“Weezer”
“Jimmy eat World”
“Pearl Jam”
“Sheryl Crow”
An opening Disclaimer
I reference a blog by Brain Mclaren in this blog. I have enormous issues with Mclaren's blog on why he is voting for Obama. He slams McCain, some areas that are deserved and some that are not, but he ignores similar faults that Obama has. I find his blind alliance very unhelpful. His point of 2 types of narratives are helpful although I would not so easily label McCain as one narrative and Obama the other.
Also no offense by the phrase Liberal Weenie.
A Cowboy Tale
It must’ve been simple living in the cowboy days, or at least in a cowboy movie. The bad guys wore
black hats the good guys wore white hats. Every now and then 4 black hat wearing fella’s would mosey into to town and start stealing horses, getting drunk, punching people, intimidating the sheriff, and pushing women around. To stop the bad guys it was pretty simple just find a guy smart enough or tough enough to face the 4 bad guys. There would be a big showdown in the streets and when the dust would clear there would be 4 guys laying in the street with 4 black hats blowing in the wind. Simple, Bad guys show up, Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!. done. Things are less simple these days. 9-11 showed us that the rules have changed. Honestly the rules changed along time ago, the tragedy on the 11th of September just threw light on the ugly truth that the rules have changed not just for the rest of the world but for America too.
We have been taught of the past few years that according to the cowboy rules America is the heroic cowboy donning the white hat and the Taliban, Osama Bin laden, Sadaam Hussein, and some Iraqis are the bad guys. This is not mentioning all the bad guys we have been warned about from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, North Korea, Russia, etc. If we are the heroic cowboy in the white hat then it is our duty to gun down the bad guys in the street, and thus save the town, the lovely lady, and farmers land. The bad guys are killing, stealing, and wearing black hats, and the world will be safer without them.
I was reading a blog by Brain Mclaren entitled, “Why I'm Voting for Obama, and Why I Hope You Will Too”. Mclaren compares the difference between two narratives, the first being the Warrior narrative. A person with the warrior narrative sees the world as clearly divided into us and them. We are good; they are evil. We are right; they are wrong. We are about safety; they are about danger. The second narrative is a reconciliation narrative, a peace-building narrative, a collaboration narrative.
Mclaren is not just comparing the two narratives, but also the two men he believes has different narratives. He writes that McCain and President Bush have Warrior narratives and Obama has the narrative of reconciliation. I believe Mclaren’s blog oversimplifies the two men. McCain is not as us-verses-them as Mclaren would like us to believe, and Obama is not the father who makes everyone shake hands and get along. To simplify the two presidential candidates or the situation in Iraq in this way is extremely naive. Most of my conservative friends would call Mclaren a liberal weenie, but they should be honest enough to see the truth behind his disgust with this cowboy idea that we can kill all of them to make us safer.
I was listening to a sermon by Rob Bell (another Liberal Weenie) about
Samson and the how violence only begets more violence. Then Rob makes the comparison between Popeye and Bluto. 
Two guys who pummel each other to try to win the heart of the gangly Olive Oil. Each cartoon Popeye would win the girl, Bluto would kidnap the girl, and then Popeye and Bluto would fight. Popeye would be losing the fight until he found a can of spinach. Popeye would eat the spinach, win the fight, and they would live happily… well not ever after but at least, until the next show when it would all happen again. Rob Bell said, and I am attempting to quote from memory, “in all the times Popeye fought Bluto he never taught Bluto to be nice to Olive Oil and he never taught himself to eat the spinach before the fight”. Violence begets more violence.this is not to oversimplify the situation in Iraq. It is complicated, it is confusing, and many men in charge are continuing the fight in Iraq because they believe they are doing God’s will. Others are strongly against the war for the same reason. I am in the process of working through what I believe. There are lots of things that I am not sure of, but there are a few things that I do know. I know that the cowboy mentality won’t work. There are too many guys in back hats to kill them all, and the process of us killing people is creating more anger against us, more recruits in terrorism, and more violence.
The war can only be won by rebuilding the infrastructure and changing the way people think. I have no idea how that happens. I have no answers. I know that there are good people in Iraq fighting for peace. People that know we can never kill all the bad guys until its safe. I wish I could end this blog with a nice pretty bow, but I finish writing almost as confused as when I started. It was easier in the old days when the bad guys wore black hats and you just had to shoot em down.
"The war against terror is bound up in the war against poverty.”
-Secretary of State Colin Powell
I think what's going on in Guantanamo Bay and other places is a disgrace to the U.S.A. I wouldn't say it's the cause of terrorism, but it has given impetus and excuses to potential terrorists to lash out at our country and justify their despicable acts.
-Former President Jimmy Carter
War is wretched beyond description, and only a fool or a fraud could sentimentalize its cruel reality.
-2008 Republican nominee for President John McCain
I don't oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war.
-2008 Democratic nominee for President Barack Obama
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