From a Letter to a Friend
Thu Aug 31, 2006 at 11:02:36 PM PDT
This is from correspondance with a long-term friend. A close friend of my brothers, less so of mine, but still someone I like and have known for over 20 years.
I don't think I did as well as could have. I'm looking for advice and a community discussion on how to approach people like this.
Am I correct in my assumption that you grew up in a family that either had someone in the military in harm's way while you were young or that had someone within the past few generations die in a war? I have never met anyone who actually saw combat be as irrationally protective of the holiness of every military adventure the US undertakes. But I have frequently seen in among families who feel that by doing so they are upholding the honor of fallen and/or imperiled relatives.
Why do I look for psychological explanations for your positions? Because you're a very smart man and some of your hawkishness is so stupid that if I didn't know better I'd think you were lampooning the very positions you mean to defend. When you talk of the invasion as being necessary because we were already at war with Iraq, you use argument that even Fox News' watchers wouldn't stand for and so lasted less than a day when it was one of many justifications floated in the run-up to the war. It's as if you're saying 'I'm going to use the worst possible argument just to show you all that I can't possibly be persuaded by facts, and so I'm superior to your reality.'
Why do I risk your friendship (which I value) by telling you this? Because you have two boys. And you're very good at modeling courage and responsibility. But courage and a sense of responsibility are a very dangerous combination when not coupled with a healthy skepticism of the governments calls to patriotism as an excuse for a myriad of adventures—some necessary, some not. And it will become ever more dangerous if those who exploit xenophobia remain in power.
Your kids have two heads and eight limbs. Should there ever come a day where that's not the case, I can't imagine trying to push reality on you, if your blinders are what keeps you otherwise sane in the face of the pain. But I couldn't live with myself if I don't try now to get you to take those blinders off.
But I fear anything I say will only make it worse. If my guess about your underlying approach to politics is right, everything that even approaches casting doubt about the rightness of how the military is used by the government is kept at bay by you expanding ever further the area you won't look at rationally. It was 'hippies' who opposed the Vietnam War. Your notion of hippies is related to environmentalists, and you can find some environmentalists who aren't too bright, so therefore all environmental concerns are dismissed. You call yourself a libertarian. Yet you support the least libertarian administration in modern times. Why? Because the 'hippies' are on the other side. Although I believe you're sincere in your libertarian views, I think that so long as your immediate family wasn't among the scapegoats du jour, you would find yourself supporting full-fledged fascism rather than look seriously at the role of military power in the world. I hope I am wrong.
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