Jeez. (Maybe this is the wrong reference for this piece, but anyway.) Really. Get over it. I got a “nice” comment saying that my support for Obama is supporting someone who is pro-war, pro-Zionist, and pro-corporate. Get off your high horse. Someone have an opinion that is different from yours and you are on it like white on rice. Let me tell you, mate. Before you start telling people they are anti-this or pro-this. Just take a deep breath and make sure you aren’t doing what you accuse others of doing. Being a bigot yourself. You are playing the politics of Bush here. Yes. Sorry to tell you. You are. You two are like peas in a pot. Smoking pot. BFF. Let me translate for you – as you obviously need a bit of help in getting translation services. Hell (no pun intended), you shouldn’t really ask me – I am not even English. But I’ll give it a shot. You know me – I am always willing to give it a go. Hum, just keep your shot pointed in the other direction thank you.
“You are either for us or against us.” Remember those words? Remember? Remember who said that before invading Iraq? Remember! And what did we say then? We said, “Hey buddy, just hang on for a moment. Just because we condemn the terrorist cowardly acts of 9/11 doesn’t mean that we agree with you invading Iraq. And even more important – it doesn’t mean that we supporting the other side either”. We didn’t believe he was right to invade Iraq. But we also didn’t support Sadam and his murderous ways of dealing with “his” people either. Caught between the devil and a damn hot place if you ask me. Bloody hell. Heads you win, tails I lose. And you get to flip the coin as well. We just stood there staring. we knew we got sold snake oil. But we couldn’t believe you and Bush did it while we were awake. Sold us bloody ice in Alaska.
It’s like watching a soccer match between Everton and Manchester United. And someone shouts from the stands, “Hey, you! Who are you supporting?” You know what? I am a Liverpool supporter. I shouldn’t be there in the first place. But there is no way I am going to pick sides. And just hang on for a minute before you say that it isn’t the same as soccer. Let me introduce you to the wise words of Bill Shankly (the greatest football manager to ever walk this earth) - “They say football’s a matter of life and death – but it’s more important than that“. No way am I going to make a choice between the Toffees and the Red Devils. No thanks. I am going to focus on winning the Champions League with Liverpool. Again. The Champions League of peace.
On a more serious note. You have an opinion – and I’ll give you one of mine for free. Don’t try to make my world black and white. It isn’t. I am not for you and I am not against you. I am not anti you and I am not pro you. I am grey. I am from this world. Warts and all. But this isn’t your world, baby. This is our world. Sorry to tell you that. This world is for people. Grey people who just don’t give a damn about your views. But we care a damn about your actions. Because that is where we come in. That is when we suffer.
We might not care about your “pro” or “anti” views. But we have to pick up the pieces after you. You and your “black and white” world. You and your “friends” who view this world as “for me or against me”. Yes you. I am talking to you. We have to clean up after you. Because we are the ones who will have to go to the people who suffer after you kill each other. In the name of “for” or “against”. We don’t give a damn about what you might think of us. And we don’t give a damn what you think of the world. You know why? Because we have to clean up your crap. The crap you leave behind when the “for” fight the “against”.
And in the middle are people who are just trying to make a life for themselves. But they can’t. Because you are “for or against” and you and your friends/enemies force them to chose while facing the barrel of a gun. And you teach the children to hate as well. You make them see the world as black and white. You make them “for or against”. And we have to come in after you and your friends/enemies killed each other and help the people who have been stuck in the middle. The people who get hit by those rockets you and your friends/enemies launch at each other. And they fall on the people going to markets. Going to weddings. Going to funerals. Going to birthday celebrations. Going to worship. Yes. We have to clean up your sh*t when you are done and go back in hiding. I don’t care what you say or what you think. Not while you try and force the world into “for or against”. And most of us just want to pick the “or”.
I have enough sh*t to worry about in this life. How those people who suffer will get through the day. How we can help them survive while you fight your wars with your friends/enemies. And then I have to face my daughters and tell them that this world is okay. That they must have hope and love. That they must not hate or despair. And sorry, buddy. I won’t let you lie to her. I won’t let you do that to her. I have been there and I promise you – it is not a nice place to be. I wish my wife will allow me to swear in this blog, because I want to saw something. What you can do to yourself while I have to cry when I look at my girls and hope and pray they have a good life. A life where they don’t have to face you and your corrupt little mind of back and white.
We in South Africa were on the brink. On the brink of killing each other until no one was left. And somehow we managed to turn it around. We just stopped and looked at each other and said, ”This is stupid isn’t it? Killing each other”. But then we had leaders who could see through all the madness. See through the ideologies that was trying to kill our people until no one was left. Thank God for FW and Madiba. Two old wise men who just stopped. They just stopped the madness for a moment. We still have issues. We still have problems. But we can at least see the road ahead.
