Are the anti-war protests a sign of anti-Americanism? I think far more non-Americans are motivated by anti-Americanism than Americans are. I think there is a fringe, but a fringe only, of anti-war people in this country who are reflexively anti-American, who think the biggest problem in the world is American and who pretty much think America is always wrong and the root of all evil. Many, if not most, of those who are anti-war here aren’t anti-American but anti-Republican. For them, the problem is that a Republican president wants to go to war. I’ve had several anti-war people tell me that if Clinton or Gore were President, they would have no problem with war against Iraq. They trust them, but they don’t trust Bush. And I think you can see that in the different reactions to Clinton’s wars than Bush’s wars. They were for Clinton’s wars, even when they didn’t involve the UN or the US Congress; they didn’t mind the use of ultimatum over diplomacy; they didn’t mind civilian casualties, open ended commitments, nor the possibility of quagmires; in short they didn’t demand the same things of Clinton they demand of Bush. And to be fair, there are people who would be far more wary of war with Iraq, if not against it altogether, if Clinton or Gore were President than they are with Bush as President.

Of course, there are plenty of people who are just anti-war period, and it doesn’t matter who the President would be. And there are people who have good reasons to reject not any war but this war with Iraq, no matter who the President is. So clearly, for Americans to be against war with Iraq isn’t necessarily, nor even likely, to be anti-American.

Tags: protest

I’m all for letting your views be known – whether through weblogs, letters to the editor, (my personal favorite) buttonholing strangers at parties, or the old standby of protest rallies/marches. My third post on this blog, way back on October 3 of last year, said things like “I have to respect people who want to peaceably assemble to make a political statement” and “I bring this up just because this is America, and the two events [protest rally and Leukemia walk] were different expressions of civic mindedness American style, part of the warp and woof of community. In different ways, they are why I love this country.” I draw the line at protests that aim to disrupt the lives of people who have nothing to do with the thing being protested against – such as protestors against a war shutting down a highway. 

Dissent is as American as apple pie, and equally heroic in this country. There are generally no real costs to dissent in this country, unlike many other countries. You and your family can be imprisoned, tortured, murdered even in countries like Cuba or Iraq if you dissent. You can stand in front of the White House and express your opinion that Bush is another Hitler all you want, and nothing will happen to you, except perhaps other people will express their opinion of you. And frankly, isn’t it their right to voice their opinion of you, as it is your right to voice your opinion or whomever or whatever? If someone says they think you are an idiot, you are not being repressed, you are not being silenced. There is no bravery in dissent in this country, no extra worth in dissenting views. Sure, the majority isn’t always right, but then neither is the minority.

So by all means, speak your piece, march, rally, but do so in peaceable, law abiding way. And if you want to persuade me to your cause, please try to reason with me, reach out and show your interested in my good opinion; If you want to harden my opinion against you, then by all means shout slogans, disregard and disrespect me, and generally act out your feelings of moral superiority.

Tags: protest