush administration does not mean I take issue with all Conservatives or Republicans.

Violence is not the logical end result of every disagreement. Truly free persons can argue at length, never agree, and walk away without hatred, or, for that matter, stay and have another beer in camaraderie. That is the result of intelligent free _expression. Dialogue is elevated when we can engage in calm, rational debate. Through our educated opinions, based on facts, and not simply cheering for the red or blue team, we can come closer to the truth. In this point in our history, intelligent dialogue is necessary if we are to establish unity.

If I am against any group, it is one whose idiotic, childish worldview has lead to an insane calling-up of Hell on Earth. They are Terrorists – those who believe that their side is the absolute Good and that the other is absolute Evil, and who try to convince others of their beliefs, not by logical argument but through fear and moral tyranny. Not only terrorists like the Saudis who murdered 3000 on September 11, 2001, but those, like Nazis, who believe that their class of human is higher and more elevated than the other based upon either bloodline, politics or the most damaging - religion. Those who pound into the brains of their followers that there is evil – witches, communists, liberals, terrorists, Muslims, Christians, Americans - lurking among us, ready to strike at any moment, until that Evil, by their own self-fulfilling prophecy, becomes Reality. These are the Architects of War, the Creators of Hell. Those who construct ideologies of two teams, one being smart, manly, righteous, and the other perverted, immoral animals that should be eradicated. This is the current philosophy of al Qaeda, the Taliban, and the U.S. Government.

I cannot deny that stupidity is at an epidemic. When 70% of Americans believed Saddam Hussein was directly involved in 9/11, the rest of us knew something horribly weird was going on. Maybe it has been that way always – even Mark Twain in his day wrote that people, of this and all nations, are by and large dummies. But what is stupidity? Certainly there are those born with mental defects and do not possess the capacity to think like the rest of us. But what I’ve come to realize is that many people are not born stupid, they are just mentally lazy. They fear knowledge and resist it. They attack anything that contradicts their established beliefs. And laziness of the mind always leads to misunderstanding, which leads to unnecessary conflict. It is easier to believe that the world is divided into the absolutes of good and evil. A man who thinks that way does not have to think further. A fearful populous is a static populous; a fearful mind cannot gain knowledge, and that is the food that the Terrorists, Architects of War, feed upon. Certainly what Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda have done is psychotic – because they do not see their enemies as humans – humans who all possess potential for positive and negative. They see the world in absolutes. You are either with us or against us.

This polarization extends into our national dialogue. Millions of people believe that Liberals are Evil – many believe the same about Conservatives. The pundits pedaling this childish crap are making millions of dollars.

Issues are not debated at all. They build a straw-man and burn him down. They argue with form, rather than substance. In this country, we are still arguing based on the way people dress, the type of music they listen to, who they fuck, the type of diet they choose, what they do with their free time. What is that other than characterization to cast the other side as evil? Dumb dumb dumb. It’s gotten so dumb that people are fearful to give their political opinions and get nervous whenever someone brings up politics, lest we be on opposing sides. There’s a latent cowardice to these kinds of politics. While the straw man builders think themselves to be tough, patriotic, smart, and brave, there is no denying the intense fear that burns in their hearts, which is the basis of their political platform.

Most people, I believe, aren’t such simpletons. There is a Silent Majority of Americans who hold their own, sober opinions. They are not drunk with rage or fear. They do not hate their fellow Americans. They simply want the truth.

Fahrenheit 9/11

Michael Moore’s latest is not to be taken as the absolute Truth, of course. It is an essay, an argument. In a free society, people are free to hold and express opinions.

Having said all of the above, I do believe it is a weakness of Michael Moore that he casts light on his opponents as a sort of greedy, corrupt corporation type of evil, and in doing so often uses suggestive documentary footage, spliced in at suggestive moments, that doesn’t do well in revealing the whole truth. It doesn’t seem like he’s trying to calmly convince the “other side”. I hate that he does this, because it is bait for those who wish to dodge the central issues he brings up, and because I don’t disagree with his greater points and I share the same questions he has of the Bush administration.

