I've been thinking...

[Sophiegirl]

I don't post often, so when I do, I give my words a lot of thought before posting them.

So...

It has been on my mind lately that many Americans cannot comprehend the concept of war. Other than what they see on the evening news or in the paper, it is a faraway concept. To those people, it is like watching a movie. Something that happens on screen but not in real life.

But, if bombs were dropping in, say, an Atlanta suburb, or terrorist cells began blowing up large Christian churches in the Bible Belt...if people died en mass, as they are in the ME, they would be reconsidering their concept of war. I imagine they would want it to stop, no matter what it took.

Why are these people so willing to commend our out of control Supreme Leader for dropping an MOAB that devestates an area a mile in diameter, killing every man, woman and child? If it were their families or their friend's families, they would be clamoring or an end to the violence.

My fear is that when (not if) it begins to happen right here at home, many Americans will not really get it. They will be shocked, because they believe we live in a country that is impervious to attack. We are not.

Our so-called pResident is dragging us straight down that rabbit hole.

I'm scared for this country.

[NCTraveler]

1. Your point is well made.

This thought was exacerbated by the glorification of war done by our embedded reporters in Iraq. Even with cameras on the ground our country didn't see what it was like for most. Specially in the years following the invasion.

[Sophiegirl]

2. True

The embedded media did not show the devastating effects on the people...their everyday life's...the family and innocents that were lost.

[virtualobserver]

3. The ones who have been there understand it....

and they are usually reluctant to engage in it.

Quite often, they are attacked when they question the idea when others are clamoring for it.

[Rollo]

4. Good point...

I remember at the outbreak of Shrub's Iraq invasion of 2003, trying to imagine what it would be like if my house was in the middle of a similar war zone.

Not fun.

[Kentonio]

5. 9/11 should have brought home to people what devastation looks like

And made them think about how we're acting in the world. Instead it was the catalyst for far more violence and bloodshed.

[Sophiegirl]

6. And revenge..

At any cost.

[shraby]

7. That's what Mr. Shraby says. No one here has seen a missile flying over their heads

going to a nearby town.

[lunatica]

8. We have reason to be scared

I'm scared because I'm one of those Americans who believe it can happen here. Anything that can happen in other places in the world can definitely happen here.

[Sophiegirl]

9. I live in the D.C. Suburbs

It definitely makes me think about the possibilities.

[Doreen]

10. I am sure I am not the only one

but I have never seen what is going on on TV as something that is far away. Miles makes no difference when atrocities are being committed on other humans. I feel sickness in my stomach, fear, confusion, anger, deep sadness, and all out pain when I see what is being done. I feel the same but on a different level when those atrocities are committed on our animals and environment also.

We are seemingly going into a disastrous situation where this is going to be happening on a bigger scale than World War 2. I am scared for my fellow humans and all other life.

What scares me the most is that people who never thought they could do it get ugly. which makes it even harder to come out of what started the whole thing in the first place.

I saw the movie "Lord of the Flies" and it scared me because what those children did was just an example of what is to come. With a bunch of adults set in their way it is going to be worse. Look at the adults who are starting this are like.

[smirkymonkey]

11. K&R

[HeartachesNhangovers]

12. I read an article earlier this year (can't remember

exactly where, but it was likely in the Wall Street Journal). It was about economic inequality and the writer made the point that, historically, inequality increases in peacetime and only reverses during wartime when there is a draft and Americans who were forced into combat are actually dying. It takes lots of (non-volunteer) American casualties to motivate politicians to actually raise taxes on the wealthy, and it also takes having friends or family members being killed to motivate voters to demand that politicians do this. The writer backed this up with data showing tax rates before and after wars, and also the wealth distribution before and after wars.

The writer didn't say this, but I suspect that is a big part of the reason that the government resists a draft. Until they actually drag Americans to a foreign war-zone to be killed, voters are mostly willing to let them do what they want.

[Sophiegirl]

13. Do you have a link? nt

[HeartachesNhangovers]

14. Let me look around - I think it was the WSJ

because that's the only paper I read and only the weekend edition because of the book reviews and recipes, believe it or not. I may still have that one laying around. If I find it soon, I'll post here. If I come across it later, I'll PM it to you.

[HeartachesNhangovers]

15. Found it!

It's a review of a book: “The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality From the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century” by Walter Scheidel.

At the WSJ, it's behind a paywall: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-surest-cure-for-inequality-1484948199

The Atlantic has Scheidel himself writing an article, but it's obviously different than the WSJ review:
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/02/scheidel-great-leveler-inequality-violence/517164/

[Sophiegirl]

16. Thanks! nt

[CK_John]

17. I was born before Pearl Harbor attack and joined the military soon after

the Koreans truce and drove friends to the Canada border during the Vietnam era. Some of us have been effected by several wars.

It seems to be a tribal thing that the world doesn't know how to handle.