June 23, 2006
George Orwell, the writer best known for his books 1984 and Animal Farm and Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland, would feel at home in the world of today where words have lost any and all meaning from world leaders, commentators and many citizens in the U.S. and Europe.
Orwell, who coined the phrase “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others” and “war is peace” and “love is hate” would catch the irony and absurdity of what is supposed to pass as civilized debate in the world today.
In the United States Senate yesterday two Democratic resolutions on the Iraq War were soundly defeated. However, the debate and the resolutions themselves had very little to do with the actual war now going on in Iraq.
Senators John Kerry and Russ Feingold, both potential candidates for president in 2008, trying to gain the support of anti-war Democratic activists, introduced a resolution calling for a “date certain” to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq.
Opponents of Kerry-Feingold spoke out dramatically about this not being the time to “cut and run” or not being the time to “surrender” as we have “to stay the course.” These comments mean absolutely nothing. No one is talking about leaving Iraq in the next 24 hours. No one is discussing surrender and no one even knows what this course is that we are supposed to be staying on as it seems to change on a daily basis from the Administration. Remember weapons of mass destruction? Now Bush tells a crowd in Budapest that Iraqis are fighting for democracy just like the Hungarians tried to do in 1956.
The debate in the U.S. Senate is not about Iraq but about the various senators using words to convey to various interest groups that they are deserving of their support in the 2008 presidential election.
The Republicans are now rallying around the president in support of a war that has lost the support of the majority of Americans according to recent polls.
The senate debate has a truly Alice in Wonderland quality about it. The Democrats who should have left well enough alone and let the Administration take the heat for the ongoing and seemingly endless war in Iraq now turn everything on its head. And they become the “bad guys” for looking like they want to “cut and run” while the Republicans “rally around” a president and a policy which has little support across the country.
Speaking of “bad guys” according to polls published before president Bush attended the EU-U.S. Summit in Vienna this week a large percentage of Europeans see the United States unfavorably and one poll showed 36% of Europeans view the U.S. as the world’s greatest threat to “global stability”. Responding to this poll result at a press conference in Vienna this week Bush said, “That’s absurd…it’s an absurd statement.” You don’t usually hear a president say absurd to a reporter’s comment these days but it seems a correct use of the word.
And the host of the EU-U.S. Summit Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel went further in his use of words saying, “I think it is grotesque to say that America is a threat to peace in the world compared with North Korea, Iran, and other countries.” Even though Bush and his European Union counterparts had a friendly and successful summit putting the past friction over Iraq behind them and agreeing on working together on Iran, North Korea, the Doha world trade talks and other issues the demonstrations outside the beautiful palaces where the meetings were held gave the EU-U.S. Summit a surreal Alice in Wonderland quality about it.
Does the European public really feel so strongly about Guantanamo where terrorists are being held in a base in Cuba that they see this as a key reason to view the United States as a “great threat” to world stability? With everything happening from genocide in Darfur to AIDs in Africa to brutality perpetuated by many regimes across the globe is Guantanamo really going to be the rallying cry against the United States, the country that helped rebuild Europe after it was devastated after World War II with the Marshall Plan? Why does the rest of the world hold the United States to a higher standard than other nations? Why has the use of words against President Bush and the United States become so mean, angry and downright savage? What is the point?
Do Europeans and others really feel that the United States is not a benign power and that we have evil intentions against the rest of the world? Do people in Europe really feel the president of the United States should be called a “Hitler” - which is really a disgusting use of a word - because we overthrew a murderous dictator in Iraq? Are Europeans so smug and secure that they don’t worry about the threat of terrorism?
Is the president of the United States not liked or should we say “despised” because he goes to be early at night and has a “strange” accent and wears cowboy boots? Are the Europeans who criticize the Bush Administration that shallow or does it go deeper?
One would never know as reasoned debate has disappeared across Europe on the subject of President Bush just as this same type of reasoned debate disappeared from the floor of the United States Senate yesterday discussing the Iraq War.
How in the world can people come together and solve problems if we lash out at one another with derogatory, cruel and utterly meaningless words during what should be a time of reasonable debate.
Why does President Bush engender such hostility from a large number of Europeans who are among our closest allies?
I would really like to hear from readers in Europe, the United States or in other countries who can explain this personal animosity to the president. It seems to have gone way beyond the bounds of what is normal and accepted. The perverted use of language against Bush really makes little or no sense. One can justifiably be against his policies in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East, climate change and other issues but speak out against the policy and not the person.
It is almost like we have entered a time where absurd language has taken over from reasoned debate. From the absurdity of people like author Ann Coulter in her outrageous remarks against 9/11 widows to senators speaking out against “cut and run” policies in Iraq to comparing Bush to evil dictators we have entered an age where George Orwell would say “war is peace” and “love is hate” and Lewis Carroll would feel at home.
Let’s move out of the rabbit hole of fantasy and derogatory use of words and talk to one another in a civilized manner. Stop the senseless name-calling and actually try to solve problems rather than making every issue a time to posture and pose for the crowds. The world could use some statesmanlike conduct on all sides of the political aisle. | 
