May 26, 2004

PROJECTING

I had some additional thoughts about our values documented in movies last night after I turned off the computer. It's hard not to project our American experience onto Iraqis.

I believe that the insurgents are a small percentage of the population and that the average Iraqi just stays inside with the door locked and avoids getting killed. One of the things I keep expecting to see is an uprising of regular fed-up Iraqis. À la Superman II, when the Krypton criminals pin Superman behind the bus and the people of Metropolis, thinking he's dead, grab whatever they can find and say, "Let's get 'em." Or like in The Three Amigos, where the regular townsfolk defend their city against the bullies. I don't think I should hold my breath.

We have a history of rising up; it's the foundation of our country. From the days of Don't Tread On Me to the modern-day anthem "We're Not Gonna Take It", we Americans don't sit by and let things happen to us. I keep projecting that value onto Iraqis. It's easy to forget that they've spent decades living in fear and that they may not be rising up any time soon.

I know there are plenty of Iraqis who are joining the coalition military and police force. I applaud them and know they're doing the right thing. But I still keep waiting in the back of my mind to see a group of average Iraqis take to the streets and say "Let's get 'em."

Posted by: Sarah at 02:02 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 Now I've got Twisted Sister in my head and they won't go away.

Posted by: Anders at May 26, 2004 09:29 AM (RWjHO)

2 You're uprising is happening but unfortunately it's Iraqis joining the Insurgency against the Americans rather than the other way 'round. I donÂ’t think after Abu the average Iraqi wants to be associated with the Occupying forces. Think more like Die Hard 2 when Bruce Willis figures out why the soldiers had two different kinds of clips for their guns.

Posted by: salvage at May 26, 2004 12:41 PM (xWitf)

3 How about like the "wolverines" in Red Dawn rising up against the OCCUPYING russian/cuban troops. That's *most* of what we are seeing in Iraq, with a little bit of crazed fundamentalists "Bringing it on" as requested by bicylce boy. After dismantling the Iraqi army, and especially after Abu Ghraib, the US are occupiers, not liberators. No matter what good intentions there may have been.

Posted by: fasteddie at May 26, 2004 01:01 PM (oMdwy)

4 Congratulations! You've attracted all the moonbats who can't spell!

Posted by: Mike at May 26, 2004 01:33 PM (cFRpq)

5 I can just see it: George W. Bush = George III Blackwater = Hessians Ahmed Chalabi = Benedict Arnold ............

Posted by: blowback at May 26, 2004 04:50 PM (IsLgH)

6 Ahh yes, the eeeevil occupying americans. Just last week the New York Times reported on our recent gas attacks killing thousands in villages. Now average Iraqi's are so filled with a bloodlust rage that they are slobbering fools who don't worry about food for their families, but rather killing the imperialists. I saw on CNN I think the video of hundreds of thousands of them overwhelming the occupiers in their bases and burning their bodies in piles. At the same time, those US troops that were still secure behind their walls of women and children were busy cranking up the gas chambers, rape rooms and murder squads trying to kill as many brown people as fast as possible before the apocalypse comes because the Jew is taking back their homeland. Isn't that the way you lefties see it? Don't you have a little bit of perspective, a way to see that your country is not evil, but is fighting evil? By the way, did any of you predict that the Sunni's from Fallujah and the Shiites of Najaf were uniting in a popular uprising? Instead we now have peace in the first, and imminent victory in the second, and both were achieved by alliances between the regular Iraqi's and Coallition forces working together, all aided by the people in both areas. Get a freaking grip and go troll somewhere else.

Posted by: John at May 26, 2004 11:58 PM (crTpS)

7 Yeah, we have an IMMINENT victory against an IMMINENT threat. I would agree that most Iraqis want less violence and are hiding. I don't know where you get the idea they're not blaming us for the lack of order. Keep dreaming.

Posted by: Buck at May 27, 2004 08:30 AM (Wu0hN)

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