Just This
December 14th, 2005 - 11:05 pm
The Iraqi people have been through hell the last three years. Before that, the endured a quarter century of totalitarian hell. And before that… well, things have pretty much always sucked in Mesopatamia.
Despite all that, Iraqis are going to the polls. They’re voting. Despite everything, they’re putting their faith in an untried system.
The election won’t be perfect. It might not even be good. But they are trying.
We’re doing what we can, but in the end it’s up to them.
Wish them luck.
For about the last year or so an interesting thought has been bouncing around in my brain. Consider two distinctly different situations. On the one hand you have the media-portrayal of an invincible opponent, wall to wall violence and death, and a continuous, roiling explosion of chaos throughout the entirety of Iraq going on for nearly 3 years. On the other hand you have the “portrayal” of events, from, err, people who are in the thick of it, of remarkably lopsided contents against the “insurgency”, of remarkable progress in Iraq, of very capable and well trained professional soldiers squaring off against rather ham handed, though occasionaly brave and inventive, amateurs with lopsided results. Since the latter is, you know, the actual facts-on-the-ground TRUTH, I have this fanciful idea that eventually people will come around to the notion that this is the way things are. Meaning that at some moment in the future there will be a majority of the public who will believe the latter “portrayal”.
Now compare a proper appreciation for those feats vs. an appreciation for those feats compared against the backdrop provided by the former portrayal. To my mind the excessively negative portrayal merely creates all the greater contrast to the reality of the situation, so that when it becomes impossible to portray the Iraq mission as a failure the contrast becomes all the more striking. And, therefore, the Iraqi mission becomes all the more heroic. I think the biased media has set themselves up for a tremendous fall here and we’re going to see an almost whiplash inducing flip-flop in public opinion and media portrayals.
“We Got Our Purple Fingers!”
Pajamas Media has exclusive live blogging from the Iraqi elections. Co-Maximum Pajamahadeen Roger L. Simon writes:Omar and Mohammed of Iraq the Model have done a remarkable job lining up reporters in eight provinces for PJM: Erbil, Kirkuk, Mosul, Babil…
Well said Goodfellow.
The Media will always promote the negative side of a story as long as George W Bush is in power and is running the show in Iraq. The left and the MSM will start to complain that Iraqis lack prescription drug coverage.
The Iraqis are happy if they can go to an ice cream store without getting blown up – which, incredibly, is better than 5 years before when people just disappeared off the streets and women were raped and abused with regularity.
Voting now is empowerment for them – and it’s infectious.
Voting now is empowerment for them – and it’s infectious.
Yeah, I’ve wondered just what voting THREE times in the last year has done to the average Iraqi’s soul. I’ve been voting for 30 years now, free of intimidation, and I still feel joy when I leave the polling station. If someone tried to take that joy from me, I might get really angry.
“Wish them luck”
Damn straight!
Steve
Too harsh, Stephen.
When Lugalannemudu was in tha house, Mesopotamia rocked.
Isn’t “Meso-Potamia” a term of Oppression?
I mean, like, it’s a EuroCentric Term, based on ancient Greek (mesos “middle” + potamos “river”) so it
The Iraqi people have now voted in three more elections than the Democratic Party has won in this century.
Stephen, Stephen… just a bit too pessimistic-sounding here.
In another time and place, a raised purple finger would become an overnight icon.
I painted mine while working at Wal-Mart today, all the while knowing I’d fall over from a coronary if someone actually asked me “What the hell happened to your finger?”
When 2151 Americans pay for something with their lives, the least we could do is pay homage to their sacrifice.
And mebbe a little hope, too?
They, had their election, now can’t we go home? The shia mullahs will rule and join with Iran in hating us and attacking Israel. Why do we have to hang around helping the shia stomp out the sunnis? I’m sure they can do it themselves if we leave.
As it is, the shia are happy for us to do the heavy lifting vs. the insurrecton, then when we “win” they throw us out. Am I missing something here? How is this benefiting the US, not to mention the dead and wounded soldiers.
Hey Pill Box – you got it all wrong. We’ll keep the insurgency going forever so that we have to stay and keep our bases and get access to the oil. Think strategic!
Check out a funny site dedicated to the absurdity and satire nature of saying “It’s All George Bush’s Fault!”
http://www.itsallgeorgebushsfault.com
Regards,
Notta Libb