Another weakness of this movie is casting Iraq as a happy place with children playing and flying kites before we bombed them – No. What those “against the war” MUST deal with was the fact that Saddam Hussein was a fascist lunatic who had thousands of his enemies arrested, tortured and executed both inside Iraq and out, in 1988 turned Halabja into a chemical Hell, and destroyed 100,000 Shia after they were urged to rise up against him by George HW Bush, then refused American backing. Sure, Reagan/Bush backed Saddam Hussein with millions of American tax dollars and chemical weapons in the 80s, but Saddam needed to go. Sure, he wasn’t an immediate threat, having virtually none of those WMDs we sold him left, but eventually he would plot something against Americans, and that’s why I haven’t been totally anti-Iraq War.

In typical straw-man fashion, people who haven’t even seen Fahrenheit 9/11 are calling it lies, and others are pussyfooting around the issue with amateurish arguments about whether or not it should be called a “documentary”. A group of psychotics actually tried to harass and threaten movie theater owners so that they would be persuaded to cancel their screenings of the film. But these are the types of people I was talking about earlier – the intellectual cowards who run away from arguments, who cheerlead rather than play ball, who attack the arguer rather than the argument. I take the position of Lila Lipscomb, the woman featured in F911 who loses her son in the war, who “said she won't waste any energy debating the film with anyone who hasn't seen it.” (Ann Arbor News 7/5/04).

The movie shows a lot that needs to be shown, and that the media hasn’t shown: dead babies, napalmed civilians, soldiers disillusioned with their purpose, soldiers pissed off that they have to protect Halliburton contractors who make five times their salary, soldiers dealing with fear and killing, the ridiculousness of the color coded fear mongering by Homeland Security, the cheerleading by the media, and most powerfully documents Lila Lipscomb, a self-described “conservative Democrat” who believes in God, supported the Iraq War, hated protesters, and hangs her flag each day, not allowing it to touch the ground. Lipscomb supports the war but then loses faith after her son (who in a letter is critical of his Commander in Chief) is killed in action.

F911 also asks several questions which I haven’t seen answered, even in the best rebuttals. It does NOT suggest a conspiracy between Osama bin Laden and George Bush to cause 9/11, at all. It does suggest that Bush may be crafting policy because of his family’s business interests with the House of Saud, a connection which I thought everyone already knew about. Why were Saudis allowed to fly out of the country on 9/13/01? Why were members of bin Laden’s family allowed to fly out of the country later that month, without being questioned? I don’t think they had ANYTHING to do with 9/11 – but wouldn’t it be smart to question relatives of Osama bin Laden? Even if Osama is the “black sheep” of the family – don’t they know anyone who might know where he is? What he’s up to? How he’s making his money? And why did the Bush administration repeatedly block an independent investigation into 9/11? Don’t the White House’s business connections with Saudi Arabia present just a bit of a conflict of interest? How could the Patriot Act, an act which states American citizens can be held indefinitely, without charges, get passed so quickly, without anyone in Congress reading it? Even if you trust that the current president won’t detain citizens for reasons other than national security – don’t you see the potential for abuse of this Act by future presidents/attorneys general/FBI directors?

I’m sure there are reasonable answers to these questions, but I haven’t heard them. All I’ve heard as an answer is “Why do you hate America?” “Why do you love terrorists?”

F911 simply makes the case that politicians routinely put their own interests in front of the interests of the country, even if it means hundreds of American lives. It’s Moore’s opinion that the American People deserve answers, and if this kind of political corruption is going on, the politicians need to be held accountable.

Questions aside, there are some powerful moments in this movie, documenting the lives of real Americans, and that every American will be touched by, in spite of any political beliefs. Lila Lipscomb reminded me exactly of the mother of one of my close friends who has been in Iraq since the start of this thing, who is now an officer in the First Armored Division. It was like watching his mom on the screen. It was too weird. I couldn’t get over it.

