To protest or to protest the protestors is the
question that some find themselves asking in this particular day and age. I
myself harbor three different sets of beliefs. Part of me possesses the
Christian beliefs that it is wrong to fight and horrible to kill another
human being. However, the realist in me believes that it is necessary for
people to exert aggression, including violence, in order to survive.
Thirdly, the common sense part of me would rather shoot itself than listen
to the banter of uninformed people arguing over things they know nothing
about, other than what they are told they should think. Some people are so
adamant and unforgiving in these beliefs that the rest of us get our heads
chopped off if we attempt to engage in even slight conversation on the
subject. Being the type of person that I am, I cannot comprehend why these
people would want to impose their beliefs on anyone, nor can I understand
why they would take the offensive on a topic which they know little to
nothing about.
I sit in classes and hear arguments about the war from people who know
little to nothing about it, other than to shout "GOD BLESS AMERICA." Oh
yeah, God is going to bless you for killing thy neighbor. If you have any
beliefs at all, you would know that one of the commandments specifically
states the exact opposite. To me, this seems shallow and uninformed, and
hearing some of these people discussing how great President Bush is makes me
want to laugh. Sometimes, I truly want to glance over at them and ask if
they have ever heard of CNN, or for that matter, any T.V. or radio station
with any kind of political or war coverage. Even MTV, in all its popish
glory, covers the news so that even the simplest mind would understand. From
these uninformed people, even with all of the ways to procure the
information they so desperately need, still come some of the most satirical
actions and statements.
Quoting one of my many Moffett Hall neighbors, "Protestors make good speed
bumps." Every time I think of this sign posted across the hall, I marvel in
the pointlessness of it and am compelled to laugh.
Being a former member of the armed forces, as this person claims to be, he
or she should know that the soldiers in Iraq are currently fighting because
they believe in the United States of America and what it stands for. Why,
then, would they take offense to the fact that people are exerting their
rights of peaceful assembly? Or are we now creating a communist society in
which people are forbidden to speak out? If that is the case, then what is
with all the talk of freedom? I am all for freedom of speech, but this is
just too much, even for my liberal mind. If a healthy and able-bodied person
feels that strongly about the fighting and the war, why are they sitting in
a cozy dorm room at Radford University and not living in the trenches of
Iraq, along side the brave men and women of the U.S. armed forces, trying to
take down Saddam Hussein?
In closing, I would like to impart these words of wisdom that I have
learned repeatedly over the past eighteen plus years of being able to form
coherent words. They may seem like clichés, but I think they fit the point I
am trying to make.
- Think before you speak.
- If you do not know what you are talking about, don't try to pretend you do.
- Ignorance is only bliss to the person who is ignorant; to the rest of us it's just annoying.
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Sarah Cecil is a regular contributer to Whim.
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Name: Chris
Comments:
Cool story, but I have to point out something. Communism is not by its nature dictatorial. It is just how it has been practiced. Perhaps instead of Communism the term should be dictatorial. In these times of high aggressions, watching that we don't generalize wrongly is importatnt, unless we are headed back to the McCarthy days.
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Sarah Cecil | Guest Writer