Eating Your Cake
Okay, the State of the Union address was a waste of time. No actual information, just a chance for the old rhetoric to be played back in the political version of syndication. However, something great did happen last night, and when I say 'something great', of course what I mean is 'something that perfectly illustrates what I've been talking about for the last few days.'
Two women were removed from the proceedings for messages written on their shirts. Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war activist mother of a soldier killed in action, wore a shirt that said "2,245 Dead. How many more?" Beverly Young, the wife of a Florida Congressman, wore a shirt that said "Support the Troops." Both women were brusquely escorted out of the building for wearing their respective shirts.
Now, I don't agree with either of these women, per se. I give Cindy Sheehan a bit more leeway because I have to imagine that having a son killed in the course of an immoral occupation has to be taxing on the emotional health, but I definitely don't agree with her about an immediate pull-out of Iraq. We shouldn't have been there in the first place, but unfortunately, we broke it, and it would irresponsible to drop it without doing everything in our power to hand control over slowly and carefully. Beverly Young is just a panderer sucked into the theme of Nationalism to garner votes for her husband... I don't question that she considers herself a patriot, but she doesn't have any excuse for being an extremist. It's not that I don't agree that we should support our troops; I just don't believe we should "Support or Troops" as translated to mean "Support This Failed Occupation," which is of course what the shirt really means. Looking at it from somewhere in the middle, though, I can say unequivocally that neither woman should have been removed from the proceedings, as neither woman was causing any sort of disruption.
I listened to a good variety of talk radio today, which was a mistake because six straight hours of State of the Union dissection caused my brain cells to leap lemming-like from my ears onto the hardwood floor surrounding my workstation. Both sides brought up this issue, but of course, both sides focused only on the woman whose statement most agreed with their message.
If you believe Cindy Sheehan should not have been ejected, then you must argue that Beverly Young was treated unfairly as well. If you agree with Young's husband that to throw out his wife was a "Shame. Shame," then you must also argue that Sheehan's ejection was equally shameful. If you can not bring yourself to do this, then you are part of the problem.
There was a whole lot of discussion today about what happened at the State of the Union, and you'd have thought the two sides had watched two different events. It boils down pretty quickly, though: Bush was disingenuous, and the Democrats were indecisive. There's nothing new to report. The T-Shirt Incident, however, may be one of the most salient political events to occur in a long time, if you look at it from the standpoint of what it really says about us as a society and individuals.
Two women were removed from the proceedings for messages written on their shirts. Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war activist mother of a soldier killed in action, wore a shirt that said "2,245 Dead. How many more?" Beverly Young, the wife of a Florida Congressman, wore a shirt that said "Support the Troops." Both women were brusquely escorted out of the building for wearing their respective shirts.
Now, I don't agree with either of these women, per se. I give Cindy Sheehan a bit more leeway because I have to imagine that having a son killed in the course of an immoral occupation has to be taxing on the emotional health, but I definitely don't agree with her about an immediate pull-out of Iraq. We shouldn't have been there in the first place, but unfortunately, we broke it, and it would irresponsible to drop it without doing everything in our power to hand control over slowly and carefully. Beverly Young is just a panderer sucked into the theme of Nationalism to garner votes for her husband... I don't question that she considers herself a patriot, but she doesn't have any excuse for being an extremist. It's not that I don't agree that we should support our troops; I just don't believe we should "Support or Troops" as translated to mean "Support This Failed Occupation," which is of course what the shirt really means. Looking at it from somewhere in the middle, though, I can say unequivocally that neither woman should have been removed from the proceedings, as neither woman was causing any sort of disruption.
I listened to a good variety of talk radio today, which was a mistake because six straight hours of State of the Union dissection caused my brain cells to leap lemming-like from my ears onto the hardwood floor surrounding my workstation. Both sides brought up this issue, but of course, both sides focused only on the woman whose statement most agreed with their message.
If you believe Cindy Sheehan should not have been ejected, then you must argue that Beverly Young was treated unfairly as well. If you agree with Young's husband that to throw out his wife was a "Shame. Shame," then you must also argue that Sheehan's ejection was equally shameful. If you can not bring yourself to do this, then you are part of the problem.
There was a whole lot of discussion today about what happened at the State of the Union, and you'd have thought the two sides had watched two different events. It boils down pretty quickly, though: Bush was disingenuous, and the Democrats were indecisive. There's nothing new to report. The T-Shirt Incident, however, may be one of the most salient political events to occur in a long time, if you look at it from the standpoint of what it really says about us as a society and individuals.
posted by Zafrod at 4:13 PM
4 Comments:
Old Cindy's found the best kind of therapy there is. She spends her time attacking those who made her unbalanced.
I can't say I agree with her mathematics though. With Americans murdering other Americans at the rate of about 6 9/11's per year, I'm just not that concerned with the behavior of foreign weirdos.
I guess, and that's fine. In this fair nation, the right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances is guaranteed by a pesky little document called the Constitution, no matter how badly Georgie wanted to catch reruns of Seinfeld instead of dealing with that dead guy's mom.
I'm just saying that perhaps the rational left and the Democratic party would do better to employ a mouthpiece that is a bit more stable.
As for numbers, I'm actually more concerned that, as an occupying force, conservative estimates (nobody is bothering to actually count, of course) put the number of Iraqi civilian casualties at better than 10 9/11's. I had no idea all those dead Iraqi 10-year-olds were a threat to our freedom, but I definitely get the impression that their surviving siblings might become threats to our security.
Thanks for your opinion of my comment on forty two's blog. I do not feel that I'm beyond the horizon. I feel like I AM enjoying life while I'm alive. What define's 'enjoying life' for you?
Hey Jishwa... It's a little off topic here, but briefly, I hope you weren't offended. I didn't mean to insult. It's not a matter of enjoying life, it's a matter of getting everything out of it that you can. You have a finite attention span, and if you are constantly looking forward, you can't be experiencing the present fully... it's simply impossible. I don't mean to belittle your beliefs, I'm simply pointing out that, like any lifestyle choice, it requires one to weight the advantages and disadvantages, and for me, the disadvantages would outweigh the advantages.
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