Thank you. Just... thank you.

[hermionesviolin]

I was thinking last night. All of us complain and bitch about President Bush, but in the future, 20 years later in textbooks, he won't be remembered for all of this shit. Not for the rejected environmental laws or the pretzel or the Patriot Act. The only people who'll learn about the messed up elections are AP US History Students. Years later, Bush will be remembered for liberating two countries that everyone was afraid of.

Whenever Afghanistan was mentioned in the past, you'd hear about how horrible it was for women. Now that's no more. Girls can actually get an education. For Iraq, everyone hated Saddam (if you said you didn't, it's b/c you're afraid of getting shot) and people pitied the Iraqis. Now that's no more. All because someone decided not to sit back and watch and talk about what's going on, but to actually go out there and change it.

I'm not Republican. I'm not a Bush-supporter. I wouldn't have voted for him. But you must admit, knocking down two horrible regimes during a single term is pretty up-there. Yes, a lot of people were killed, but all of this would happen eventually. It just waited for the person with enough guts to do it. Even if you hate Bush, you have to agree that it's going to be better without the Taliban and Saddam. I didn't know how much Iraqis despised the latter until they were knocking down statues and smacking them with sandals. That's amazing.

You can be the person that leans back and complains about what's going on, or you can be the person that goes out there and changes it.

It makes me wonder. Perhaps the 2000 election wasn't as wacked-out as we think. The butterfly ballot scandal came out of nowhere; it was such a random thing, with a huge effect. If those old people in Florida voted correctly, Gore would've won. If Gore was president, all of this undoubtedly wouldn't have happened. Women in Afghanistan would be stoned in streets and people would be afraid for their lives to speak their minds in Iraq. It makes me wonder if this is the way it was meant to be, if this is a plan of someone above us.

Comments

Um, I kinda went off on this article...

[laynamarya.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I can see, sort of, what this person is saying, up to a point.

But I have two issues. One is with going out and changing things. I am trying to get into the peace corps, right? So, I really truly believe that there are other ways to change things than violence. Yeah, so we toppled two regimes. Ok. But that's not the end-all, be-all. America is just showing itself to be more dominant, more let's take over the world, than ever before. We think your government sucks. Let's drop bombs on your country. Yeah. And ok, a lousy government is bad, dictators are bad. But war and death and all the pushing and shoving that America is doing is worse. And I don't think, in the long run, it'll fix anything. Who's to say the next ruler will be better? Shouldn't America just go in there and run the country for them? They are so obviously inept.

I mean, where do you draw the line? Where do you stop being helpful and start being destructive? Whose side are we on, anyway?

We have GOT to share the world. We can't just tell everyone else what to do. We can make suggestions, we can help where it's reasonable. We can try to initiate change. But at some point, we have to back off. America just can't stop when it needs to.

It's not like we're the Mommy of the World, and all the other little countries are our children, and we have to do everything for them and keep dangers away from them just cause we don't want them to get hurt. We're all grown-ups here. We have to deal with our own problems. And we have to respect other countries as being valid, even if we don't like their governments or policies or cultures or whatever. Being rich and powerful doesn't give us inherent rights to tell everyone else what to do.

And about inherent rights. What is this implication that God put Bush into power? I don't think so. God does not have anything to do with screwy ballots. Don't you dare bring God into this. THIS IS NOT A HOLY WAR. And even if it were, it's the same God on each side.

This war is not about freeing citizens, this is not about toppling evil regimes.

This is about power. This is about American supremacy. This is about holding grudges. This is about saving face. This is about oil. This is about blood.

You know, come to think of it, I don't agree with this article at all.

Re: Um, I kinda went off on this article...

[evil-laugher.livejournal.com]

Gah! Thanks for making me feel like shit.

It's not an article. I just had an idea and wanted to write it down.

I'm not saying that destruction is good and whatnot. I was never pro-war or anti- it. I didn't want people to die, but I wasn't anti- it, because I was used to the idea. My point isn't even political. I was more observing on how there are passive people who expect things to happen for them, and there are people who go out and get things done. Being in the Peace Corps is the latter.

