Sandwiched between Pirates and Peace
Ahoy, mateys. Yesterday was International Talk Like a Pirate Day, started several years ago by local residents Ol' Chumbucket and Cap'n Slappy. This year, Cap'n Slappy and his wife, Mad Sally, were featured on the reality show "Wife Swap," changed to "Wench Swap" for the occasion. I am not a reality TV fan, but I am definitely a fan of plundering. And rum.
Just for fun, here is Mad Sally's account of her experience on the show.
Tomorrow is the International Day of Peace, which isn't nearly as much fun, but is probably more important in the scheme of things. Mayor Berg proclaimed tomorrow as a day of peace in Corvallis, too, and there will be a gathering in front of the Benton County Courthouse at 5 p.m. This will be a much larther gathering than the usual handful of folks who keep the daily vigil going strong day after day.
And no, it's not a partisan thing, nor does it show a lack of support for the people serving in the military. Unless you actually like war and think it's the natural order of things, or believe that striving for peace is an utter waste of time, this day applies to you too.
Just for fun, here is Mad Sally's account of her experience on the show.
Tomorrow is the International Day of Peace, which isn't nearly as much fun, but is probably more important in the scheme of things. Mayor Berg proclaimed tomorrow as a day of peace in Corvallis, too, and there will be a gathering in front of the Benton County Courthouse at 5 p.m. This will be a much larther gathering than the usual handful of folks who keep the daily vigil going strong day after day.
And no, it's not a partisan thing, nor does it show a lack of support for the people serving in the military. Unless you actually like war and think it's the natural order of things, or believe that striving for peace is an utter waste of time, this day applies to you too.
posted by Corvallist at
10:36 PM
13 Comments:
"And no, it's not a partisan thing, nor does it show a lack of support for the people serving in the military.
And yet somehow I remain unconvinced that the bulk of the commentary, banners and/or signs will reflect this non-partisanship spirit and anti-military sentiment. Why would that be?
By
Anonymous, at 6:09 AM
Oops, I guess not everybody got the memo.
http://img98.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pict0192hg9.jpg
Some people cant resist their Hugo Chavez moment.
By
Anonymous, at 6:42 PM
I don't get how leaving Iraq creates peace. It won't create peace in Iraq. I think liberals use the word "Peace" like conservatives use the word "God". That's my opinion. Striving to create peace, that's another story, and a worthy cause to pursue. I just think labeling getting out of Iraq as "creating peace" misrepresents the motives of those waving peace signs and I think their motive to be political in nature. We don't even have peace in our neighborhoods in America. If people want international peace, I would challenge them to come up with working alternatives to war, instead of just a word. Maybe some are doing this. If they labeled their vigil "Get out of Iraq" I think that would be more accurate than equating that with peace. It's hard for me to believe there will ever be peace in Iraq, whether we leave or stay. Then I read about "Peace Activist" Cindy Sheehan saying in her book that she dreams or fantasizes about killing the infant George Bush. Well this is nonsense, if true, and akin to pro lifers killing abortion doctors. I don't know any answers, but I do now see those Peace demonstrators, equate them with anti Iraq war demonstrators, understand that if we leave, that doesn't create peace in that region or in Iraq, and start thinking of them like I think of the Christian rightees, who use the word "God" in similar fashion, mainly to claim moral high ground and to power politics. Peace is a nice word and a great concept, and working on doable concepts for peaceful alternatives to war is wonderful. But......
By
Strayer, at 10:01 PM
Harry, are there any people in your political party who hold different views from your own? I'm sure you agree that there is a wide range of beliefs in either party, right? So please, try to keep that mind open a wee bit and understand that one sign doesn't represent everyone who showed up, let alone everyone who considers him or herself to be a peace activist or liberal or whatever label you'd like to use.
Some people can't resist their Rush Limbaugh moment, either.
By
Corvallist, at 10:56 PM
Strayer, you bring up a valid point. Just for clarification, I'm not a pacifist. I do believe war is occasionally necessary, if not ideal.
Iraq was a mistake before it started, however. You're right that we can't simply bail out and leave the place in a shambles (a shambles we largely exacerbated). But we're sort of doing nothing new, nothing different, and expecting that it'll all die down, which isn't likely. The gov't needs *some* plan, and that seems to be lacking entirely at the moment.
