I used to listen to NPR all the time.
Studying Electrical Engineering in college, I was more of the intuitive-yet-never-study type. There was ample opportunity to listen to each show and politics were only beginning to interest me. I have to admit that I didn't vote in the 2000 presidential election (but then again who really did). Down the road, something about the gloomy job prospects for Engineering students after college made me steer my disappointment towards political causes.
Knowing what a Sunni and a Shiite was before President Bush.
I don't consider myself an expert on anything; my knowledge brushes the surface of many topics. I didn't really know all of the details of 9/11, but I felt some entity needed to be on the other side of serious bombing to make me feel better. Afghanistan was such a perfect choice for easy and spectacular displays of military air superiority and technology. I mean, that's where that one video of the training camps came from right? So I was on board with team "let's roll" up to this point.
Invade Iraq? NO!
I would be so proud to own a particular blue 1992 Volvo station wagon. Months of rhetoric and innuendo had redirected America's revenge. Colin Powell and others were folding up shop on their lengthy roles as credible references. I was just about to graduate from ASU and with no job offer lined up I took the Military Aptitude Test at the naval recruiter’s office. Wow, easy test. I don't want to denigrate the intelligence of the soldiers in uniform (and I would never tie anyone's hands), but they would have back flipped to sign me into an 8 year agreement and not because I'm smart.
The fear I had working in Arizona during 2003-2005
I'm a white male age 18-40 living in a "red" state, everyone listens to what I have to say. But what if I am a fire-spitting Democrat who knows that Bush/Cheney/Rummy are war criminals? My job was in constant jeopardy. How long can any self-respecting and intelligent person remain silent in order to collect a paycheck? I bit my tongue and wrote up a storm on message boards. Thanks jebus the Navy wanted 8 years and not 4, and thank jebus for Janet (our fair Governor).
Nice cars and bad attitudes
I wish my car were a Volvo with a beautifully faded, formerly pleading bumper sticker on it. I envy those with long hair and people who resist conforming. How did I end up a closet liberal, and a tucked-in-shirt slicked-back-hair conformist? My sister would be so disappointed.
The loud minority
Slam dunk reminded me that there were other people who may have been too timid to express how they felt during those times; people who were looking after the bottom line of the bank account and not the bottom line of making the right decision. I was just a keyboard warrior and I hope that made a positive impact.
The President of America
DAMDHC