Tag: Intervention

Anti-Capitalist Meetup: Syria — Can we talk? by UnaSpenser

I mean it. Can we simply talk about this? There are so many things to consider and ponder. We have a responsibility as US citizens and fellow human beings to those whom we might hurt, to be uncomfortable while we determine whether military action on our part is the right thing to do. It is also incumbent upon us to consider whether there are other things we might do. So, can we dig in and look at all that we know and enumerate all that we don’t know and speculate on all the possibilities which might explain both the current realities and the impacts of possible courses of action? Can we do this without being upset with each other for seeing things differently? Can we allow ourselves to remain open and to let more in than what we think we know or feel?

I challenge us all to hear out those who have a very different perspective, whether you think it’s a neoconservative tyranny or a manipulated scenario. We’re talking about bombing people. Certainly, we can afford the innocuous process of allowing ourselves to mentally wend our way down the myriad possibilities before we kill people, right? We have nothing to lose and they have everything to lose. If some country was threatening to bomb us and we learned that they weren’t willing to have a discussion about all the alternative assessments about what’s going on here and all the alternative action possibilities, we’d feel pretty worthless. Syria isn’t another target. It’s a country full of people. Give them the courtesy of considering every reason why we might not want to bomb them.

I’m going to outline some talking points for conversation starters below. I don’t claim to be an expert, in any way shape or form. I’m another Citizen Jane of a super-power wielding nation and I have tons of questions. I also have principles from which I approach things and, for the sake of disclosure, I’ll make those known as I pose the questions.

A Preemptive Strike-Reply for a Post-NeoCon World

(I’m traveling tomorrow, overseas.  I’ll be out of touch all day, and that’ll be a damn shame, as I love this place.  So I decided to post this now, and see if anyone liked it.  I wrote this exactly 2 years ago tomorrow, just after the midterms, because I felt we were going to win big in 08.  We had to win.  And I needed to be prepared, or something like that.  I’d forgotten about it until today when I heard Rove the pundit blathering nonsense to the ‘faithful’.  Neocons for some odd reason still believe they have relevance, still believe they hold power.  This is how I envision dealing with them.  Their mouthpieces, their valued pundits…well, they’re another story.)

Hi.

My name is ___.

I know you.  

You know me.

The passage of time and our mutual close proximity to each other on the job is what makes that possible.

That and nothing more than that.

(This is an intervention)

I think we can agree that we have known each other for quite some time now.

For your part I know what you think of me, and have actually, many times, brought yourself to speak out loud the “L” word and send it my way.  It has been your highest insult, and I’ve always thanked you for the sentiment.

Because it’s true.