Michelle Tucker is a political junkie, in a world full of them. She moved to Milwaukee from the south, and is still often surprised that it's OK to be a Democrat here; she's also quite in love with Russ Feingold (and Al Harris). Besides her political addiction, Michelle is a full-time student pursuing her Masters in Political Science, and is currently researching the influence of religion on American politics.Monday, March 24, 2008
More than numbers in Iraq
I’ve neglected my VITAL blog lately. In fact, I’ll even confess (with total remorse) that I’ve neglected the news, as well. I haven’t paid a damned bit of attention to what’s been happening in the world, nor in the world of politics (which I’m coming to believe are actually two separate things). I hope you’ll forgive me. Or not. Whatever suits your fancy.Today, I pulled myself out of post-move haze to read through the headlines. And I found myself faced with a sad one. 4000 dead in Iraq, and the newest casualties seen as nothing more than the ones that helped cross that horrible benchmark. Why aren’t more people upset by this? Why aren’t more people upset the way they were in Vietnam? Remember the protests, the anger, the mass appeal to the government to stop an unjust and unpopular war? Yeah, I know it was a different time, politically and socially. But to me it seems like the passive way people disapprove of this war is indicative of the laziness, and the self-absorption, of our society. Ask most people what bothers them about the war and they’ll probably tell you it’s the ever-increasing gas prices. But 4,000 people, 4,000 American citizens, are dead. It’s a sad number; it’s a number that should never have happened.
But do you know how many Iraqis have died since this war began? Any guesses? I did a little googling because I didn’t know myself. All I knew was that the number is much higher than 4,000. There are estimates that pass over a million people. Yeah, I just said a million. We’re so worried about our 4,000 dead (and it is sad, don’t get me wrong) but we’re not getting the bigger picture: we’re in Iraq under misguided pretenses and we’re to blame for the deaths of over a million people. For what? What did they do to us, honestly? Tell me. I want to know.
I’ll leave you with this clip, that you’ve made seen or read. I think it says alot about this war, about our government, about how our passivity and our self-absorption has allowed so much destruction. Here’s our V.P. in all his glory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SypeZjeOrY4
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