My Stubborn Streak Reappears

Like Dave at Time’s Shadow, I too am tiring of the constant barrage of warblogging. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m as tolerant as Dave. After several times reading “great articles” that turn out to be nothing more than propaganda, I tend to return to the blog that referred them less than I used to, even if it means missing out on other views I used to find interesting.

As I’ve said before, I too am fed up with illogical, emotional arguments that rely on name calling rather than logic to prove their argument, whether pro-Iraqi or anti-Iraqi. There are arguments to support both views, but few people bother to look at possible scenarios and then argue how those scenarios support their view.

When Christopher Hitchens loads the beginning of his essay in the Washington Post with words like “Every liberal and leftist knows how to titter” and “America’s peace-mongers” and “the Left could have a regime-change perspective of its own, based on solidarity with its comrades abroad” you know that his argument is not going to be based on anything resembling logic. How any blogger can pass this on as a “well-written op-ed” is beyond me. In a very real sense, I begin to lose confidence in that blogger’s wisdom and objectivity.

I’d like to think I’m no more masochistic than Dave. So that leaves me asking myself why I continue to plow through this stuff looking for something that resembles an intelligent argument and continue to offer my own counter arguments. Perhaps I agree with Jonathon that it’s important to “hold and articulate a stance that supports the elimination of Al Quaeda and the Islamic Fascists while opposing Bush’s oil-driven war against Iraq.” At the very least, people need to have reasonable alternatives to those views. They need to be remnded that there are other possibilities that offer more rational solutions to complex problems

Perhaps I believe it’s just too important of an issue to leave it to those who would try to drum up emotions to justify their own irrational fears and hatred. Of course, Dorothea might be right that my damn stubborn streak is bound to cause me pain because it won’t allow me to simply accept the reality that the invasion of Iraq is inevitable and there is nothing I can do about it. My time would be better spent getting the garden ready for a long, wet winter.

However, I spent most of my life trying to teach students how to think critically for themselves. I guess I’m still not ready to give up on that belief even though I’m no longer teaching. I still believe the world will be a far better place when people learn to make important decisions based on rational arguments not merely on emotions.