Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

My home town never had to learn what an air raid siren is really used for. They played it on a regular basis, perhaps because they were afraid it would rust otherwise.

Each day at 1 p.m., except Sunday, the air raid siren would be blown. It was also used to call volunteer firefighters to the fire house. This is only a problem if the fire takes place at 1 p.m.

Of course, all of the town residents have become so used to these air raid sirens that they hardly notice them any more.

The day Saddam launches an air campaign against the continental U.S., my home town is in deep doo-doo.

I would not be surprised if my home town has stepped up patriotism to a degree even higher than during Gulf War I. They have no doubt added a second flotilla of American flags to the two-lane cement bridge across the river. I wouldn't be surprised if they've had massive pro-war demonstrations. They would call these rallies "supporting the troops," not buying the argument that the best way to support the troops would be to bring them home.

And yet this community is one of the hardest hit when it comes to military action. My brother tells me that when he was in high school, his guidance counselor was more interested in getting him to enlist than he was in getting him into college. Perhaps the guidance counselor got a kickback.

Graduates from my high school have one of three career objectives: following in their parents' footsteps and working in the local factories, enlisting in the military, and going to college, usually in one of the small colleges close to home.

Now that the factories are shutting down, I'd imagine the military has more recruits. Some of them were probably even in Camp Pennsylvania, where a soldier apparently went crazy under duress and attacked his fellow soldiers. I hope they're all safe and I pray for them to come home soon.

What saddens me, even more than the destiny of many people from my home town, is when people believe that being American means shutting up.

The reality of World War II has been brought up frequently, with Saddam Hussein compared to Hitler on more than one occasion. I think there is an analogy to be made here, but a different one.

Hitler, like Bush, was elected democratically and then began to make increasingly more restrictive demands on the populace, all for "their own good." He was a popular speaker; beloved, in fact. The German people were also convinced to go to war by a relentless propaganda campaign.

Hitler, like Bush, convinced the citizens that his choice of scapegoat was who should be hated. Following his demands was the highest form of patriotism, and dissent was treachery.

Now, I'm not saying that George W. is as bad as Hitler. I certainly am not saying he would ever gas his own people or run concentration camps. George W. is wise enough to confine his aggression to military targets so that the American people don't smell the fear.

But if anyone in this country thinks they would have stood up against Nazi Germany, they should look at how American commentators and even American citizens have tried to make us believe that dissent is evil. On countless occasions, commentators have associated the antiwar movement with communism, which as everyone knows, is the most powerful bogeyman that the U.S. can evoke.

And in consequence, voices of dissent become quieter and quieter.

I join with the Dixie Chicks and Michael Moore (who said we're living in "fictional times" when a president elected by fictitious election results starts a war for fictitious reasons) in saying that I'm ashamed of this country. I'm ashamed of a country that enters military conflict against a country for violating U.N. resolutions while at the same time, flouting the authority of that very government body.

I'm ashamed of a country that buys the pablum fed to them by an administration they did not choose, simply because that administration feeds it to them.

I am ashamed of a country that, even when they are sickened by the events in Iraq, still continues to tell themselves, "Bush must know what's best."

Just as the Iraqis are not shot unless they have the audacity to fight the invaders, we are told everything is fine if we just don't fight it. Our civil liberties are being invaded, and we are told not to fight. But I don't buy that. Our Founding Fathers would not have bought it. My ancestors would not have bought that.

None of them believed that silence in the face of wrongdoing was right. Just because we become conditioned to hearing an air raid signal does not mean we should stop hearing it.

Moral:
Get up, stand up.

Copyright 2003 by Alyce Wilson

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