A friend recently made an interesting point. We were talking about the so-called Operation Iraqi Freedom, and my friend said, The Iraqis think they're fighting for their freedom
too. Right?
It is year five of the Iraq War and we are still unsure of what we are fighting for. We are letting this happen. Our apathy, our lack of interest fuels the Bush Administration's treachery. Why have we stopped caring? The Iraq War is our country's war, and it is not enough to say, Well I don't support it. You personally may not support the war, but your tax dollars do.
Our government has spent over half a trillion dollars fighting supposed terrorists, searching for WMDs that didn't exist, pulling Saddam out of a hole and killing an estimated 655,000 Iraqis. Your subconscious prejudices may have you believing that an American life is worth more than an Iraqi life. It's not. We all spend nine months in the womb.
This is not a matter of personal opinion. This is not about politics. We as a people have become 300 million hapless sheep under an authoritarian government. We have surrendered our power to an administration that manufactured fear to cripple its citizens. Five years ago the Bush Administration invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, and we have impassively followed along, lazily doing what we are told, like the Germans who were apathetic while Hitler slaughtered millions and led the country into World War II.
It does not have to be this way.
What happened to our patriotism? Remember when, after Sept. 11, we were quick to drape an American flag over our door? We sang God Bless The U.S.A. which miraculously reappeared on the radio after a 17-year absence. For the first time, our generation knew a tragedy that was uniquely our own. We had never before felt so American. We paid attention to the news and listened when our parents talked. We cared about our country and our people.
But our generation has thus far proved too ADD to make a difference. We are too easily distracted, too consumed by reality TV, video games, sports and our social lives to care about what is wrong with our country, much less the entire world. We are escapists. We are cowards. We talk about the real world as if we do not already live in it. The real world has become this subsequent dimension that exists when one graduates college. Do you see what we are doing here? We are postponing any sense of accountability, stunting the growth of our generation and condemning the future of our country.
Andrew Eisenman is a junior journalism major.
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