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"Dread" Reads Almost Like "Dream"

I've gone through these days with a sense of dread, for whatever happens next. I fear that we as humans lack the imagination and hope, at this juncture in time, to do anything more than repeat the endless and pointless cycles of violence. Depressing.

So, we prepare to do battle against "vermin" as so many letters to the editor of the Seattle Times are calling these terrorists. I want to ask such people if they'd like to be shot for living next door to a criminal. I wonder at the lack of empathy when our nation this week has shown nothing but empathy to the victims and their families. Then I realize: this isn't about empathy, but about the loss of a false sense of security. It is about the dreaded loss of control. An overwhelming number of Americans wave flags and shout phrases, harass anyone who is brown-skinned, agree that we need to get the bastards and blithely speak of collateral damage as if it were some sort of unavoidable insurance rider that they had to add to their policy. They/we do these things because we hope against hope to restore a sense of rightness in the world. We seem to believe that our place in the world, our control will be re-established if only we could only take charge of the situation. And so we sit on the brink of an abyss--the world after the events of the coming months will not be the same--either we will find a way to truly fight terrorism, or we will continue the terror.

Nonetheless, I find hope in your opposition to this myopia, and I agree: the liberal left must do more than simply say that a nonviolent response is morally right, they must articulate the very pragmatic reasons why attacking a country and waging war against the Muslim world is wrong-headed and an unsound method of preventing future terrorism.

--James Dailey, Ballard

Hope, Please

I must admit, I have little faith that the few Americans that have their senses are going to be able to stop the steamroller that the Bush Administration (hell, the entire "bipartisan" government) has become now.

I am trying to find the hope that America can make the right decision and be courageous to the world and lead all humanity to a place of peace and harmony...but I don't see that happening. I see the opposite actually. Bush, no matter how much I would like to see him shine for the benefit of the world, he is not capable of the leadership and humility needed right now to reassess foreign and domestic policies alike. More depressing still is that he is surrounded by equally incapable "leaders" and lemmings.

Let me know if you find some hope...I could use some.

--Will Anderson, Seattle

Ed. note: see first entry under "Eat These Shorts."