“You can bomb the world to pieces, but you can’t bomb it into peace” -Michael Franti
You can’t slash away uncomfortable truths, either…but that doesn’t mean people won’t try. The above photograph is of my car, a 2001 Ford Focus that you’ve probably seen around the valley for almost as long as this war’s been on, which i call “Arlington Mobile” after the Arlington West temporary memorials in Long Beach and Santa Barbara (which, of course, take their names from Arlington National Cemetary). Both of my driver’s side tires were slashed sometime late last week, which affords me the opportunity to reflect on the dramatic, terrifying, confounding, and even amusing disconnect between the message and the response, and to “ping” our local collective consciousness with the fact that “the holidays are here, and we’re STILL at war“.
i’ve reflected on this before, and yet it still comes as a poignant reminder: the gap between an uncomfortable Truth (the persistence of war and the actual number of American military dead) and a violent response (nasty notes, egging, slashing tires) is ENORMOUS, MISPLACED, and INDIRECT. That gap SHOULD be filled with education, social skills and awareness, and democratic empowerment…a tall order, for sure.
Some friends have come forward to help me replace the tires. That’s the easy part. The OTHER things we need…to have healthy, communicative, and non-violent people all around? Of course, those are more difficult. i suggest we start with education…even sixth grader Ethan Matsuda knows that.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Evan, I’m so sorry to hear that your tires were slashed. It is darkly fascinating to watch how violence begets itself. (Especially from a distance, when it’s someone else’s tires! Oops! I roll my eyes at myself…)
Have you ever read any James Hillman, Evan? (He’s one of the glorious elders in my academic tradition.)
He wrote a book a few years back called A Terrible Love of War — you may well not agree with everything he writes in the book, but I think you might find it thought-provoking.
Here’s an article about the book that I think offers a good first glimpse into Hillman’s thinking:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/2004/love-of-war.htm
And, again, so sorry to hear that someone needed to respond to your message in such a nasty way. Aside from the fact that I’m sure you had lots of other places to spend that kind of money, it’s hard to have someone come at us like that — it can be really unsettling. Hope you’re okay.
All the best,
Leigh
I am sickened by this, but soooo glad YOU are OK.
This is fairly predictable. It is pretty common for spectacles to be attacked. The more poignant, the more likely the attack. Tough way to learn a lesson. I appreciate your effort to raise awareness. Have you thought about how a local mother whose son is one of the dead soldiers represented on your vehicle may feel when she sees your reminder on a regular basis? From that perspective it could be considered insensitive.
I’m sorry to hear this too Evan.
Speaking of education, today I looked up some numbers on world hunger and learned this:
Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn¹t happen.
I think that it is terrible that most people who support the war say that they are protecting our constitution. After that being said, Freedom of Speech is in our constitution. So I would say that those people are hypocrits because they are not allowing someone to have this freedom and not only that, they are taking violent measures to prevent it. My son is in the Air Force and I do not support this war. I do however support our troops. But I don’t go around slashing the tires of people who do not believe the way I do. It’s shameful!!!!!!
Leigh, THANK YOU for completing a circle you didn’t even know was incomplete! some great time ago, a friend mentioned what i now realize is Hillman’s work (”War Is Normal, War is Inhuman, War is Sublime, and Religion Is War”), but very soon afterward i forgot all the relevant details and was therefore fruitless at discovering the text. now, thanks to you, i’ve found and can explore it! i think you’re right that i’ll not initially agree with some of the things he has to say…i think i’ll resist the things that are challenging truths. but i’m not gonna slash any tires over it.
Evan, how totally cool!
I really love Hillman — he is a fomenter by nature and loves to play with ideas — very hermetic, trying stuff on for size, comfortable with tensions and uncertainty with some trickster energy. (He’s the same way as a person — really fun.) He is assertive and can be acerbic but is anything but a fundamentalist in his thinking, which is what I most enjoy about him.
I went to a weekend long workshop that he gave as he was working some of these ideas pre-book and I think he has opened up some really powerful thoughts about why we are drawn to violence.
I’ll be interested to hear what you think!
Best,
Leigh
Did you hear about Kucinich’s bill to end the war which he will introduce in January? I think it’s a little different since your generation was never drafted. The guys and women going into the military now are well aware what they signing up for. Maybe I’ll start a car that represents all the kids in poor countries who have died because of you brown shirts that forced the global food shortage because of the bio fuel scam, Al Gore should bear some of that responsiblilty.
Brian, the phrase “well aware [of] what they [are] signing up for” is VAST and full of gaping holes…no need to go any further, although i’ll grant you that a draftless military/culture is quite different.
Start a car, i dare you.
Stunning Statistics About the War Every American Should Know
Contrary to popular belief, the US actually has 189,000 personnel on the ground in Afghanistan right now—and that number is quickly rising.
A hearing in Sen. Claire McCaskill’s Contract Oversight subcommittee on contracting in Afghanistan has highlighted some important statistics that provide a window into the extent to which the Obama administration has picked up the Bush-era war privatization baton and sprinted with it. Overall, contractors now comprise a whopping 69% of the Department of Defense’s total workforce, “the highest ratio of contractors to military personnel in US history.” That’s not in one war zone-that’s the Pentagon in its entirety.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/12/18-2
Evan,
I’ve always thought you had a lot of guts to have that car. Sorry that some spineless weenie did what they did. That video by that kid Ethan is great,(”Don’t you ever watch the Daily Show?” lol)
Thanks for the post. I join you in daring BC to “start a car” like he mentioned in comment # 8.