It seems Bend City Council foolishly thought the time had come to dedicate one of Bend’s bridges to that most un-American ideal – peace. The “Homeland” (Fatherland and Motherland were taken) is home to less than 5% of the world’s population but it spends more on armaments than all the other nations in the world combined. Few seem to know this – fewer seem to consider it psychotic and sinful. Such exuberant investment does not go to waste.
Except for a few thin slices of time here and there, the US has been involved in war almost continuously since the Revolution, and in the centuries before the Revolution, Americans busied themselves with the horrors of slavery and the systematic ethnic cleansing of the native peoples. Given half a millennium of bellicosity, it should come as no surprise that many here regard the promotion of peace as a sign of weakness, or as anti-American, anti-progress, anti-business or as Communism, homosexuality or emasculation. Bend City Council really should have known better. This gesture shook the bitter little war-hawks out of their lairs and soon the air was thick with nasty emails and vitriolic phone calls.
I can think of only one nation on Earth where a significant portion of the citizenry would object to the designation of a “Peace Bridge.” If you’re capable of reading this letter, it is likely that you are, like me, unable to fathom how someone could be so irredeemably stupid, so unschooled and barbaric as to argue against Peace. Had this happened in one of those countries, labeled by Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld in one of their regular exhibitions of ignorance and high irony, as “Rogue Nations” it would have been all over the news. Sadly, the country where the very idea of Peace is repugnant is the United States of America and the town is Bend, Oregon.
Maybe some of these “War-niks” should come out from wherever they lurk and explain their argument in a letter to the Source. Until then we are reliably assured:
“Blessed are the peacemakers. For they shall be called the children of God” – seems clear enough.”
Richard Shortall
This article appears in Jan 15-21, 2009.
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Typical liberal intolerance of an opposing view. Someone doesn’t agree with you so they are “irredeemably stupid”. You don’t even attempt to understand the objection people have to this whole peace bridge nonsense.
By all means, you and all your little friends go out and name every hill, river, creek, bridge, building, or cloud in the sky some peace name which you all deem to be appropriate. If that makes you feel better about the guilt you appear to feel as an American, great. Then, years from now, please let me know what difference it has made towards peace.
No, the primary objection arises in that taking up the “cause of peace” in not an appropriate function of city government. It is merely a way for city councilors to inject their personal views on a national issue where it is not asked for nor needed.
I disagree. All politics is local – even peace. Thank God we have something that calls to our higher ideals in this community.
Richard–
Talk to Ralph who is bidding us goodbye above. You can go with him to a Nirvana he knows about where everyone is like-minded and agrees with him. It is just plain wrong that you have to live among less intelligent barbarians who refuse to see the light.
Dear friend JJ
Apart from its unimpeachable (unlike Bush Ha Ha) grammar and eloquent structure, there is no evidence in my letter that I am a liberal. You really should try to rise above the pedestrian intellectual levels of Hannity, Oรข โขReilly, Coulter and Limbaugh – bores and boors all. The nation is moving on now รข ” hopefully towards its long delayed adulthood. The first sentence of your response contains at least three logical errors. Well done.
Secondly I do not have รข little friendsรข ย.
Thirdly, not only does the letter not evince guilt รข ” though it is noteworthy that this is the emotion you brought up รข ” but I am not an American. Next, Iรข โขm sure you would agree รข ” perhaps not รข ” that preparing for war makes a country not only better at war but more likely to engage in it. I also note you failed to respond to the bellicose nature of Americaรข โขs 500 years or the USรข โขs 200. Almost continuous involvement in war รข ” what was it you said about guilt?
What you strangely refer to as the รข Cause of Peaceรข ย is an appropriate function for individuals, small groups, city, regional, national governments and international groups of nations. There is a name for people who feel otherwise – Terrorists. Surely you can’t be a terrorist JJ. You appear to favor war รข ” well then, off you go my little fighting man. Thanks to the belligerent, barbaric and greedy there are many places in the world for you to indulge your รข causeรข ย. Or, you could just sit in your armchair and be a tough-talker like Rumsfeld, Cheney (Mr 5 Deferrals) and Mr. Bush (Stay at Home Guard Party Boy) or Rush (Fighting Terror in My Own Way) Limbaugh.
Lastly รข ” รข not asked forรข ย! รข ” itรข โขs called an election JJ.
Thanks for your erudite and concise response.
So, Mr Cramer, your argument seems to be: “leave town if’n you don’t agree with those against the designation of a Peace Bridge”. You decree: “let there be no dissent”! Isn’t this what Saddam Hussein, Mao, Stalin, Hitler and all other dictators insist? To use your own argument – shouldn’t those who prefer dictatorial government go live in a country that favors it?
