Month: February 2003

A vistor to this site today labeled this site an “anti-war” blog.

Because it was an off-hand remark in a comment that contained a link to an article I found quite interesting, as a well as leading to a site I’ll probably be following in the near future, I didn’t think about that term too much at first.

However, the more I thought about it, the less I liked the term. This ain’t no stinking war-blog, that’s for sure, but neither do I consider myself an anti-war blog.

If I had to put any label on this site, I would probably refer to it as a “poetry blog” because my favorite entries, and the great majority of them, focus on various poets. Because of my bias, I suppose you could also call it a “liberal” blog or even an “environmental blog” because I’ve written more articles in that vein than I have about the war with Iraq.

I originally considered calling this blog “Don’t Fence Me In” because I don’t like to be labeled. Ocassionaly in jest I will call myself a “liberal,” as an act of defiance, particularly when conservatives were using it like a liberal was a pariah. Like most people, though, I hate to be labeled.

Actually, I’m probably socially conservative being quite traditional in my personal life, but I’m politically liberal because I believe in a government that helps the poor and disadvantaged to lift themselves up.

I’m afraid, though, that it says something about our divisive times when expressing unpopular views about a vital issue of the day gets you immediately labeled.

Hopefully with the first rush of the tax season coming to an end, I will find more time to read poems and comment on them. Until then, I’m afraid I will continue to stall by expressing my opinion on various issues that interest me but don’t require a single focus, but that still doesn’t make me an anti-war blog.

In times like this I find myself turning more and more to the Christian Science Monitor as a new source. It’s tough not to love a paper that can run a cartoon like this the same day it is running an article like Americans and a Dangerous World, which offers a reasonable perspective on the current “crisis.”

The subheading, “Despite missile and terror threats, experts urge vigilance and alertness, not panic” offers the sanest approach to recent events and government announcements. While not directly criticizing the Bush administration, the article does offer advice that will help counter the current hysteria that threatens to little besides enriching Walmart, Lowes and Home Depot.

The article points out that while Central Intelligence director George Tenet’s warning that North Korean missiles may be able to reach the West Coast puts a “vivid face on that danger,” what he didn’t say is that “the US reaction to North Korea’s actions might in itself boost that trend” because the “US is angrily confronting an apparently nonnuclear Iraq” while “treating an apparently nuclear-armed Pyongyang with great care.”

While the article does not directly attack the administration’s urging citizens to rush out and buy duct tape, it does note that “Experts debated whether the plastic would do any good,” while suggesting that “the main purpose of the warning might have been to ready the nation mentally for coming challenges.”

Unlike most of today’s media, the Christian Scientist Monitor continues to offer a relatively objective view of the world.