Sunday, August 22, 2010

A Short (Very Short) Conversation With a Veteran

I just had a rather tense moment with a young guy as we were standing outside my local coffee shop waiting for it to open this Sunday morning.  There were three of us standing there and we were talking about life in general and the issue of the Wikileaks guy came up.  I Mentioned how the US government is going after the guy and mentioned John Piliger's article in support of Wikileaks. 

This young guy "begs to differ" he tells me and said that Wikilieaks refers to US troops as terrorists.  I said that I wasn't aware of that but certainly to the opposing side  they would see them as terrorists, surely he can understand that.  He went on to say that they bombed us, the Taliban that is. I did not agree and then asked  him if Iraq bombed us, he didn't answer and I asked him again.  He finally responded saying that he didn't care, they were all a bunch of "Ragheads", look at how the Taliban treat women. I said that they have always treated women that way and the US supported them and gave them plenty of money back then.  I pointed out that up until 1999, every Taliban official was on the payroll of the US government.  I said he was a  racist and at that time the coffee shop opened its doors and we went in single file. We sort of stayed way from each other then.

After I got my coffee I  went to sit outside with a friend and as the young guy came out I commented that I regret it was so tense and he replied favorably but said that he gets tired of all the anti-American stuff, "I fought over there" he tells me.  So I got up and walked over to him. We introduced ourselves and I walked along with him a little ways. He said that they blow up their own people and kill women and children. He mentioned that one of his parents was from Denmark and they go over their threatening to kill people, referencing the protests against the cartoon.

We talked just for a short while but I wish I 'd have gotten his e mail and had more discussion with him.  It made me think of the young veteran that shot his wife and family earlier this week.  Who knows why this young guy went there?  It might have been economic necessity or maybe he was convinced that he was doing the right thing, I don't know.  What has he seen over there?  What were his experiences?  The point is that his views as young as he is must have been formulated primarily by his experiences in either Afghanistan or Iraq, for all I knew, he may not have had any animosity or feelings about "Ragheads" before serving in Afghanistan. He may never have used the term, he didn't seem like he wasn't the thoughtful type.

I talked with him a little about myself being of English background and growing up watching the news every day about Northern Ireland and the "terrorists" there.  Despite being of Irish background and raised Catholic, I knew next to nothing about the real history of the struggle there and the role of British imperialism in Ireland, I only learned this as I got older and politicized. I raised with him that once I understood the history of British rule in Ireland I clearly opposed England's role there. "Does that make me anti-English?" I asked.  I don't recall the term anti-English being used much in my youth when people disagreed with something the government did but it's not uncommon over here to be accused of anti-Americanism any time you opposes the role of the state, its the nationalist response in order to shut down any discussion that might lead to some sort of class analysis.  "We're all in this together"  "United We Stand", "We all have to share the pain", these are all nationalist slogans in one way or another.

I suggested he watch The Ground Truth and Sir no Sir as we parted. I hope I meet the young guy again, I was impressed after the tension of our initial encounter that he was open to discuss further and share his point of view.

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education."  Einstein

1 comment:

Unknown said...

i love trying to be curious.so then lets explore political truths beyond boundries and flags.it seems such an enormous task and very idealistic.there seems very few men and women of vision.i have a dear neighbour who is sending her adorable kid to a charter school.they will eventually pay less and less wages to their teachers.i am reminded of william butler yeats."things fall apart,the center cannot hold"it becomes more depressing that more people are becoming informed by the indifference of money throughout the world.it should never be considered a real measure of value.i value richards and seans words in the deepest parts of my hearts core.