And I agree with you on one point – it is (and has been) difficult to live in a place so densely populated with the unschooled and unthinking but if all us “cultured ‘n educated” folks leave, the country will go to the dogs. Thanks for the advice anyway.
Lastly, I keep hearing about “the arguments against the peace bridge” but no proponents of these arguments seem capable of writing them down so we can evaluate them.
Why am I not surprized at this?
Richard–
The only thing more empty than the gesture of naming a bridge the Peace Bridge is the invective and rhetoric you use when writing. People disagree with you–get used to it. I apologize as an American to someone who is not for generating a society where you are free to blather on endlessly from your self-indulgent and imagined position of superiority. What would happen if all of you “cultured ‘n educated” folks disappeared? I don’t know? Whay don’t you give it a shot and see what happens? Thanks to your efforts, obviously, we are living in a trouble-free paradise that I am unable to appreciate. It would serve me right to have to endure the travails of a Shortall-less Bend.
By the way–after reading the attacks on the USA, I am curious to know which country you came from. Which country has lived in virtual peace these last few centuries and engendered and fostered an intellect so keen as yours. Is you exile here among the unwashed a forced one? Are you doing missionary work to win over lost American souls to the cause of peace? I am so sorry I disagreed. Having been appropriately chastised and dispensed with I will now return to my cave with my fellow troglodytes.
And, I have to say that as a non-citizen, “like Rumsfeld, Cheney (Mr 5 Deferrals) and Mr. Bush (Stay at Home Guard Party Boy) or Rush (Fighting Terror in My Own Way) Limbaugh,” you take advantage of your right of free speech, guaranteed you in a document created in the blood of patriots in a war of revolution and held together in a civil war at great cost of life, limb and treasure. America has its faults–so many, according to you, it lacks any merit at all. Yet you remain.
Richard,
Where to start?
Sorry for calling you liberal. I know how liberals hate being called liberals. Perhaps I should have gone with “leftist” as was recently suggested to me. Six of one, half dozen of the other to me, but if it makes a difference to you, whatever.
Since you state you are not American, I must say I stand corrected for labeling the motivation for writing your second paragraph as guilt. Envy, perhaps?
I, however, am an American, and I am proud of my nation’s history and its endeavors. I am particularly proud of our military. It is and will continue to be the greatest force for the promotion of freedom, democracy, and peace the world has ever known. America is the greatest nation in the history of the earth, and I will not apologize to anyone for that fact.
We agree that those who oppose peace are rightfully to be called terrorists. Where we disagree is on how peace is to be attained. NAMING BRIDGES DOES NOTHING. Singing songs, handing out flowers, and asking pretty please doesn’t either. Knowing people understand that terrorists hate us for our religion, our prosperity, and our way of life and also that they don’t care what you or I say in an attempt to appease them. More than just a sign of weakness to be preyed upon, the activities and attitude of the “peace movement” in this country is an indicator of success for the terrorists around the world. You have to go out and eliminate the terrorists, they are not just going to give up.
“well then, off you go my little fighting man”
Good advice, but too late. Already raised my right hand. I wear the greens every day of my life, pal, so you tell me who sits in an armchair.
What is most disturbing about your position is the appalling level of arrogance you display towards people whom you feel are inferior to you, presumably those who don’t share your “education level” or political viewpoints. It is exactly as I stated in my first sentence above, intolerance of an opposing view.
And just so you know, the word “peace” is not a proper noun and therefore should not be capitalized. I’m very surprised you missed that given your extensive educational background.
Jed–
Shortall is just recycling the rhetoric of Chomsky and Zinn with no original substance of his own. It is a one-sided world view that appeals to a small segment of the population who don’t contribute–who go along for the ride–and are, as you wrote, envious of those that Do, and I mean that in the upper-case sense.
He will shake his head when he reads what is written by those who disagree with him and lament the misguided souls who lack his sophistication, learning and intelligence and soldier on, although he will never serve in the sense others do. Like Rush (Fighting Terror in My Own Way) Limbaugh, he and others will fight war and oppression in their own way and never recognize that there are other points of view with validity. No one longs for peace more than the men and women who have fought in wars. They know all about the true nature of ‘glory.’ The rooting sections cheer both sides on–when they actually play the game they understand how difficult it is to win anything without sacrificing their better angels.
Thanks Stephen
Your counterargument has left me both bored with the whole subject and at the same time vindicated because none of you Fightin’ Brave American Boys has put forward a single argument against the designation of a Peace Bridge … all I’ve received so far are variations on xenophobic rants and potted middle school history. Plus ca change …..
