Quote:
Originally posted by spookyfish
Actually, I think the only people who really are capable of believing this way are those who have never been put in harm's way. I've known enough vets personally and have talked with them enough about their experiences to know that very few, except for the most gung ho of them, are eager to see this country enter into war, unless it's absolutely necessary. Now, there are some (relatively few, from my admittedly small sample) who still believe that the action in Iraq was justified, but I consider that something a little different from what you're talking about.
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This is hardly scientific, but I recall in the ramp up to Gulf II, the folks brandishing the most rigid hard-ons for trampling Iraq were the people I'd least want getting my back in a bar fight. I would routinely ask "Why the hatred for Iraq? Even pre-Gulf I, the nation had done nothing to the US. It attacked Kuwait and we retaliated from the "world police" perspective. Why all the vitriol now?" They'd call me a fucking liberal. I'd usually say "Well, no... I agree with trying to create democracy over there and moving the war from our shores, but I don't really have any reason to hate Iraq or even its leaders." Then they'd tell me about how Saddam put people in woodchippers. I'd usually smile and say "Well, he only did that AFTER we stopped supporting him against Iran, right? You are aware that we were his piggy bank for a healthy portion of his rule, right?" Usually, the reply to that was for the opponent to throw his hands in the air and call me a "goddamned liberal", despite the fact that I was a registered Republican.
Beating the right in any argument is like beating your wife in an argument. Even when you win, you lose. When facts don't work for them, they jump to policy; when policy fails them, they leap to emotion/patriotism. Its like negotiating with a five year old. All they know is that they want what they want, and they don't care how intellectually dishonest they look in the process of demanding it. Its really quite brilliant - just like the 10 year old demanding the new video game at the mall can wear his parents down, so does the right wing wear down anyone who disagrees with it.
But being an effective idiot makes you no less an idiot.
