Bumper Stinker & Wishful Thinking / 10-19-09

I know this is not going to elevate public discourse.

And I know the person who put this on their 11-mpg "car" was merely trying to be cute.

I also know better than to debate a frakking bumper sticker.

But still...

"It's God's Job To Judge The Terrorists
It's Our Job To Facilitate The Meeting"

Anyone else seen this one? I glimpsed it for the first time today. And of course, I was suckered into taking it as a serious statement, which it isn't. I mean, the driver just wants to express her/his dislike of dislikable people. And while "Sure Hate International Terrorism" might make a great acronym, it isn't nearly snappy enough. Also falling flat: "I Disapprove Heavily of Terror-Based Violent Activity" or "Suicide Bombers Are Mean Bullies."

How are we supposed to be "the good guys" if we relinquish the moral high ground? And in this case, the moral high ground is, don't treat humans like disposable waste or expendable political statements. I can hear the driver right now: "But they don't deserve to live." And there goes your moral high ground. Fell right out of your gas-guzzler and cracked its head open on the pavement.

Which goes right to the point I've been making since before the Iraq invasion, to all three people who have to listen to me on a consistent basis. You can't defeat violence with violence.

The link here, from the Washington Post, tells the story of how Iraqi deaths, due to violence or combat, through 2007, were estimated at 600,000, then revised to 150,000, give or take 50,000. I quote the larger figure first, just to see if the smaller figure is comforting. It is not.

Responding to 9/11 with a military operation that has claimed uncertain numbers of lives was exactly the wrong message to send, if your message was that we are morally superior to the terrorists. (Now if your intention was to seize the moment to make an oil grab for you and your buddies, under the pretense of overthrowing a dangerous dictator, then this was your golden opportunity. Nicely done.)

But if your intention had been to smoke out and/or fight those directly responsible for 9/11, you could have done that far more surgically AND spent a trillion dollars in the Middle East on improving access to education for all, developing mutually beneficial trade agreements, building hospitals and bridges and making lots and lots of microloans. Who knows? By doing so, you might even have begun to win that so-called "war on terror," by fighting it in a way that preserves the moral high ground, the respect and cooperation of our wealthy allies, and your own souls. Also, we might win with that strategy. Hard to tell when we're "winning" and "losing" these days.

You could have even gone ahead and borrowed that trillion dollars from our grandchildren. I don't care, call it an investment in the distant future, whatever. Instead, all you went and did is sank to the terrorists' level. Someday, we're going to pay for that decision, and not just economically.