Here is what I am for. I am for peace – no matter what. I am for the people who suffer because of your hatred – no matter what. I am for love – no matter what. I am for hope for a better world – no matter what. I am for change – no matter what. I am for celebrating our differences – no matter what. I am for us – no matter what. I am for my wife and kids – no matter what. I am for living – no matter what.
Here is what I am against. I am against war – no matter what. I am against people who make war because they know no love – no matter what. I am against hate – no matter what. I am against this world where people are divided by despair – no matter what. I am against things staying the same – no matter what. I am against differences dividing us – no matter what. I am against those who divide us – no matter what. I am against death – no matter what.
No matter what.
So take your “for and against” and your “pro” or “anti” ideological baggage and put it where the sun don’t shine. I made my choice. You made yours. And I ain’t joining. But I’ll come pick up the pieces and bury the dead when you are done. Always have and always will. And Obama will stand next to me. And so will Madiba. And so did Gandhi. And so did Martin Luther King Jr. And so did Biko. Peace to you brother. Peace. I follow their footsteps. We’ll leave a path – follow the footsteps of love and the path of peace. You can follow if you want. But you won’t. Because that is one “pro” you can’t stand. Or can you? I bet you can’t. Hate and war is so much easier. The path of the coward.
Jeez. I promised myself I wasn’t going to get angry. So much for that. I’ll go hug my kids and my wife and remind myself why I get like this. This is their life these people are gambling with. And sorry. I am pro my wife and for my kids. And pro the people of this world who get caught up in the middle.
That’s it.
April 17, 2008 at 1:14 am
For the most part you’ve hit the spot. things are not as simple as the reactionaries claim. but making up the gray is white somewhere. Believing otherwise is relativism at its worst. There are some values which are absolute and the challenge lies in finding them in complexity.
April 29, 2008 at 9:12 am
George Bush said: “You’re either with us or against us in the fight against terror.” It was not related to Iraq and he said it on Nov. 6, 2001.
You’ve been caught up in Bush hatred and your mind is making things up. You would be better off applying this kind of illogic to Obama who really is scary and was so before Hamas endorsed him.
April 29, 2008 at 9:59 am
@Brad Brzezinksi – Fair enough. Here is the problem. I do support the fight against terror. Just not every fight he gets involved in. Iraq? Not part of the fight against terror. So I support the fight against terror, not just every fight he wants to get involved in. I drink water, not the Kool-Aid. Would advise for you to try the same. I don’t hate Bush, I just hate any unjust war. WTF does Obama have to do with it? Oh, Hamas, read my I endorse McCain piece. Hamas and Al-Qaeda are playing you for a fool and you are dancing to the tune with a smile. You are being played my friend.
April 29, 2008 at 11:43 am
Your title has given me an opportunity to comment on a specific issue in the US: Israel’s policies.
I think that there is a big problem in this country, and in others where there is an intentional effort to link antisemitism with dislike of Israel’s policies.
I say this because Israel’s “settler” movement is driven by their religious beliefs, which, as everyone knows, is a form of Zionism.
I’ve been stung a number of times by commenters who have accused me of hating Jews when I post sentiments that favor Palestinians and their cause. This kind of behavior is called PC (for “political correctness”) in my country (the US) and has been widely used to surpress honest debate. Brad’s post above is a very good example of the type of PC that would have been encountered widely between 2000 and 2006, when the GOP had complete, unfettered control of the levers of our government.
The idea of conflating terrorism with Islam as well as antisemitism and anti-Americanism is just simply tiring.
I’m glad that in our country today some of the lesser lights like the one above have been whipped back into their kennels. At least now one can debate and look at each item separately.
BTW, AA, I have always felt that selling bottled water in Seattle is a LOT like selling ice in Alaska. Who woulda thunk it.
May 31, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Zionism. I hear the word Zion which means unity which I like, Religious connotation. I think of a group unifying Religiously, again a good thing. I think of anytime a religious group unifying makeing the news, means someone somewhere is getting killed for a religion. This is bad. A good word gone bad and now used a label something as bad for something anything a particular person doesn’t like for either side.
Funny though I don’t remember anyone but the DNC using PC as a bludgeon against republicans who were in control.
June 2, 2008 at 11:43 am
EE:
You surely jest.
You don’t remember how the word “honesty” and “shoot from the hip” and “controversial” were code words for “racist”?
Silly me. OF COURSE only Dems practiced PC!
I will stand in a corner with my tonge securely fastened to a wall for my transgression.
And I don’t mean ‘transgression’ in it the paleooceanographic sense, neether!