Is it real enough yet?

[kellinator]

I just dropped by CNN.com and was greeted by this headline in the red bar at the top of the screen:

"BREAKING NEWS: Heavy shelling reported in Fallujah. Details soon."

I sat there looking at the screen and for the first time in my life, I got the sinking feeling that this was how my mom must have felt watching Vietnam play out.

I remember how terrified I was when Iraq invaded Kuwait, how fearful I was of the United States going to war. And then the war actually happened, and we all know how that went, and I think part of the nation, perhaps, began to assume that all wars would be like that, and now we're learning the hard way that they're not, they're really not.

It's a bad situation that keeps getting worse. I wondered if last week was the week the war finally came home, between the publicity generated by the Pentagon's attempt to cover up photos of flag-draped coffins, both Doonesbury's B.D. and Get Fuzzy's Rob's cousin losing a leg in Iraq, and the tragic death of Pat Tillman. Well, it's finally coming home to me. All the emotions I've been feeling over the war -- anger, disgust, sadness, anxiety -- are currently being dwarfed by one big emotion:

Fear.

Comments

[gladstone.livejournal.com]

You...know Rob's cousin and B.D. are pretend, right?

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Indeed. But let's face it, comic-strip characters (including one who's been around for like thirty years) are going to bring this home to the American public in a way that lists of people you've never heard of aren't.

[ardentdelirium.livejournal.com]

unless of course there is someone you know on the list

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

I thought about that as I wrote it, that it sounded insensitive. I guess I kinda meant the universal "you." But yes. You are right.

[ardentdelirium.livejournal.com]

I probably wouldnt have thought of it at all if it weren't for knightchik

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Wow, she sounds cool. I may add her.

[ardentdelirium.livejournal.com]

she's great

[gladstone.livejournal.com]

I don't know about that. I thought last week's Get Fuzzy story arc was pretty lame, and I'm glad it didn't carry over into this week. I don't look to the funny pages for my political commentary.