5000

Last night I recieved a mass e-mail. Within was a "heartwarming" story told from the viewpoint of the mother of a soldier. The setting involved a check out line in either a grocery store or some equally mundane retail establishment. It regaled us, the mass, with a story of a woman in a burkha who accosted the cashier who was wearing a pin with an american flag. The cashier responded "I'm proud to be an American and will always wear this pin." To which the burkha wearing villain replied "Why won't you stop bombing my people." Here we come to the crucial part of the e-mail. The part foretold by the title as being "the best reponse". A man put his arm around the soldier/son and declared loudly that young men like this one were dying to fight for her freedom. That she was in our country to escape something from hers. That if she was so willing to speak out now they would be glad to ship her right back to Iraq right now. Cheering all around!! It concluded that "If you believe this pass this on to everyone on the face of this earth". Well, maybe not exactly. But you get the idea.
Now my first reaction was one of disdain. So was my next one. I think it settled on offended and I immediately dumped it into the trash. It's taken me a day of pondering to try to put into words what it was that bothered me. To be honest, I wasn't fully aware of the reason.
Firstly, it reeks of propoganda. There isn't a drop of substance, no base at all from which to grow. It's hollow gestures drawing on simple ideals. Like telling you terror is wrong so what isn't terror is right. Or dropping terms like 'democracy' or 'freedom' into everything you say to justify what you are doing.
Don't get me wrong, I support the troops. I admire them, their efforts and their sacrifices. I just don't support the decisions that put them there or the people who made them. In my limited group of friends those that decided to join the military are either the ones I would label with terms like 'noble' or 'honorable' or the ones that were lost and needed the discipline to help them straighten out. It is, however, not in my genetic make-up to be military. I could use discipline in my life, true. But I would have difficulty accepting chain of command, which is necessary for the function of this machine. Also, I think I may fall into concietious objector category....hmmmm then again...maybe not.
Another thing that bothered me is simply, I wonder, if they were living in a country and their family was destroyed would they be thankful when those that did the bombing told them it was for their benefit. My point is that this story is one sided. It portrays the beliefs of those on "our" side and discounts any possible extenuating circumstances from the other that may cause one to react in such a way. It simplifies and objectifies those that wear burkhas. By emphasizing this one aspect it presupposes that anyone wearing a burkha is an Iraqi and holds these views as well. It shows an indignant righteousness on our part and a sense of resentfulness. Over all it makes me uncomfortable because I recieved it, in a chain, meaning other people do believe this and have felt the need to pass it on. I suspect as a generalized mass e-mail, that it has been circulating for some time. Uncomfortable=me.
I think the first initial response was to the fact that this e-mail was telling what and how to think. Similar to the mindset during our current commander in chief's first term where if you questioned anything, you were unpatriotic. I've never done well with that. If I could I probably would be making much more money now.
In other news....i quit smoking again. (hehe again.....)