Send Chris Arabia to Iraq — Update!
[Editor's note: For some context for this post, read a previous post, where this idea was hatched in the comments.]…
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
Send Chris Arabia to Iraq — Update!
[Editor's note: For some context for this post, read a previous post, where this idea was hatched in the comments.]…
Article comments
76 - Eric Olsen
Brian, Besides not addressing the matters I brought up regarding factuality, hypocrisy, the justification for your - at least now admitted - contempt for another human being you don't even know, and the staggering hubris that allows you to think you are in a position to make such judgments about a fellow human being, you are just plain wrong.
I didn't know anything about your campaign, as I mentioned earlier, because you did it on your own site. I had no idea what you wrote, what your motivation was, or even that you had decided to interject yourself into the equation in the first place until it came up here.
I have no motivation here - it's not my project, wasn't my idea, I have purposely kept it at arm's length and not assumed any direct role. If I can help it along and gain some publicity for the site - from which we all benefit, so much the better. Beyond that, I don't give shit and at this point and would not advise Chris or anyone else to participate in a project whose purpose was to be "sent to Baghdad to clean up the mess they made, with instructions not to come back until we send the last plane."
For about the 20th time, I am forced to take a step back and say what god died and left you as the final arbiter of human affairs?
77 - Natalie Davis
Well, I see my efforts to foster some peace in this dialogue have come to naught.
This really saddens me, folks.
Not that this would or should matter to anyone. Just stating my feelings re: the degradation of this topic and a project that, from my POV, was meant to do something positive.
We all ought to be careful about becoming that which we hate. From the peacenik standpoint, if we are going to advocate for peace, we have to guard against violence of the tongue, mind, fingers, and fist.
I think I'm done with BC for the day.
78 - Brian Flemming
Nat,
The text in the original promo link from the front page, the title of this post, the lack of context in the post and the spin in the comments thread combined (intentionally or otherwise) to give a false impression: That Chris Arabia, on his own, had conceived a desire to go on a trip to Iraq and simply wanted some funds to go there.
In fact, the origins of this story were far different. Had Chris not responded to the comment "William Lind has suggested that all neoconservatives be rounded up and sent to Baghdad to clean up the mess they made, with instructions not to come back until we send the last plane," none of this would even have happened.
But he did respond, I challenged him to back up his apparent commitment, and there has been a retreat from that original context ever since.
Given the origin of the idea, the natural combativeness of Chris Arabia even before any of this came up (as others have noted, he has been trying to start flame wars in the comments here for awhile), my general tendency to be an asshole when it comes to chickenhawks, and Eric Olsen's central role in framing this matter here on Blogcritics...well, I find it hard to imagine that this ever could have turned into a purely positive thing.
This wasn't about a writer's desire to go to the Middle East to observe. From the start, it was about cleaning up the mess in Iraq and chickenhawk hypocrisy.
Naturally, I agree that "We all ought to be careful about becoming that which we hate." I think that's one of the toughest aspects of war protest. At the March 22 protest here in L.A., as I was screaming vitriol at the police as they beat protesters with clubs, there was a moment where I realized I had completely lost control of myself. On the way home, I laughed at the absurdity of it all--peace demonstrators willfully provoking a conflict with police. Why fucking bother if it's all going to be war all the time anyway?
Later I read this quote from Michael Ventura:
He's right. The war on Iraq changed me. I'll never feel the same about my country or my fellow citizens again. I'm filled with anger and have no doubt been infected with war's "demonic properties."
At the same time, what's the other option besides fighting? And, if you're going to fight, what sense does it make not to fight as hard as you can? (That's a generic "you," not directed at you, Nat.)
The right wing, it seems to me, has largely become convinced that since they lack reason, they can win their fights with intimidation. They count on liberals just sitting down and taking it. And the latest tactic is to accuse those who actually fight them on the merits of "hate."
Someone who approves of the lower classes being marched off to fight and die and kill anonymous brown people by the thousands so that the U.S. can "project strength" (i.e., win midterm elections, make small men feel big, distract attention from massive failures elsewhere) deserves to be called on his bullshit, and there really is no nice way to do it. The excitement of the couch-sitting chickenhawks is partly what helped this slaughter to happen. And the fact that they couldn't see the people getting slaughtered and being forced to commit the slaughter as people is part of the problem.
And that's why I think Chris Arabia should "project strength" by joining the military, and why I feel comfortable calling him a coward if he doesn't do it. And while Chris Arabia is rather insignificant in the big scheme of things (as am I), if a chickenhawk's failure to go clean up the mess in Iraq can be used via publicity as a symbol for chickenhawks everywhere, well, that's how some good can come of this thing.
As far as I'm concerned, peace is what we should be working for in Iraq. Over here, I'm gonna fight the fuckers, because I don't see any other way.
79 - Eric Olsen
And as we all know, if Brian thinks it, it must be true; and if Brian believes it, it must be right; and any means to the right end, right? War for peace? Gee, sounds familiar - where have I heard that before?
Heaping public scorn on a professional colleague in an effort to subject him to either physical harm or personal humiliation - that's what it's all about, right? And completely ignoring either intentional or sloppy errors of fact, interpretation and judgment? Eggs must be broken to achieve the end of history, right Chairman Mao?
While I differ sharply with Natalie's view of the war, at least she has the moral probity to live her life as she asks others to do. This is worthy of respect.
I will say it again, the entire notion of "chickenhawk" is fundamentally flawed intellectual misdirection, a refusal to address the merits of the pro-war argument, puerile inability to separate the individual from the policy, and not worthy of anyone who wishes to be taken seriously as a thinker or anything else other than a petulant, frustrated contrarian.
80 - Phillip Winn
Can everybody just take a break until tomorrow, please?
If we're going to raise money to send Chris or Brian or both of them anywhere, then let's work on that. Airfare, lodging, NGO with which to volunteer, arranging for time off from work, etc, etc, all have to be done, and until then, everybody please just calm the heck down.
Gee whiz, it's like preschool in here.