By
Corvallist, at 10:58 PM
harry is right to be unconvinced. i find it hard to be in the middle on any war.... and i suspect anyone's motivation in trying to position themselves in the middle... you either like it or you don't and i think people that like war should admit it... the anti-war side admits their side of the situation.... until someone can provide justification for killing someone as viable answer for solving a problem, i will continue to believe that violence is the last act of the incompetent... do i hear someone shouting "what about self-defense"? generally speaking, steps can be taken to prevent getting into bad places and THAT requires using our minds and communication with others. i know it's polyanish and not as sexy as a gun or a bomb but we should have ideals that aim toward long term solutions rather than the answer of a bullet
By
Anonymous, at 11:11 PM
ILC, there are some instances where people are poorly equipped to defend themselves. Witness the massacre in Darfur, or the previous genocide in Rwanda. I don't think troops should storm in willy nilly, but sometimes you need that older brother to protect you from the schoolyard bully.
However, the older brother in these cases should ideally be international groups with a mandate. I agree that violence doesn't solve anything and that diplomacy is absolutely vital... but if someone isn't willing to play along, sometimes there's no choice.
I think joining WWII was the right thing to do. I think defending Kuwait was the right thing to do, even as I think invading Iraq was wrong. The current policy of invading before something happens is horrible... diplomacy may be clumsy at times, but it was actually working AND we had the support of the world. Too bad we screwed that up.
By
Corvallist, at 6:43 AM
A UN sponsored "International Day of Peace" could only have become a partisan event as only liberals would have been that deluded into thinking you could advance peace either by having an international day for one or putting it on a bumper-sticker.
Now, do all liberal believe this is possible? Obviously not. Strayer makes a great point, that leaving Iraq now will not create peace. I dont believe Strayer is a conservative yet he and Rush Limbaugh would agree on the same point.
My point was you had billed this thing as a non-partisan effort, which, in my opinion, is just as about a non-starter as you feel the invasion of Iraq was.
Rush Limbaugh would not have been welcomed to speak at an "International Day of Peace" rally to explain his point of view. Hugo Chavez almost certainly would have been! At least by a sizable proportion of the crowd. (As small as it was).
Getting on to Iraq, your comments were disingenuous at best. The government does have a plan. That plan is to train and equip the Iraqi government to handle their own security. Yesterday the Pentagon announced another region being handed over to the Iraqi military relieving the US Army of its responsibility there.
Since you also agree that leaving Iraq now would not be a good idea, Im interested in hearing what you believe "new" & "different" we should be doing there.
By
Anonymous, at 6:46 AM
Gee, and I was hoping to read comments about the pirate show. My 8yr old son saw the previews a month earlier and was counting down to the show date - asking every Monday if the show was on that night. He was disappointed with the show until Cap'n Slappy "came aboard." As a mom, I appreciated Mad Sally's philosophies, which I would translate to mean "people first, stuff second." Must admit that I saw quite a bit of the Organizer Mom in myself. Glad there are people like Mad Sally out there to pull us back to reality.
By
Anonymous, at 11:26 AM
I concede that if the house is on fire, the firefighters need to go in and put out the flames at any cost. (RULES OF how people can be killed in WAR almost, but really DO NOT, AMUSE ME.) My point is simple in concept but regrettably, and obviously difficult in practice, to prevent the house fire in the first place. Unfortunately, some people actually think violence is the answer and they prey on the fears of those who are unsure of how to deal with others. Humanity has far too often allowed situations to fester to the point that resorting to solving them with a gun or bomb is the only tool remaining in the tool box. We find it difficult for numerous reasons to create or engage established peaceful processes.
By
Anonymous, at 12:35 PM
I loved the pirate show. I thought it was funny. I stumbled into it by accident. Mad Sally flinging her sword was something. I wish I had a sword I think. When Pirate John had labels across his shirt---hysterical. The young organizer girl child was cute but kind of scarey, in a big way.
As far as the Iraq war is concerned, I do believe trickery was used to get us into Iraq. I cannot remember the name of the papers, but those paper indicate plans to invade Iraq long before 911. I believe the Iraq war is increasing the threat of terrorism. But what to do, now that we are there? Is it moral to pull out and leave the Iraqis to the sectarial violence now so prevalent?
I don't know what the right thing to do is now. If we left, could they stabilize themselves? If we left now, I fear the country would fall to insurgencies and Al Qaida Iraq, where they could plan and plot away, with Iran's help and funding. I think we have increased the threat to America by invading Iraq, but what is the right thing to do now?
If we were less interested in the middle east as a whole, we would not be inclined to pay them so much attention or insert outselves into the politics of the region as we have done actively, both with Iran and Iraq, for so long. We could become less interested. We are interested because of our need for oil. People can blast big oil and criticize politicians for connections to big oil and claim the Iraq war was really over oil, but fact is, it is a hypocritical thing to do if you drive a car, if you use anything petroleum based, like plastics--if you are part of the oil consumptive problem.
