Did you hear about the Jessica Lynch thing? It seems like the lies of this government are getting more and more surreal. I'm starting to think that somehow Dr. Strangeglove is a documentary that was shot in the past about the present.

I think the story really encapsulates the entire effort in Iraq. It's all been a sham, poorly planned and poorly acted. Now that we're in deep shit, this seems pretty obvious to everyone. But at the time, we were willing to believe we were fighting for anything from terrorist ties (sure, but to the wrong terrorists) to women's rights (WTF?) to the famous and fabulous WMDs.

It's disturbing to me the lies we're all prepared to believe. Because to recognize them as lies means that to not take action is to be complicit. And anyway, life is about earning money and buying a house, having a family and so forth, and taking responsibly would make all those things really difficult. The needs of those close to us, though those people are few, outweigh the needs of the many far away. The thing is that now there is no place far away. Distance has been negated politically, but our psyches haven't caught on yet.

I'm talking about myself here, although, really my case is worse. I recognized the lies as lies, the liar as a liar, and what have I done? I marched in some marches and voted. Signed a couple of on-line petitions. Whatever. No real commitment. And am I going to march out tomorrow after having written this put on a black bandanna? Nope. I'm gonna go to work and make some ads.

I bet if there was a military coup we would find some way to rationalize it to ourselves. The force of the status quo is just that strong, and there's so many stresses on our lives right now that adding some abstract responsibly...sigh.

I'm gonna go make some cookies.

Labels: navel-gazing, politics, self-recrimination