Peace in our time begins with how we choose to live our lives.

We frail humans are at one time capable of the greatest good and, at the same time, capable of the greatest evil. Change will only come about when each of us takes up the daily struggle ourselves to be more forgiving, compassionate, loving, and above all joyful in the knowledge that, by some miracle of grace, we can change as those around us can change too.

~Mairead Maguire

Aren’t we privileged to live in a time when everything is at stake, and when our efforts make a difference in the eternal contest between the forces of light and shadow, between togetherness and division? Between justice and exploitation? Oh, be joyful that you are a warrior in this great time! . . . Will we rise to this battle? If so, we cannot lose, for rising up to it is our victory. . . . If we represent love in the world, you see, we have already won.

~Doris “Granny D” Haddock from her 93rd birthday speech

How many of y’all have felt angry, sad, depressed, fatigued, or hopeless during the past few weeks? Yep, me too. And a lot of other folks I’ve talked to have been in a similar place. We thought that through our prayers and actions we could stop our nation from embarking on the war against Iraq. But in the end, we couldn’t.

I was so cranky that I launched into some anger therapy that I learned years ago—whacking my bed full force with my old wooden tennis racquet with “Night on Bald Mountain” playing deafeningly in the background. I used this practice every day for about a month after a particularly painful divorce, and while it was effective then, this time no such luck. (more…)

Saturday, April 19th, 2003

Between Iraq and a hard place: The use of propaganda during wartime

propaganda: Information, ideas, opinions or images, often only giving one part of an argument, which are broadcast, published or in some other way spread with the intention of influencing people’s opinions

We view what Saddam Hussein has said as propaganda and lies.

To justify a preventive war that the United Nations and global public opinion did not want, a machine for propaganda and mystification, organized by the doctrinaire sect around George Bush, produced state-sponsored lies with a determination characteristic of the worst regimes of the 20th century.

One of the Iraq war’s major casualties is the credibility of the American media. Nobody takes it seriously.

So when Al-Jazeera shows Iraqi children slaughtered as a result of the war in Iraq, it’s propaganda. But when FOX News praises the actions of the U.S. military in Iraq, it’s unbiased reporting. No-spin zone, my ass.

I saw Tom Brokaw live on national TV the other night commenting about “how successful we were” during one of the battles in Iraq. He quickly realized he’d blown his journalistic cover and crawfished. Er, uh, that is, how successful “the United States was.” Too late; Tom’s slip of the tongue revealed his true viewpoint.

Of course, everyone who communicates does so with a built-in bias—individuals and governments alike. The Bush administration and those who support the war in Iraq put a positive spin on the U.S. and British activities there. Iraqi spokespeople make statements designed to make their nation’s accomplishments resonate with their citizens and the Muslim world.

But somehow here in America, we’ve come to believe that what comes out of the mouths of our politicians and journalists is the truth, while the pronouncements of anyone who disagrees with us—the French, the Russians, the Iraqis, ad infinitum—are all lies. (more…)

Saturday, April 5th, 2003