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In
other words, I have no direct emotional links to the conflict.
If I wanted to, I could switch off the radio and the T.V. every
time the news came on, and I'd never have to know anything about it.
(I haven't bought a newspaper for years - I never get time to
read one, and British newspapers are a tragic collection of distorted
political biases and sloppy writing). Instead, I
feel desolate about it. Desolate
because it seemed to me that almost no-one in this country wanted it, at
least until the time that it actually started and the media and the
politicians all played the patriotism card and people began to think
that not supporting the war might be taken as ill-wishing "our
boys" in the Forces. Desolate
because it's all the children in my class want to talk about at the
moment, and I often can't answer their questions (how do you answer a
seven-year-old who asks, "If everyone knows that war is stupid, why
do they still do it?"), and because the boys have started playing
nothing but war games in the playground.
Desolate
because I don't know anything meaningful about - and won't be told
anything about - a single one of the children killed or injured in Iraq. In all the T.V. reporting of the last three weeks, I have
seen, for the brief span of several seconds on each occasion, only two
images of wounded children, when dozens (hundreds?) must have been
injured or killed. There
was one little four-year-old screaming because his body was covered in
burns, and a teenager who had a bullet wound.
On both occasions, we were told that they later died.
There were no interviews with their families.
No photos of when they they were happy, ordinary children.
They were simply not important enough to warrant any more
airtime. Pictures of tanks
and bomber planes are far more exciting, after all. Desolate
because all the schools in Hastings are projecting deficit budgets next
year, and most of them will be sacking Teaching Assistants to make ends
meet - and the price of one
Cruise missile would solve the problem across the whole town. What a bloody
stupid situation. And we
just go on with our daily lives, hoping it will all just go away.
We are all degraded by it. And I keep
wondering why it is that I really want to know what Bob thinks about it.
Why should it matter to me what he makes of the situation?
I feel a real need for him to pronounce about it - and I can't
figure out why it should be so important
There was an
excellent news item on Channel 4 a few nights back about the millions of
Americans who believe that this conflict may well be the beginning of
the sequence of events foretold in the Book of Revelations.
Books written on the subject are bestsellers for months on end in
the States, apparently. We
know that Bob has been given in the past to drawing parallels between
modern Middle Eastern conflicts and the Apocalypse: does he feel now
that we are truly in the End Times? We also know
that he has denied ever being anything like a pacifist, and has decried
"globalism". Neighbourhood
Bully reflected a belief that countries have the right to defend
their security and interests. Does
he perhaps feel that the perceived threat to American interests
justifies this war? I find myself
wondering what will happen when the next concerts take place.
Will he, in Texas of all places, do what he did in the earlier
Gulf War, and play Masters of War?
If he did, how would it be received?
But above all, why does it matter to me so much what he
does or says about it? Why
do I want him - if I'm being truthful - to back up my own judgements on
the matter, to see things from the same perspective as I do?
If he said something completely contrary to what I believe, would
it make me question myself - or think any differently about him?
Does it matter to you? Have you wondered why? |
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