By now, and congratulations for reading.
Richard
Well JJ Pal, thanks for the Lesson,
I congratulate you on wearing “the green” and I thank you for your reasonably exact rehash of Mr Limbaugh, Mr Cheney, Mr Bush, Mr Coulter and Mr Hannity’s political science. It was quite good but I’m not persuaded. I am also not sure what you mean when you say the US is the greatest nation on Earth (of all time, no less!) but what mystifies me the most is which of your personal deficits are corrected by beating your manly chest and making such a pointless and increasingly inaccurate declaration. In short, Pal, in what ways exactly, is the US the greatest Nation On Earth? Secondly, apart from being able to bleat and boast about it, what good does it do you personally? Lastly, Old Boy, as you have no doubt traveled extensively, in “the green”, you are aware that there are dozens of other countries out there where citizens have “free speech” in addition to the other “freedoms” you alude to.
I’m staying here because I feel like it, Pal, and you and Mr.Cramer will not bully me into limiting my free speech in this or any other country.
Thank you for reading
Hey, Short for brains—
Yes–other countries have freedoms–and they were usually hard fought battles that established them. Since I have to assume you are of European descent, you, too, come from a long established history of war, violence, colonialism, religious intolerance and xenophobia. Your crap stinks like everyone elses. You didn’t say where you are from, but it is obviously a great exporter of arrogant, psuedo-intellectual assholes.
The point of the JJ and SC responses to you rant was that naming a bridge for peace or for veterans is absolutely meaningless. For you to claim it is a step in the cause of peace is self indulgent BS that the self congratulatory activists always claim when they achieve something that totally lacks merit.
How about you stating ONE MEANINGFUL THING that the bridge designation achieves! That should shut them up. Let’s hear it, pal, we are all waiting.
Dearest JJ & Creamer and the Guy Who Blows, thank you for your increasingly hilarious replies to my letter to the Source. As I said… only in one country on earth does one draw such aggressive responses for bringing up the idea of Peace. Only one. Only here is male insecurity so profound and the level of societal fear so high that one is pilloried for mentioning or supporting Peace.
I would also like to thank the editor for being brave enough to print it.
And yet still I wait for one single cogent argument against the designation of a Peace Bridge. It came as no surprise to me that none of the three respondents to my letter had the spine to give a genuine reason for their hatred of Peace.
I would also like to take this opportunity to wish President Obama the best of luck in his efforts to divert the American Ship of State from the jagged rocks of disaster and World disgrace at which Captain Bush, Seaman Cheney and Rumsfeld the Cabin Boy spent the last 8 years sailing – all engines-full power.
A small thank you to Blow, JJ and Creamer – warriors and scholars all no doubt – for providing me with some laughs and for supplying yet more evidence that the most pressing problem the US has is the astonishingly deficient way it educates its males.
Bye bye boys
A reminder here: Personal attacks, especially those that are peppered with profanity are not welcome and will be removed.
Thanks Editor,
I think maybe we all got somewhat carried away with this topic (ironic, considering the topic was “peace”!) and I think you are right to remind me and my respondents aabout mutual respect. Feelings ran high on both sides, this is true, but I think it signifies the importance of a nation’s attitude towards peace. We all say we want peace for our families, our children, ourselves – but when it comes down to making a choice, especially a budgetary choice we show our true values. A nation shows its values by what it spends the national treasure on – recent statistics show that the US spends almost half it’s wealth on the military and so one can only conclude that the US values War.
Thank you for the opportunity to express my views
“And yet still I wait for one single cogent argument against the designation of a Peace Bridge. It came as no surprise to me that none of the three respondents to my letter had the spine to give a genuine reason for their hatred of Peace.”
First–disagreement does not equate to hatred. Presumptive.
Second–The disagreement is that respondents feel that naming the bridge is a meaningless gesture that achieves nothing, generates false complacency and sense of achievement, and no more contributes to the cause of peace than wearing a wool hat.
Third–YOU have been asked to respond with a single concrete example of how the naming of the bridge actually furthers the cause of peace and you haven’t done so. Labeling others and failing to elucidate further on how this act by the city council actually has achieved anything weakens any case you may claim to be making.
Fourth–glad to give you a chuckle. You have certainly done the same, playing your one note symphony to a diverse audience, that, you will notice failed to sing along.
Peace is achieved through discussion, negotiation and compromise. You demonstrate an intellectual fascism that wants no discussion, in your hubris sees no need to negotiate, and fails to understand that compromise achieves the ends you claim to want. Everything else involves victory and defeat, the very things you decry.
