Wake Up! Conversations with a pro-war, priveledged dad
Thanks to cindy for a mother's perspective on the inequalities of war and the opportunity it brings to die for freedom, America, other peoples privileged kids and corporate share value.
I had a series of interesting and enlightening conversations with a friend today. We were talking politics. He agrees with the US war against Iraq. He thinks Saddam Hussein is "the biggest megalomaniac - - besides Hitler - who ever lived."
I gave him a rehash of all the countries the US has had illegal 'military interventions' in, in order to promote 'US [corporate] interests' in which many innocent people were killed (and trust me, the list is long)! He gave me what to him was the ultimate reasoning: the end justifies the means. "This is what we need to do in order to have this great standard of living," he advised me. "Do you want to live like a third world country?"
The economic and military enslavement of other people who share this world mattered little to him. What mattered most to this UPS pilot with a six figure a year income was that he lived a cushy life and all his children went to private school so they could live this cushy life too - the masses be damned!
Earlier in our talk he even conceded that most often one's position in life is mostly due to the luck of the family they were born into. Those born to a family with a good income usually prospered, while those unfortunate enough to be among the struggling classes usually didn't fare so well. Of course there were exceptions, and it's a shame it has to be that way. He even went so far as to acknowledge that many, many brilliant people were not able to achieve a full education because of their economic situation. He saw it as a detriment to the country.
As the discussion drifted away we began to take in some of the radio news chatter. I made a comment along the lines of, "It looks like they will be bringing back the draft. What will you do with your soon-to-be-of-draft-age son, send him off to Canada to avoid induction?"
"Oh, I won't have to do that. I have some connections. He'll get a position stateside."
"Wait a minute," I admonished him. "You said you support these wars -- in Afghanistan and Iraq..."
"Oh sure," came his unbelievable reply. "Of course I support the wars. You see, my son is too smart to be killed in these wars. Let someone's child who's not as bright as mine go and take the bullet. My son has a great future ahead of him."
I was stunned. This man is an ardent supporter of the coalition of the killing. He backs these illegal wars completely. He has no problem with 'collateral damage'. Yet he has no intention of allowing his son to 'serve his country' this way. When I questioned his ability to protect his son from going overseas to possibly 'take a bullet,' he explains to me how it works...
"My Dad was a colonel during Vietnam. My dad didn't 'agree' with the Vietnam War, so he got my older brother a position stateside as an MP. My kid will never have to fight. My son -- being very bright with a good education -- can better serve his country by staying alive."
I was flabbergasted (but should not have been). I am a single Mom with four children + an extra whose mother can't seem to handle him. When I say that I struggle to make ends meet, I'm not exaggerating. My children have gone to public school because I cannot afford private, and a couple of them have been partially homeschooled because public school failed them.
Are my children, whom I love dearly, any less deserving of life than this man's?
As much as I have worked to oppose these illegal wars, will my children be doomed to be nothing more than state cannon fodder simply because the children of the well-off and privileged - who totally back the wars - mistakenly believe that THEIR children, by luck of their birth, deserve to live more than mine?
The working classes need to wake up before all of our children are sent to the slaughter so that the children of the privileged can continue to live their 'cushy' lives at our ultimate and terrible expense!
cindy abramowicz hubschmitt
wilmington, de,
usa
I had a series of interesting and enlightening conversations with a friend today. We were talking politics. He agrees with the US war against Iraq. He thinks Saddam Hussein is "the biggest megalomaniac - - besides Hitler - who ever lived."
I gave him a rehash of all the countries the US has had illegal 'military interventions' in, in order to promote 'US [corporate] interests' in which many innocent people were killed (and trust me, the list is long)! He gave me what to him was the ultimate reasoning: the end justifies the means. "This is what we need to do in order to have this great standard of living," he advised me. "Do you want to live like a third world country?"
The economic and military enslavement of other people who share this world mattered little to him. What mattered most to this UPS pilot with a six figure a year income was that he lived a cushy life and all his children went to private school so they could live this cushy life too - the masses be damned!
Earlier in our talk he even conceded that most often one's position in life is mostly due to the luck of the family they were born into. Those born to a family with a good income usually prospered, while those unfortunate enough to be among the struggling classes usually didn't fare so well. Of course there were exceptions, and it's a shame it has to be that way. He even went so far as to acknowledge that many, many brilliant people were not able to achieve a full education because of their economic situation. He saw it as a detriment to the country.
As the discussion drifted away we began to take in some of the radio news chatter. I made a comment along the lines of, "It looks like they will be bringing back the draft. What will you do with your soon-to-be-of-draft-age son, send him off to Canada to avoid induction?"
"Oh, I won't have to do that. I have some connections. He'll get a position stateside."
"Wait a minute," I admonished him. "You said you support these wars -- in Afghanistan and Iraq..."
"Oh sure," came his unbelievable reply. "Of course I support the wars. You see, my son is too smart to be killed in these wars. Let someone's child who's not as bright as mine go and take the bullet. My son has a great future ahead of him."
I was stunned. This man is an ardent supporter of the coalition of the killing. He backs these illegal wars completely. He has no problem with 'collateral damage'. Yet he has no intention of allowing his son to 'serve his country' this way. When I questioned his ability to protect his son from going overseas to possibly 'take a bullet,' he explains to me how it works...
"My Dad was a colonel during Vietnam. My dad didn't 'agree' with the Vietnam War, so he got my older brother a position stateside as an MP. My kid will never have to fight. My son -- being very bright with a good education -- can better serve his country by staying alive."
I was flabbergasted (but should not have been). I am a single Mom with four children + an extra whose mother can't seem to handle him. When I say that I struggle to make ends meet, I'm not exaggerating. My children have gone to public school because I cannot afford private, and a couple of them have been partially homeschooled because public school failed them.
Are my children, whom I love dearly, any less deserving of life than this man's?
As much as I have worked to oppose these illegal wars, will my children be doomed to be nothing more than state cannon fodder simply because the children of the well-off and privileged - who totally back the wars - mistakenly believe that THEIR children, by luck of their birth, deserve to live more than mine?
The working classes need to wake up before all of our children are sent to the slaughter so that the children of the privileged can continue to live their 'cushy' lives at our ultimate and terrible expense!
cindy abramowicz hubschmitt
wilmington, de,
usa
posted by exoplanet at 6:41 PM
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