Sometimes it's not total sIHT…
I like reading my newspapers in tinternet because it's a great way of not paying for the news and because it's often so wildly biased in whatever direction that particular outlet is slanted. It also gives you the chance to flick between liberal nutters and conservative nutters, see what they say and deduce the truth from between them. It's a cool game. What does it say about me that I think this is so? I don't even want to speculate.
Anyway, I was reading IHT and I came across this piece: A blind eye on soldiers' suicides, by one James Carroll. It's interesting to read for me, as someone entirely opposed to and utterly agog over the Iraq situation, in that it points up something we should be aware of: that the people out there fucking up the middle east don't want to be there and are aware that their very presence there is the cause of the problem. It can't be an easy position to be in, and there's a lot more involved than simply following orders…
I particularly liked this bit about nationalism: "Whatever ethnic fevers grip Iraqis, for example, American soldiers know, if only unconsciously, that the passion for nationhood on which 19th- and 20th-century wars depended is being undercut by the global citizenship of the 21st century. Not since Earth was seen whole from the moon is nationalism what it was."
I hadn't thought about that before, that the sight of our planet in its entirety, and seeing for the first time that we really are all in the same cosmic boat, would have the effect of undermining the idea of our being wholly independent and separate nations. I suppose this has something to do with my being born in a time when all this was already known, 12 years after the original moon landing. For me the image of Planet Earth has always been there and I can't imagine it being any other way.
There was also an interesting op ed piece by Mikhail Gorbachev, in which he talks about the future presidents task in saving the world from nukes and other WMDs. I would assume old MG has some insight into such matters, his having been a Cold War-era leader and all.
I hope you appreciated my wonderfully witty punning title.
Anyway, I was reading IHT and I came across this piece: A blind eye on soldiers' suicides, by one James Carroll. It's interesting to read for me, as someone entirely opposed to and utterly agog over the Iraq situation, in that it points up something we should be aware of: that the people out there fucking up the middle east don't want to be there and are aware that their very presence there is the cause of the problem. It can't be an easy position to be in, and there's a lot more involved than simply following orders…
I particularly liked this bit about nationalism: "Whatever ethnic fevers grip Iraqis, for example, American soldiers know, if only unconsciously, that the passion for nationhood on which 19th- and 20th-century wars depended is being undercut by the global citizenship of the 21st century. Not since Earth was seen whole from the moon is nationalism what it was."
I hadn't thought about that before, that the sight of our planet in its entirety, and seeing for the first time that we really are all in the same cosmic boat, would have the effect of undermining the idea of our being wholly independent and separate nations. I suppose this has something to do with my being born in a time when all this was already known, 12 years after the original moon landing. For me the image of Planet Earth has always been there and I can't imagine it being any other way.
There was also an interesting op ed piece by Mikhail Gorbachev, in which he talks about the future presidents task in saving the world from nukes and other WMDs. I would assume old MG has some insight into such matters, his having been a Cold War-era leader and all.
I hope you appreciated my wonderfully witty punning title.
posted by Stephen McMullin at 2:46 pm
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