To create an alternatives to war, in that region, one who wants peace might change their lifestyle to promote peace in that region. This would mean sacrifice. Stop using anything that involves in its production---oil. And campaign to urge others to do the same. At the same, encourage the development of alternate energy, its production, development and use, in place of oil. Sure it's sacrifice, but it might create a degree of peace in that region, at least. It's a thought. Waving signs is a social gathering. If enough people express outrage and wave enough signs, then maybe the troops would be brought home. But nothing, nothing would have changed. Not really.
By
Strayer, at 10:18 PM
I have struggled with the concepts of how to solve conflicts without violence for a long time. I suppose I believe that now that we have such unbelievably destructive weapons and tech capacity, and the knowledge on how to create destructive weapons is widely available, that it is crucial for human survival that we find ways to resolve conflict with minimal violence.
As for never killing, what a wonderful goal. I have never killed, but if someone broke into my house and went after me, I would fight to the death to protect myself. And if I saw someone harming another, I would attempt to intervene. I do believe our society has deteriorated because people do not intervene, when others are being violated, harmed, abused and harrassed. We let things go, small things at first, until larger violence is acceptable, even entertaining. I know this, because I have been victimized by violence over and over and over again. Nobody came to my aid. Not here, not right here, in America. And now I have a thing about those who protest violence in far away places, with violence so prevalent right here. It's not that I believe violence is the only solution anywhere. To create peace, we must begin here. What works here, maybe will work all over the world.
The violence in Lebanon did not promote stability for Israel. If your child was blown apart by a bomb, would you forgive the nation who delivered that bomb? I cannot find it in my heart to forgive those here in Oregon, who have beaten me and abused me. Would you have kind thoughts for those who hurt you or blew apart your family or friends? What if you were an unemployed 17 year old male and your parents were blown apart and therefore your life, or your little brother was blown up? Suddenly you are fending for yourself, alone, greiving and angry. You're going to get swept up into it by some group vowing revenge. I would be swept up into it. You don't swear allegiance or smile upon a foreign power who is blowing up your friends and family. You stick with your own people, no matter the price.
We can't ultimately win these foreign wars on terror by blowing people up, because we will create only more enemies. They'll in turn blow us up. We will react in like manner. But with the weapons out there now, the game of chess will end tragically for everyone. There will be no winner.
We errored going into Iraq without them attacking us. We blew the infrastructure to hell. Now we have to rebuild it. That was stupid, in my opinion--a stupid expensive bloody blunder. Or one of many stupid mistakes. But that is all behind us and we can't change what happened. We can point out that it was wrong over and over but that changes nothing about now and how we must decide what to do and how to create a solution and future.
We claimed Hussein attempted genocide with gas against the Kurds and yet at the same time, do we forget, the gas he used, we gave him the technology to develop, to use against Iran, in the Iran Iraq war. It's beside the point now, except we need to remember the history, because they remember, there, and so what we've done there, in that region, in the past, in my opinion, must be faced and included in decisions for the future.
We have played this region for a long time. We need to keep our fingers out of their futures. But is it too late for that? If we leave Iraq now, in the midst of the extreme violence they are currently experiencing, what would happen? I read that 3000 or more civilians died violently in Iraq just last month. Could it be much worse if we left? And our legacy to them is to destroy their countries infra structure and plunge them into civil war then leave?
I don't know how to fix the Iraqi mess. I don't know. I wish I did know because there are so many people dying there. Will time help, if we stay the course, if we do not demand instant gratification, or will a lenghty stay only make things worse, both there, and increase the intensity of anger in the region towards America?
Al Qaida says world war three has begun in Iraq. Do we play to that or, if we left, would that difuse such a claim? We need to be smart and not just brawn.
I think about cats and why they fight and why they don't fight. I think about neighbors right here in Corvallis and why some get along and why some don't. I think about my own neighbors. We were friends, or at least got along, until they painted a white property line, to seperate us, and then we began pointing out and noticing our differences. Classic conflict complete with misunderstandings due to our differing backgrounds/experiences between the haves and the have not (me). We no longer even wave when we pass on garbage mornings now. But we have acheived a sort of peace. Detente. We now ignore each other completely and pretend the other does not exist.
By
Strayer, at 11:06 PM
Military don't know how to create peace. Nobody teach them and it's not military job in the first place. Sooner we leave sooner it getting better.
Libertarian.
By
Anonymous, at 12:05 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home