OK so, to recap, your argument against designating a Peace Bridge is that it has no potential effect. I disagree. We should promite Peace in every way we can for as long as the Right permits us to do so.
Your second argument is that it creates a sense of complacency (among whom, we are left to wonder) – I disagree. In fact, this really is a non-starter Mr Creamer. It’s as if you’re saying:”OK now we’ve got a Peace Bridge, so now we can stop doing everything else we were doing to foster Peace”. Completely illogical – like something Rumsfeld would have said just before he said he didn’t say it.
Thirdly, I believe you exhibit the moral cowardice common among the Right – my opinion is that you detest the idea of promoting peace because you are in fact pro-war, pro-aggression, pro-Imperialism and as you demonstrated already, xenophobic.
Lastly, you appear to have swallowed a dictionary and well, the diet doesn’t suit your simpler constitution.
“You demonstrate an intellectual fascism that wants no discussion, [untrue, in fact it was I who requested a discussion] in your hubris sees no need to negotiate, and fails to understand [hubris cannot ‘fail to understand’] that compromise [OK, how about a Peace Sidewalk! as a compromise] achieves the ends you claim to want”
I read this sentence three times and I think I get what you are trying to say but it is basically meaningless drivel. You also fall into the American Conservative habit of gathering up the latest trendy Right-words rote learned from Hannity or O’Reilly, throwing them together and hoping for the best. For instance: “fascism” – this misuse of the word “fascism” became popular amongst the American right about 4 years ago and it was picked up and spread by Limbaugh who now cannot say “Islam” without also saying “o-fascism” after it. Clearly the Right Think Tanks did this because the word was being correctly applied to them. It is clear that neither Limbaugh nor you have ever looked up “Fascism” to find out what it actually means. Limbaugh doesn’t care what “fascism” or any other word means – perhaps you do. If you do look it up (in a dictionary) you will find that the closest thing we now have to a major Fascist Imperialist Power is the US as it has been formed by the Bush administration.
The same shift of meaning was applied to “liberal” so that it is now sufficiently meaningless that even the Right can use it. It is also ironic that you say “Peace is achieved through discussion, negotiation and compromise” given your adolescent style of argument.
So, where to now?
I will sign off this tiresome string of comments – permanently – and I look forward to all those well written letters in the Source and elsewhere outlining precisely how the designation of a Peace Bridge is detrimental to the health of the nation.
Still waiting,
RS
You boys are silly. Why don’t you go meet behind the smoker’s zone at school and beat each other up and just be done with it. Get a life.
SILLY!!
Hey, we’re talking about world peace here! Global domination! American hegemony! The proper use of the English Language!
Oh–I guess you’re right. It really is trivial and doesn’t matter.
And that was my point…
WOW! everyone uses such amazing vocabulary and passion when fighting over the naming of a bridge.
I can’t tell which of you is the cunning linguist and which is the master debater…
can we all just get a life please??
Though Shortall is wrong in every possible way about the U.S., his dictionary is clearly thicker than mine.
I know I said I’d just go away and get a life but I was reading the new letters and saw this from Creamer: “Hey, we’re talking about world peace here! Global domination! American hegemony! The proper use of the English Language!
Oh–I guess you’re right. It really is trivial and doesn’t matter.
And that was my point…”
So, American Hegemony, Global Domination and the proper use of the English Language are trivial! No wonder we can’t get a sensible argument going between Left and Right in this country!
And from Jegglie: “Though Shortall is wrong in every possible way about the U.S., his dictionary is clearly thicker than mine”. An argument does not consist solely in saying that one’s opponent is “wrong in every possible way” – no supporting argument, no data, no cogent REASON why I am wrong… and as for my “dictionary” – well of course I have a huge one! I’m a LIBERAL damnit!!!
Thanks for reading
RS
It is truly ironic that a discussion about peace became so heated. Reading through the responses I had two thoughts. One is that John Lennon would be turning in his grave at the remarks made and the second was that there is no glory in war, no winners, only losers. Just look at recent events in Palestine !
We are fortunate to live in a society where we are free to voice our opinions but along with free speech there must be mutual respect.
I have to wonder what harm can be caused by naming a bridge the “Peace” bridge ? Is it really such a bad thing ? Will lives be lost ? Will it change the course of history ? These are rhetorical questions as I could never debate along with the current learned panel ๐
One point I did notice, RS never did say where he hailed from. I hazard he has done his own share of wearing the green !
You got that right Glean – but how did you guess?
Richard,
As one who has worn the green himself, metaphorically speaking, I recognised a christian brother !
Looking forward to a response.
As one who has worn the green himself, metaphorically speaking, I recognised a fellow christian brother.;-)
GG