Doesn’t Hawaii border Mexico? And where is New Mexico anyway?

1. Amber posted the following on July 2, 2008 at 11:42 am.

   Yeah, that was pretty funny stuff:
   “…and New Mexico”
   “What?”
   “New Mexico”
   “…Okay…”
    

Scott,
Fear has a song called “Mengele.” Please play it if you can.

The MP3s of the interviews will be at antiwar.com/radio and KAOS has the full archive.

Contact me if you have any problem finding a show.

I was just listening to the end of yesterday’s show and was thinking the reason isn’t an antiwar movement significant in scope to make a real difference is because people are not yet effected by it on a large scale.  Of course, the economy is tanking right now, but few have made that connection and society is still functioning as normal, more or  less.  That’s just it, there won’t be any serious move against war until people’s lives are personally effected negatively, in clear and unambiguous ways.  Bemoan their selfishness all you want, that’s how it works.  Large political movements only happen as a result of people becoming sick of what the government is doing to their lives.  It simply doesn’t matter what happens to others, as long as American lives are just fine nothing will change.  It makes sense in a certain way; why risk your comfort for people you’ve never seen, and probably never will?  It’s not uplifting or at all inspiring, that’s just how human society works.  If anybody has an example where an antiwar movement caught on, before economic dislocation or many people within the country died, and made an actual difference I’d like to hear about it, though I won’t be waiting with baited breath.

1. MikeL posted the following on July 2, 2008 at 5:41 pm.

   Many, many women opposed the Vietnam war. They were not under threat of the draft.

   1. Troy posted the following on July 2, 2008 at 6:48 pm.

      Not to demean them, but how many of those women had relatives who were injured or killed in the war.  I should have been more specific before, loss of a family member can be very motivating.  I find the Vietnam example particularly revealing in that the Vietnam War is usually held up as the great example of what an antiwar movement should be.  However, even though the war greatly unpopular by 1968, it continued into the 70’s.  “Peace with Honor” Nixon expanded it into Cambodia and American involvement didn’t end until the war was already long lost.  What difference did any of the protesters make?

   2. MikeL posted the following on July 3, 2008 at 12:38 am.

      I think one thing that the Pentagon Papers revealed was that the government was so concerned about domestic unrest related to the war that they could not afford to commit any more troops abroad. A couple of divisions had to be retained at home just in case things got out of hand. Also, it was no coincidence that the strategy shifted to “Vietnamization” of the war, which meant fewer US soldiers killing people. So while the war did indeed drag on, and though it’s hard to imagine how it could have been any worse, some argue that were probably fewer Vietnamese killed than there would have been in the absence of protests back home.  And look, if protests didn’t matter then there wouldn’t be so much effort propogandizing people to the point of being inert blobs of flesh, right?

Yah Amber, the fact those people were released while Johnny Mac McCainiac was in Columbia was no coincidence.  Hell, just what McStain needed.  Get the sheeple to believe that McStain is so tough on terra if farts within 50 miles of a terrists it’ll scare the shit otta ‘em.

Tom S: \”Robert Parry kicks ass. Pass it on.\”I Couldn\’t have said it better myself! What an outstanding interview.