People had been bitching about Saddam for years and everyone's all "Oh, the poor Iraqi people!" Same goes for the Taliban. Then Bush comes along, is able to use 9-11 as an excuse, and wham-bam-thank-you-ma'm, both are toppled over. No cautious, wary peacetalks that are for courtesy and get nothing done. Just action.

I don't have a Poli Sci major yet, so I'm only saying this out of my limited knowledge. Look at what happened with Clinton. You have the Israel-Palenstine peace talks, and you can see how far we've gotten with those. Then you have the Kosovo.

"And about inherent rights. What is this implication that God put Bush into power? I don't think so. God does not have anything to do with screwy ballots. Don't you dare bring God into this. THIS IS NOT A HOLY WAR. And even if it were, it's the same God on each side."

Um, hi, I'm not a psycho Christian or fundie. I thought, hey, God works in funny ways. Maybe, MAYBE, this is a way of getting rid of Saddam. God wouldn't be too stressed about the casualties, because this is God, after all, looking at the big picture. It would explain the screwiness of the election. It was just a thought that came to me last night. It's not a political statement, a declaration of holy word. It's just an afterthought from 5 AM. It's my diary, and I write my thoughts. It's not a newspaper article meant to be shown around and scrutinized.

Re: Um, I kinda went off on this article...

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

Gah! Thanks for making me feel like shit.

I'm sorry. I hope you don't mind that i posted a portion of your entry (which i saw reading the smithies friendspage -- i'm not some random stalker). I think of LJ as being such a public forum that it doesn't occur to me to ask permission to quote stuff (bad English major *slaps wrist*) You've done a good job of responding to the points people have made. I hope you're not feeling horribly put out or attacked. (And believe me, my friends attack ideas and stystems of logic and all that but not people.)

Re: Um, I kinda went off on this article...

[laynamarya.livejournal.com]

Oh! I didn't know it was an entry. I'm sorry, I thought it was a published article from somewhere. I hate it when people debate my beliefs in my own journal.

I really did like your passive/active point. Yes, I really think that DOING something about the problem is far better than discussing it, although I really disagree with HOW the problem was dealt with, but I can agree that even war is better than letting the problem drag on and on, if we're already this involved.

But I AM sad that so many people had to die, and I'm worried about what is going to happen next. How can we know whoever takes power next will be good to the Iraqi people?

And I'm a religion major, so I am really sensitive about the idea that God is in favor of killing, for whatever reason. I believe that God gave us lots of options.

I agree that something had to be done, and it's good that something was done. I just really think there were better forms of action, you know? I think God gave us less destructive options.

I'm really sorry I attacked you without knowing that this was a personal opinion, not an article. I never would have insulted your beliefs like that had I known they weren't published and open for criticism.

Re: Um, I kinda went off on this article...

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

While i have apologized for posting part of evil_laugher's entry without asking, i would like to state for the record that i don't think you insulted her beliefs. You disagreed quite vehemently, but you were rational and mature about it. My feelings on this are colored, however, by the fact that i personally have no problem with people debating me/my beliefs in my journal, so i forget that other people often do.

(Also, while it is troubling and problematic to think that God condones or sanctions killing and suffering, i also find it comforting to think that things are part of a bigger plan, greater good and all that. I'm still working on this.)

Re: Um, I kinda went off on this article...

[laynamarya.livejournal.com]

i personally have no problem with people debating me/my beliefs in my journal, so i forget that other people often do.

Exactly. I know that if someone had responded to my ideas the way I did, I would have been really upset, and I think

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<i>i personally have no problem with people debating me/my beliefs in my journal, so i forget that other people often do.</i>

Exactly. I know that if someone had responded to my ideas the way I did, I would have been really upset, and I think <lj-user = "evil_laugher"> was upset that I did. For a lot of us, there is a great difference between the personal and the political. That's why I really hate the whole "your sexuality is a political statement" campaign. Some pieces of myself are just for myself.

But that's why I lock all my politically-oriented posts. I really don't WANT to know what most people think of my beliefs and opinions.