Peacemongers

I am always amazed by how quickly peace becomes popular when there is the threat of an armed conflict somewhere in the world. Now I'm not talking about the desire for a nonviolent solution... I think that's usually the way to go. I'm talking about this embittered, poisonous xenophobia that sweeps across my great nation of America whenever there is something that is not right in the world that a president or body of elected officials deigns to do something about.

I will be the first to admit that I am not up to date on current events around the world. I do not spend hours on end sniffing around the newsnets, on the web, the newspaper, or watching CNN to get every single fact possible about an event. Sometimes the minor details are unimportant.

Recently, the eyes of the entire world have been on the recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. In both instances, powerful, terrible regimes have been demolished we are trying to install close approximations of democracy. I am something of a simpleton with respect to things like these, for I believe that these kinds of things are good. I believe that it's a good thing for people to have free speech. I believe it's a good thing for people to live relatively free of fear. I believe it's a good thing to have a government by the people. I want these things for myself, and I sure as heck want them for others. Wow. I can't believe I just said that. I'm going against the grain because, apparently, that's a very unpopular viewpoint.

Peace, like I said, is a good thing. How you get it is the tricky part. Many people who are opposed to war point to a peaceful resistance. What most people don't understand is that without costing a great number of lives, a peaceful resistance only has a chance of succeeding against an oppressor with a free press. Ghandi led his revolt against the British and succeeded. Most oppressors are not like the British, however. Think about what would have happened if the Jews staged a peaceful resistance against the Nazis.

But the problem with a lot of peacemongers out there is not that they want peace, or how they think we can get it, but it's why they want peace. These peacemongers I'm referring to, are those who think we have no business meddling in the affairs of others and should go about our own business and solve our own problems. And they have a point. We do, indeed, have our own substantial problems. There are jobless, hungry, and homeless people in the USA and we should be taking care of those people and issues. They say that even if we were able to handle our own problems and take a hand in world events, giving even more people the most basic of human rights at the same time, it doesn't mean we should.

And besides, they say, our government doesn't actually do anything to be benevolent, it only does what is in it's own best interests. The only reason we went into Afghanistan was to get bin Laden. The only reason we invaded Iraq is to get the oil.

I think that's true to a certain extent... but my answer to that line of argument is, "So what?" In Afghanistan, we rooted out the big terrorist networks and toppled a iron-handed regime. In Iraq, maybe we have control over the oil for the time being, but a cruel and malevolent ruler has been deposed and the most destabilizing force in the entire region has been eliminated. Their answer: "But who are we to be the world's police force?!?"

At its core, the issue of interposing assistance is an ethical one, not one of self-motivated personal interest and the question of "Whose business is it of ours?" says more about the person asking the question than any satisfying answer could.

For example, if I were to ask these people if they had ever donated money to a church or any charitable cause, they would probably answer "yes". Some people might support Amnesty International, "Save the Whales", or even volunteer at a local soup kitchen two or three times a year. These same people who feel the need to pass on a five dollar bill to the bum on the street corner or give aid to an anonymous hungry child in Africa, feel complete indifference to letting millions of people starve under the boot of a malicious dictator who uses horribly lethal chemical weapons on his own people, or a government that creates such a catastrophe of women's human rights violations that self-immolation is a common form of suicide.

Only someone who is completely soulless, so devoid of compassion and conscience can make the argument of "Whose business is it of ours?" valid. Anyone who has read a news story, or seen the effects of the terrible conditions people live under day after day has felt at least something. They feel the twinge of sympathy and shame. Because we can make a difference in the world. We can make a positive change. We can save lives and improve human rights conditions. An individual citizen can't do much, but a nation can.

Everyone needs to get over this idea that if they don't see it in front of them, it doesn't really happen. We see homeless people on the streets. We see the starving children in Africa on television. So, we donate money to these causes; after all, we give a buck, we solve a problem, we feel good. There's nothing worth risking lives there. But I guarantee, if movies like Osama were more widely viewed, people would be clamoring to invade these poor countries and free the multitudes from oppression.

I believe that if someone has the power to do something, to make something right, or to assist someone in a way that only that one person can, then they have a duty to try and make it happen. We are the world's police force because no one else can do it. The US and a few other nations are, whether we like it or not, now responsible for the welfare of the rest of the world. We crossed the finish line first, now we have to go back and look for the stragglers lost along the way.

Some say that we have had too many of these conflicts. The US has helped enough people, let some other nations pick up the slack. But if it were up to me, we would go nation-to-nation, door-to-door, and clean up house. No one deserves to live a life in the shadow of terror, fear, and death.

Back