Used to be you mentioned anthrax in this country, you were talking about a band.
As I said to my friend Matt, after September 11th, there is no such thing as paranoia.
To which he added: "Or rational thought."
As people retreat more and more inwardly, and our government tightens its glove a little more on us, we are now stuck in the odd position of deciding which freedoms we can sacrifice so that we can go back to our lives.
My favorite author, Chuck Palahniuk, wrote a terriffic essay on the state of insanity after 9/11. It doesn't judge, it just presents what he's witnessed.
I got this post yesterday from someone I know. Not a guy I know real well, or at all, but he sent me this because he seemed to think it'd make me laugh or something.
It didn't.
What to do if you happen upon a peace rally by stupid naive hemp-shirt-wearing college idiots, to teach them why force is sometimes needed:
1) Approach dumb rich ignorant student talking about “peace” and saying there should be, “no retaliation.”
2) Engage in brief conversation, ask if military force is appropriate.
3) When he says “No,” ask, “Why not?”
4) Wait until he says something to the effect of, “Because that would just cause more innocent deaths, which would be awful and we should not cause more violence.”
5) When he’s in mid sentence, punch him in the face as hard as you can.
6) When he gets back up to up to punch you, point out that it would be a mistake and contrary to his values to strike you, because that would “be awful and he should not cause more violence.”
7) Wait until he agrees that he has pledged not to commit additional violence.
8) Punch him in the face again, harder this time.
Repeat steps 5 through 8 until they understand that sometimes it is necessary to punch back.
Okay, let's start with the one that really pisses me off:
Approach dumb rich ignorant student talking about “peace”
Excuse me, so all the people who are against an attack are rich? All the liberals are rich? What the hell?
You show me a lower-class conservative, and I'll show you Bush's hired help. I mean, come on, now.
...and saying there should be, “no retaliation.”
Okay, there's that meme again.
"No retaliation."
Which is not the majority opinion.
This is right up there with that other meme (which my mom has been saying a lot lately) "If we're all talking about peace, then we won't be doing anything and this will happen again!"
Whoa. Long meme.
So, obviously, I can't speak for everyone, just me, but I say this:
Don't overestimate the power of the protester.
All this work that people are doing--and understand, I have not been at a rally, I haven't protested, I'm just a mouth--is only reaping the tiniest of results.
So what's to complain about?
Only the freakiest of the group are being interviewed.
Public opinion seems to be on the side of the war.
So why so insecure, dude?
Again, don't overestimate the power of the protester.
And don't underestimate the power of facism.
This week, when I hear people cheering real-life death and succumbing to jingoism, I realised how Hitler rose to power. I understood how facism really works.
Let me break it down.
Naw, fuck that. I'll just hit you with the first rule:
Take an undisputably awful situation or event.
Now, attach your agenda to it.
That's it.
That's all it takes.
So, let's finish up the other thing.
Shall we?
Repeat steps 5 through 8 until they understand that sometimes it is necessary to punch back.
Okay:
What to do if some All-American Bulletheaded Saxon Mother's Son pounds on you because you believe something different than he does.
Well, since it's already established that violence can sometimes be the answer, you can do the following:
1) Apologize for being goofy and offer him your hand in friendship.
2) When he takes it, have two of your friends grab him from behind and make him watch you.
3) Start punching his girlfriend as hard as you can. Make him watch.
4) He will start to say something like: "But she didn't do anything!"
5) Stop with the punching and explain that, by association, she's just as guilty. Offer him a tic-tac.
6) Continue this until he understands the difference between justice and revenge.
...Jesus.
I'm playing their game.
I'm making it personal.
Aw, shit, maybe I am part of the problem.
I've had this movie scene going through my head all day.
See, when you're a movie fan, you not only get songs stuck in your head, but scenes from movies, too.
It's about World War II veterans--one of whom has lost both of his hands in combat--and was, in fact, played by a real veteran double amputee with replacement mechanical hands.
Anyway, the scene is in this bar, and some guy comes up to him--the character's name is Homer--and asks him how the mechanical hands work.
