Unheard political rambling
Well, almost nobody reads my LJ because:
1) I post maybe 10 times per year.
2) The majority of my posts thus far have been about quitting smoking which was my greatest achievement, but also happens to be cripplingly boring to others.
3) Nobody's really interested in what I have to say.
So, to my audience of nobody, I have this to say:
The undeniable success of the Iraq elections strike me as an interesting study of human nature. Most if not all of my friends range on the political spectrum somewhere between "liberal" and "left wing". And almost all of them seem to have a tough time acknowledging how cool it is that the elections went so well. On several occasions, I have said "hey, pretty cool about those Iraq elections, eh?" and have been met with stunning silence.
After the silence comes a guarded "yeeees..." or something like that. I think I understand why. Many of my friends have become so fervently anti-Iraq-war that they are uncomfortable acknowledging a positive outcome of it. To them, I guess it's like saying "Boy, the streets in Aceh sure are *clean* since that tsunami, eh?"
For some reason, this bothers me. It bothers me that people can not recognize a good thing or acknowledge a triumph of human spirit if it could upset their politics. That's closed-minded bullshit. 8 million Iraqis literally risked their lives and voted so they could take charge of their own destiny, and that is simply awesome. Not only that, but we're finally hearing from the vast silent majority of Iraqis, and their message seems to be "Screw the insurgents. I want my country back." I, for one, see this as the first good news in the post 9/11 era.
For the record, I was against invading Iraq. But that does not prevent me from seeing a good thing when I see it. It does not retroactively justify our invasion, but it's a beautiful sight to behold. And I can be happy with that. I wish more people could.
-ATW
1) I post maybe 10 times per year.
2) The majority of my posts thus far have been about quitting smoking which was my greatest achievement, but also happens to be cripplingly boring to others.
3) Nobody's really interested in what I have to say.
So, to my audience of nobody, I have this to say:
The undeniable success of the Iraq elections strike me as an interesting study of human nature. Most if not all of my friends range on the political spectrum somewhere between "liberal" and "left wing". And almost all of them seem to have a tough time acknowledging how cool it is that the elections went so well. On several occasions, I have said "hey, pretty cool about those Iraq elections, eh?" and have been met with stunning silence.
After the silence comes a guarded "yeeees..." or something like that. I think I understand why. Many of my friends have become so fervently anti-Iraq-war that they are uncomfortable acknowledging a positive outcome of it. To them, I guess it's like saying "Boy, the streets in Aceh sure are *clean* since that tsunami, eh?"
For some reason, this bothers me. It bothers me that people can not recognize a good thing or acknowledge a triumph of human spirit if it could upset their politics. That's closed-minded bullshit. 8 million Iraqis literally risked their lives and voted so they could take charge of their own destiny, and that is simply awesome. Not only that, but we're finally hearing from the vast silent majority of Iraqis, and their message seems to be "Screw the insurgents. I want my country back." I, for one, see this as the first good news in the post 9/11 era.
For the record, I was against invading Iraq. But that does not prevent me from seeing a good thing when I see it. It does not retroactively justify our invasion, but it's a beautiful sight to behold. And I can be happy with that. I wish more people could.
-ATW