how is this happening?

[r-dub]

costofwar.com

[emmanuelxgoldstein]

This is what happens when corporate fat cats run your neighborhoods. Business is war, and war is big business. As simple and typical as it is, it's fundamental truth.

[r-dub]

i guess the title shouldn't be 'how is this happening' but maybe....'why are we letting this happen?'

am i wrong?

[emmanuelxgoldstein]

True.

A lot of it for most people just comes down to how easily they were duped into believing that it could be justified. I remember we did some excercises in my grade 11 Social Studies class about who felt what in regards to the war, as well as Canada's position. I didn't well I don't think, because I couldn't take it seriously. I just mocked the entire right wing agenda the whole time. haha. It was just some participation marks so it didn't hurt me. Anyway, since then, since the war has had time to take its course, I think the general opinion has shifted a lot. I find way more people who would have been supporting the war before are realizing it was bullshit to begin with. I mean, it's a fact already accepted by historians and taught in high school that the first time they went into Iraq it was primarily for oil.

I guess ultimately what it comes down to for most people is apathy, and feeling like they can do nothing. Especially as I said, by now, most people feel the damage is already done and there's no point now, despite the fact that even though Iraq is apparently sovereign, there are still thousands of American troops there occupying the country. A lot of which are dying because of the (simply put) pissed off Iraqi resistance (and can you blame them?). This war is way too much like Nam all over again. I find for a lot of young people, anything that involves thinking or anything otherwise deemed uncool is entirely out of the question. It's a lot of things, but I'll leave you with a lovely quote from a lovely movie... haha.

"You should get upset. Everyone should get upset. When, when Hitler was greasing the Jews, people were saying, "Don't get me upset. You're bumming me out." My duty as a human being is to be pissed off. Jesus Christ, not that it makes a difference on the first fucking place. Nothing ever changes, man. Fifty years from now we're all gonna be dead and there'll be new people standing here drinking beer, eating pizza, bitching and moaning about the price of Oreos, and they won't even know we were ever here. And then fifty years after that those suckers will be dust and bones and there'll be all these generations of suckers trying to figure out what they're doing on this fucking planet and they'll all be full of shit. It's all so fucking futile."

[r-dub]

so who's had enough apathy?

[chad loin]

I definatley have.

what can we do?

[r-dub]

chad!
exactly! we should start discussing ways that we can be effective in stopping this war.
anyone with serious ideas? this is a tough one for sure.

[Tyler]

that is a really tough question. the worldwide march before the war was shrugged off by bush like it was nothing, even though it was the largest protest ever. the fact that this war is being run by a country other than our own is another definite problem. i guess the best thing we can do is try to educate other people, as cliched and hippie as that sounds.

[chad loin]

this is something that is happening right now:
www.stopbushseattle.com/

Taking on something like this seems so huge, I honestly can't think of anything to do besides protest and education. I just think we have to start at the beginning in our own minds and in our family and friends minds to change the ways in which we support global injustices, wastes of resources. Everyday we support that shit with our dollars (wal-mart, kraft there's tons). We have to change our minds now, because we're all growing up and some of us might find ourselves in key positions where we can advocate major change.

but what can we do now? to stop this. Actually I just got a rad idea. We can type messages on the meter stamp that posts the US mail at my work. I should put a message on there like "vote for freedom on November 2nd" is that the date of the election.

what do you think?

[r-dub]

tyler.
i definetly agree with you when you say that we should educate other people......
and it does suck that protests that have been so large have gone virtually un-noticed by the people they were aimed at.....
so that's why we've got to think of more effective methods to get attention......other than bombing embassy's etc.

[Tyler]

that sounds like a good idea, but what is a vote for freedom? kerry's no better than bush. he'll just continue with the same crap, just in a less brazen way.

[Tyler]

its really hard to think of other ways of getting attention. i'm sure fahrenheit 911 has opened a lot of eyes, but i'm not a big fan of michael moore. maybe we could get disney to pay for us to make a movie?

[r-dub]

chad.
i do believe that little things like that can make a difference.
and like you say, first things first....we have to get more people understanding what's going on....and i'm talking beyond the classic "BUSH SUCKS" antics....because let's face is "KERRY SUCKS" too.
i do feel fortunate to live in a country that doesn't have as much to do with the 'terror' that is going on in the world....but what happens down south affects pretty much everyone....and it's a bummer.
keep spreading the word!

[r-dub]

michael moore is fine. i'm glad that he is around. i've been sick and tired of seeing right winged propaganda, that it's nice to see a left point of view in the mainstream media, in fact i think it's great! it is good to see things atleast starting to balance out a bit....we need more people in the public eye with a more leftist point of view.....after all isnt' that what 'freedom' is about?

i saw a bit of an interview with george bush & his wife on larry king last night.....and here is a bit about what he was saying....
first he was talking about how great it is to have the freedom to worship and practice any religion you want in the usa....then he switched over to how he thought that marriage should be kept 'traditional' meaning that he wouldn't support gay marriage.....
so how can a country be so 'free' and 'oppressing' at the same time? what a fucking asshole.

[r-dub]

here is what a group of american have to say.....

"Our country’s military now declares preparations to attack the Shrine of Ali in the city of Najaf in Iraq. Our country stands on the precipice of declaring war on Islam. An attack on the Shrine of Ali is an attack on the heart of Islam and must be nonviolently resisted in our country.

The US military is urging civilians to leave Najaf. We take this as a signal that our country is preparing to turn Najaf into a free fire zone, in which all who move, civilian or not, are targeted for attack. A free fire zone and an attack on the Shrine would significantly escalate the violence throughout Iraq, increasing the danger for all Iraqis.

As the fighting and crisis intensifies in Najaf, Voices in the Wilderness calls for nonviolent acts demanding an end to the fighting. Call your Congressional Representative, US Senator and John Kerry’s campaign headquarters in your state to demand that they publicly call for an end to all US military actions in Najaf, against its citizens and at the Imam Ali Mosque. Call candidates for federal office in your state and issue the same demand. If they don’t respond positively, initiate nonviolent direct actions at their offices. Such nonviolent actions can include: an occupation of their office; a daily vigil outside of their office; a fax campaign to their office demanding they issue the statement; or a phone call campaign to their office. Also, write letters to the editor of your local newspapers and hold vigils in your local community. The time to act is now."

this is quoted off of their website: www.vitw.org
voices in the wild.