Homer demonstrates by being witty and doing something very complex with them, like pouring a drink or lighting a cigarette, or something.
The guy than says to him something along the lines of how resentful he must be that the army sent him away to war, and something like this happened to him.
The guy then goes on to bad-mouth America and its government, to which Homer says something along the lines of, "You're lucky I don't got my hands anymore, buddy! Else I'd lay you out!"
To which Homer's veteran buddy steps in ("Let me do the honors, Homer!") and punches the guy in the face.
Great scene, right?
And I'm thinking about this today, and I realized:
Jesse, when we were younger, was a very active peace protester during the Gulf War.
Not that any of us appreciated this, then. Jesse (and he admitted this last night) would get really superior on you and argue his points like a madman--even if you were already converted.
Just to give this some perspective, someone once punched him in the chest during a peace rally. Jesse had already had chest surgery once before. (And ened up having chest surgery since) So, understand if he tended to take these things a bit seriously.
At the time, I was being Good Little American and stayed out of it.
When we went to visit mutual buddy Seth in Pittsburgh, the war was brewing, but hadn't started yet.
All the way up to Pittsburgh, I rode in the backseat while he and his then-girlfriend played the song "Give Peace A Chance" for what seemed like the entire trip.
I was a loaded gun.
When the war broke out, Seth and I found out about it first, and made the decision to steer Jesse away from any media for the rest of the trip.
To our credit, we were doing pretty good until we got to the student center.
Anyway, it was war, hoo, Good God, y'all, what is it good for, and Jesse now knew.
I remember his face at that point, though. He looked very defeated.
Hell, maybe he was just tired.
Anyway, it was because of these memories that I decided to call him last night.
Hey, dude, I said. Anyone call you a peacenik freak, yet?
There was a slight pause, and I got the feeling I'd insulted him.
"No," he said, "I'm...not like that anymore. I'm not like I was in high school."
He was in the subway when the planes hit, and was late for work.
"I was in such a hurry to get there that I ran down the street and somehow didn't catch that everyone else was just standing there, staring southward.
"I got into work and I said, 'Sorry I'm late--what'd I miss?'"
Jesus.
"Yeah. D'you hear about the big peace rally last night in Manhattan?"
No, it didn't make the papers here.
"It didn't really make the papers here, either--but it was right near where I live, and so when I walked outside, there was just WHAM, all these people."
I'm kinda suprised it didn't make the papers here.
"I'm not. I saw the headline to the New York Daily News today, and it said 'Tali-Boom.'"
Fuck me.
"I walked by a bar and heard people inside cheering at the bombing."
Like it's football.
"I gotta admit, though, I actually laughed when I heard that they were dropping food after they dropped bombs. I mean, is this a P.R. war or what?"
Oh, yeah. I like that they're doing it, but I also know they're only doing it because people are protesting. At least, I'd like to think that's the reason.
"Oh, I'm sure it is. But...I just see these kids running around in the peace rallys, and it's like...I remember being like that, and I know how little it gets you after a while.
"Don't get me wrong, I think that peace rallies are good, and we should have them...but..."
It's that bullshit superior attitude.
"Yeah. Plus I'm nowhere near as paranoid as I used to be."
I'm thinkin' I'm paranoid enough for the both of us, these days.
Welp, I just got back from lunch, and I just read the paper.
Inside the front page was a translation of bin Laden's soon-to-be-famous taped speech, where he stops just short of taking credit for the bombings.
How does this make me feel?
I wish I knew.
Last week I sent the following email to my dad:
I keep meaning to send a group email to the whole family, but stopping myself. It’s hard to explain, but in this day and age, I find it infuriating that when you suggest that a more thorough investigation of the terrible acts on 9/11 needs to be completed before we start a war, you get labeled a “peacenik freak.” Why is it so hard for some people to see that there’s a middle ground?
What’s really funny is that both the conservative side and the liberal sides seem to want all the same things:
1. To find and punish the terrorists who did this. 2. Not to be in a war. 3. For the other side to be objective when they argue.
