VVAW Anti-War Quiz
A little quiz from an email I got from Meg, a UUer and a very cool person:
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Look at this list of countries that the U.S. has bombed since the end of World War II, compiled by historian William Blum:
China 1945-46
Korea 1950-53
China 1950-53
Guatemala 1954
Indonesia 1958
Cuba 1959-60
Guatemala 1960
Congo 1964
Peru 1965
Laos 1964-73
Vietnam 1961-73
Cambodia 1969-70
Guatemala 1967-69
Grenada 1983
Libya 1986
El Salvador 1980s
Nicaragua 1980s
Panama 1989
Iraq 1991-99
Sudan 1998
Afghanistan 1998
Yugoslavia 1999
Question: In how many of these instances did a democratic government, respectful of human rights, occur as a direct result? Choose one of the following:
(a) 0
(b) zero
(c) none
(d) not a one
(e) a whole number between -1 and +1
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This quiz compliments of Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
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Meg’s email prompted me to surf the VVAW website. Old memories abound. Looking at the website made me cry. I found the link to Veterans Against the War in Iraq. This site lists a ton of actions against the war, along with some great essays. A moving flier promoting a veterans’ day action has this to say:
..while veterans are facing deteriorating care, as VA hospitals close and Bush II holds up $250 million in VA funds allocated by congress. Homelessness and despair face millions of vets of past wars, while this government merrily goes off on another.
The site includes a link to an interview with Kurt Vonnegut, author, WWII veteran, and anti-war activist. Here is how he describes our current situation:
I myself feel that our country, for whose Constitution I fought in a just war, might as well have been invaded by Martians and body snatchers. Sometimes I wish it had been. What has happened, though, is that it has been taken over by means of the sleaziest, low-comedy, Keystone Cops-style coup d’etat imaginable. And those now in charge of the federal government are upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography, plus not-so-closeted white supremacists, aka “Christians,” and plus, most frighteningly, psychopathic personalities, or “PPs.”
From this interview I now have a new .sig file:
Related posts:Q: ….Do you have any ideas for a really scary reality TV show?
A: “C students from Yale.” It would stand your hair on end.
