Thursday, March 18, 2004
Lies, Damn Lies, and Spanish vs American Politics
I am trying not to think harshly of the Spanish. They have suffered a grievous blow, and it was crazy to go ahead with an election a mere three days after the Madrid massacre. Nonetheless, here is what seems to have happened:
The Spanish government was conducting policies in Afghanistan and Iraq that Al Qaeda found objectionable. A group linked to Al Qaeda murdered 200 Spaniards, claiming that the bombing was punishment for those policies. Some significant percentage of the Spanish electorate was mobilized after the massacre to shift the course of the campaign, throw out the old government and replace it with one whose policies are more to Al Qaeda's liking.
What is the Spanish word for appeasement? -- David Brooks, New York Times, Op-Ed, 16 March 2004
Tomas Jogin has a post regarding the various lies and assumptions being made by the American public in regard to the Spanish elections over at Jogin.com. Since I’ve posted on the elections earlier, I thought I’d follow-up.
America--our president and our press--are calling the Spainards cowards for voting out the current ruling party, in favor of the Socialist Party. Despite whether the turning tide was caused by anger at the lies and deceit of the Popular Party, the terrorist attacks, or general voter discontent, many agree with David Brooks when he states:
I’m resisting that conclusion, because I don’t know what mix of issues swung the Spanish election during those final days. But I do know that reversing course in the wake of a terrorist attack is inexcusable. I don’t care what the policy is. You do not give terrorists the chance to think that their methods work. You do not give them the chance to celebrate victories. When you do that, you make the world a more dangerous place, for others and probably for yourself.
Obviously, I don’t agree. This type of sentiment angers and disgusts me. It fills me with dread and despair, because it provokes a fatalism about the future of our country that I’m at a loss to combat. The United States is a country that is in many ways in the midst of a social war, except its a war of words and the opposition has neglected to show up.
Tell me why, the people of this country, through our press, or president, our politicians, and our ‘experts’ eagerly codify that adapting a course of action is the equivalent to cowardice. This is (the opinionate backlash), is about politics, pure and simple. American politics as a bid for re-election and ongoing support for the war in Iraq, versus Spanish politics.
The following quote was posted by grytpype at March 14, 2004 08:38 PM on CalPundit
I’m just getting sick and tired of the intellectual bankruptcy of the hawks. They see the only options as “DO IT OUR WAY” or “CAPITULATE TO THE MUSLIMS”. They can’t even CONCEIVE that maybe their might be another explaination: “DO IT ANOTHER WAY BECAUSE YOUR WAY OBVIOUSLY ISN’T FUCKING WORKING”. Since they can’t see this, they call their former allies “capitulating” “cowards” simply because the Spaniards no longer agree that the Bush way of fighting terrorism is the best way.
The truth is over 90% of the Spainards didn’t want to go to the war in Iraq. They didn’t believe it to be attack on terrorism, because Iraq had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks on the United States. The people of Spain thought and most likely continue to think the war was unjustified. But even with that, I doubt if that was the primary motivation for removing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. The ignoring the ‘will’ of the people, the lying about the cause of the bombing, the deception and defection of blame, and other general mismanagement of information surrounding the days after the Madrid Massacre up to the general election probably had a lot more to do with it.
The American press, president, and politicians are saying, “even if we lie, cause irrepairable harm, damage democracy, and destroy the American way of life—so long as we claim to be fighting terrorism—do not question us, do not debate with us, and never, never kick us out of office, because then the terrorist will win.” Can’t you see, THEN THE TERRORIST WOULD WIN. We’ve got to stick to our guns, sacrife our children, give up those useless freedoms, pay, pay, and pay, because combating terrorism is about sticking to a single course of action. Essentially, the choice to do it another way when your method isn’t working has obviously been removed from the list of acceptable and logical options.
I’m not from Spain. I don’t speak Spanish, and my knowledge of world history as well as current events is probably not that good; but this is what I know. Not supporting Bush, not supporting Aznar, and not supporting the war in Iraq is not the equivalent of supporting terrorism. The people of Spain have stood up. They are voting for democracy. They are saying that you CAN NOT bully us into agreeing that your methods, your lies, your deceptions. We do not believe that your war is right or working when evidence suggestions otherwise.
I feel wonder and pride for the people of Spain, but am still left with a sense of loss and yearning for America.
Footnotes
The Korea Herald, “Op-Ed Editoral”, March, 18 2004
Washington Post, Jefferson Morley, Democracy, Not Appeasement
New York Times, David Brooks, Al Qaeda’s Wish List
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