Perhaps the climax of the movie comes toward the end, when Lipscomb is outside the White House. A woman jumps in front of this camera and says “This is all staged!” Lipscomb replies “My son is not staged”. The line states one of Moore’s purposes for making the movie – that war is Real, it’s effects are Real, and it’s not some cheap Rambo bullshit we can just watch from the comfort of our own homes, free from consequences. Like a soldier quoted in the film Gunner Palace said, “For y’all this is just a show, but we live in this movie.” It’s not a stage. And if we are going to put people through this Hell, then there better be a damn good reason for it.

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I’ve made accurate (albeit obvious) predictions about the Shiite uprising against the US occupation (though I got my psycho Islamic radical clerics mixed up), and about Kerry selecting Edwards. I hope that my doubts about this war were wrong, that Iraq will become a peaceful and stable democracy, and I hope this will inspire nations in the Middle East to see the idiocy of extremist Islamic monarchy and fascism. That hope will require that what I predict for Iraq will be false: violence in Iraq for years and years, new terrorism against the USA, more extremist Islam clerics leading to more dead Americans and Iraqi civilians, more beheadings, and, I hate to say it, more bad, bad shit, worse than what we’ve already been shown, coming out on Abu Ghraib.

But will two guys playing for the blue team, two guys who voted for the War and the Patriot Act, really do any better? I still say vote, but who the hell knows if it’s worth it.

The question no one can honestly answer at this time, and only history will answer: Was the Iraq War worth it?

But my opinion is basically shit. What am I going to say to my buddy, the first time I see him after he comes home? “Well, I supported you, I know you tried to rebuild Iraq, I’m glad you got Saddam, and I hope it becomes a peaceful democracy, but I didn’t support your commander in chief.” What kind of cheap, assuming bullshit would that be to say?

Or I could assume and cheapen from the other side, and say, “The war was great for America and you protected my freedom.”

But I don’t intend to give him my opinion, unless he asks for it. He had the balls to put his ass on the line, I didn’t, and that warrants at least a thanks from every American. If you want to raise my taxes to increase veterans benefits, that’s the least I can do. So I’ll tell him thank you, but, as much as I believe in it, my opinion and anyone’s opinion who wasn’t over there, in the sand and heat, under fire and watching their friends lose limbs and die, doesn’t mean shit. If I had my own TV station, I’d broadcast nothing but the stories of the servicemen, no matter what their opinion, 24/7. Theirs is the only story that matters. And even if one soldier’s story contradicts another’s, they will both be accurate. They are the only Americans - not Michael Moore, not the media, not George W Bush, not John Kerry – who know the truth about Iraq.

7/8/04

Some links relevant to this article:
“Poll: 70% believe Saddam, 9-11 link”
The Nonduality of Good and Evil: Buddhist Reflections on the New Holy War By David R. Loy – this better articulates the idea of the Good/Evil illusion (maybe I should have read this article before I wrote mine)
Check out definition #2
“Ad hominem attacks on one's opponent are a tried-and-true strategy for people who have a case that is weak”
m Documentary about soldiers who occupied one of Saddam’s palace. From what I can tell, this is a nonpartisan attempt to let these soldiers tell their story.
embedded reporter Evan Wright’s account of his experience rolling with Marine’s in Iraq – this is some good shit, even though Rolling Stone is a left-wing Britney Spears catalogue, Wright seems to just want to tell it like it is without political or faux-patriotic bullshit
Documentary interviewing hundreds of Iraqis and what they think about their situation
Rebuttal of F911 by Christopher Hitchens
Rebuttal of F911 by Dave Kopel
“Plans For Iraq Attack Began On 9/11”
“Barriers To 9/11 Inquiry Decried”
Fortune article on the Carlysle Group
Watch movie online about the Carlysle Group and their political connections
Website detailing Saddam Hussein’s crimes against Humanity
Genocide of the Kurds by Saddam in Halabja, 1988
US support for Saddam Hussein in the 1980s
LA Weekly editorial about the Anti-Saddam uprising in 1991
Good place to go for debating politics
Full text of the Patriot Act
Full text of the United States Constitution
Editorial about the Patriot Act II, or The Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, not yet passed
Iraq War casualties
Where your tax dollars are going