Lately, everything just seems crazier and crazier. I guess I’m really a grownup, now.
He sent this back:
From: Tatsy Matsushita To : rob matsushita Subject : Peacenik Freak Date : Sun, 7 Oct 2001 07:11:00 -0700 (PDT)
Hi Rob, Good to hear from you and glad you had a nice quiet birthday.
Both Vicki and I were pleased to hear about your heart for peace before war. Vicki mentioned about when we lived on Kiowa and you were the peacemaker then. She remembers you showing the Bible to the kids to stop them from fighting - Do you remember this?
Truth be told, I really don't. It's a nice-yet-on-a-whole-other-level-creepy thought, I guess. Ah, I'll make it up to Satan later.
Anyway, I've been praying for the U.S. to use this tragedy as God always purposes evil acts - to turn evil into good. I believe that God wants us to "love our enemies" (Math 5: 43-48) because when we do that it will bring His blessing on both the righteous and unrighteous, the evil and the good.
I'm gonna jump in at this point and mention for those who don't know me, that my dad and my stepmother, Vicki, are very spiritual, and that I'm kind of not.
Now this may be in the form of "tough love" and in the context of justice, and I know I am not capable of understanding how or why God wants this done. Maybe it's to rid the Arab nations of the terrorists so that they would be more open to the Good News of God's Gospel or be in better fellowship with us. Anyway, President Bush needs our prayers...
You said it, Pop.
...because how does he know what God wants him to do, how does he balance the country's interests against his own personal beliefs, or should they be the same.
I'm pretty sure Dad voted for Bush, and has defended him to me.
I thought at times when I was a child that I might want to be president but "when I was a child, I thought like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child". Interesting, but when I looked that verse up, it came from 1 Corinthians 13 - the love chapter.
Just remember this wonderful Beatitude -"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." (Mathew 5:9).
Let's get an amen to that.
We continue to pray for you to stay strong in your peacemeaker heart and we love you for your heart of love.
You were born with this heart and you have always had it throughout your childhood and you still have it as a thirty year old man. Happy thirtieth birthday again.
Love, Dad
Hmm. I guess I really am directly between my dad and my mom. Weird that it took me thirty years to get there.
Just recently, my friend Collin sent me an email to ask how I was doing. Since I'm a lazy, lazy man, I'm just cutting and pasting some news right here in my blog from my reply to him.
I just got tapped to write one of the Mercury Players’ “Love and Computers” thing, so I’m writing a short play for that—and I may direct it. I’m also acting in Brian Wild’s sequel to Tales For a Milennium (onstage in January), so it may conflict.
The official skinny on that is that RoundHill Theater Company (which is Steve Van Haren and Casey Grimm) will be producing it, with me directing, and Nathan and Dave reprising their roles.
However, this is going to be “Bette & Joan: THE SPECIAL EDITION,” with rewritten scenes, new material, and things that didn’t work removed.
“Orange Murder Suit," my sixth play for Broom Street, is a drama with an all-female cast. I'm still writing it, but I can tell you this: it will be affected by current events, at least in spirit. In it's early stages, it was about the violence (physical and emotional) that women do to other women because of men. Now, it's also about the futility of vengence.
Yeah, so, bring the kids.
And the year after that...well, I'll save that news for later, because it's a really cool story.
But if you like trashy horror movies, man, the 2003 show is really gonna be for you.
My mom and I had another heated discussion about the subject this weekend, and I still don't know how to feel about it.
She's concerned (and that's putting it lightly) that if we worry too much about Peace, we'll be left open to future attack, and in the meantime, we're not doing anything.
My concern is living in a country with a government that says: "We're going to war with this other, smaller country. We're not going to tell you why or give you any evidience, but just be assured that we're Doing The Right Thing."
This worries me.
My mom's reaction to this, when I mention it to her is: "You want a reason? Look at the New York Skyline. There's your reason."
But is it a reason or an excuse?
Believe me, I want it to be bin Laden. And, given the new evidence presented, it makes it look a little more likely.
But you can't tell me there weren't other suspects in this thing.
Comments by: YACCS