Danoz
11-13-2005, 05:00 AM
We hear about over 2000 soldiers killed in action, but we never hear about the 20,000 injured who are crippled for life now. I hate this war, and I hate that I ever supported it. Bottom line, 10 years from now Iraq will be the same hole as it is now, and when enough people have died, the next corrupted dictator will take the throne. We have here a terrorist training ground because our president had Iraq on the agenda from day one, and he's concerned with his legacy as the defender of freedom and his war against terrorism. Good things are happening in Iraq, and something needed to be done--- but this wasn't it. Now with our resources overextended and a world that continues to hate us more each day, I fear for our great country.
I've hit a brick wall. In classroom arguments I've found myself apathetic, which is rare in my life. I think at his core, the president is a good man, but his legacy is a rushed and empty war. When good men like Colin Powell throw their hands in the air, we as a people need to stop and examine just what’s happening here. There are seriously problems with trying to sell Democracy to a traditionally conservative society that can’t even conceptualize, let alone forcefully embrace the meaning it of it. There are ways to go about this, and it was handled poorly. I initially supported the war on trust, that the people I loved were in danger. And when that turned out to be false, I recited the same miserable arguments and backtracked with the same rhetorical bullshit we were fed.
It was a painful realization in the last year when I found that with my heart and sole, I cannot support this administration. And I shudder when I think about the fact that I was almost sold into the Marines out of high school by shark recruiters who romanticize what is essentially death—war.
Who am I then?
I’m an International Relations major. I study Political Science and Communications because I found within me a passion for bridging cultural divides. I volunteer on campus to introduce exchange students here and, as I continue to learn the Japanese, I meet students on weekly basis and learn about their world—one that is so very different from my own. My passion began when I was 12, and I had the rare opportunity to travel the world with the Phoenix Boys Choir, I traveled Europe and mainland China. I remember standing on the Great Wall, I was lost—separated from the group for hours, and a woman who spoke English took her entire day to help me find them, and walked to the top of the wall with me. I remember staring at the bright sun and thinking how incredible it was that it was the same shining sun that pounded on the backs of the men who died building it. The kindness that woman showed me always stuck with me.
I’m an optimist in the truest sense of the world, but optimism is only logical when it’s rooted in reality. The reason I’m posting this long winded message, here of all places, is because so many of you see the angry little Republican who spouted rhetorical intolerance and vague annoying arguments in this little corner of the internet called the “Backroomâ€, and you’ve never forgiven me for it. I assure you, I’m still a conservative—yes, I’m a Christian man, but I’m exactly that, a man, not the confused kid I was. When most of you met my internet personification, I had just moved here from Arizona—I was few real friends, obsessed with emulation and internet relay chat and websites—this was my life. I absorbed myself in it, but I don’t regret it for a second. I’ve learned skills and developed hobbies in those years that will follow me and continue to make me happy for the rest of my life. But, I’ve grown up. I have friends, my face long cleared up and I’m no longer in an “awkward stageâ€. I almost failed out of high school, whereas I’m an honors college student—ADD no longer affects me the way it used to. I learned to think critically for myself; in my education I’ve learned formal argumentation and communication, and more importantly the purpose of argumentation—to build bridges.
I just want you all to respect that I was a kid, growing up, learning about the world and changing, so that we can move on and have respectable debates here on a different level. I never get hot-tempered while I argue anymore, patience is a virtue I’ve embraced in any dialogue, and I’m not afraid to be wrong. I always meant well and believed in the things I argued, but my understanding was limited. I’m sure we’ll disagree, I’m the same Conservative Christian—but I’m learning more about what I really believe and why I believe it.
Cheers. To many more debates and beers to follow.
I've hit a brick wall. In classroom arguments I've found myself apathetic, which is rare in my life. I think at his core, the president is a good man, but his legacy is a rushed and empty war. When good men like Colin Powell throw their hands in the air, we as a people need to stop and examine just what’s happening here. There are seriously problems with trying to sell Democracy to a traditionally conservative society that can’t even conceptualize, let alone forcefully embrace the meaning it of it. There are ways to go about this, and it was handled poorly. I initially supported the war on trust, that the people I loved were in danger. And when that turned out to be false, I recited the same miserable arguments and backtracked with the same rhetorical bullshit we were fed.
It was a painful realization in the last year when I found that with my heart and sole, I cannot support this administration. And I shudder when I think about the fact that I was almost sold into the Marines out of high school by shark recruiters who romanticize what is essentially death—war.
Who am I then?
I’m an International Relations major. I study Political Science and Communications because I found within me a passion for bridging cultural divides. I volunteer on campus to introduce exchange students here and, as I continue to learn the Japanese, I meet students on weekly basis and learn about their world—one that is so very different from my own. My passion began when I was 12, and I had the rare opportunity to travel the world with the Phoenix Boys Choir, I traveled Europe and mainland China. I remember standing on the Great Wall, I was lost—separated from the group for hours, and a woman who spoke English took her entire day to help me find them, and walked to the top of the wall with me. I remember staring at the bright sun and thinking how incredible it was that it was the same shining sun that pounded on the backs of the men who died building it. The kindness that woman showed me always stuck with me.
I’m an optimist in the truest sense of the world, but optimism is only logical when it’s rooted in reality. The reason I’m posting this long winded message, here of all places, is because so many of you see the angry little Republican who spouted rhetorical intolerance and vague annoying arguments in this little corner of the internet called the “Backroomâ€, and you’ve never forgiven me for it. I assure you, I’m still a conservative—yes, I’m a Christian man, but I’m exactly that, a man, not the confused kid I was. When most of you met my internet personification, I had just moved here from Arizona—I was few real friends, obsessed with emulation and internet relay chat and websites—this was my life. I absorbed myself in it, but I don’t regret it for a second. I’ve learned skills and developed hobbies in those years that will follow me and continue to make me happy for the rest of my life. But, I’ve grown up. I have friends, my face long cleared up and I’m no longer in an “awkward stageâ€. I almost failed out of high school, whereas I’m an honors college student—ADD no longer affects me the way it used to. I learned to think critically for myself; in my education I’ve learned formal argumentation and communication, and more importantly the purpose of argumentation—to build bridges.
I just want you all to respect that I was a kid, growing up, learning about the world and changing, so that we can move on and have respectable debates here on a different level. I never get hot-tempered while I argue anymore, patience is a virtue I’ve embraced in any dialogue, and I’m not afraid to be wrong. I always meant well and believed in the things I argued, but my understanding was limited. I’m sure we’ll disagree, I’m the same Conservative Christian—but I’m learning more about what I really believe and why I believe it.
Cheers. To many more debates and beers to follow.