Many Americans, both Democrats and Republicans, are protesting angrily about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But the peaceniks-come-lately were nowhere to be found over the last two decades as the United States invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, waged a brutal proxy war in Yemen and Syria, destroyed Libya and terrorized much of the world with assassination drone planes. When the US is the guilty party, citizens of the US are silently complicit. The hypocrisy is breathtaking.
Give Peace a Chance When Another Country Is Waging a War
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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The “protesters” to these various wars the U.S. has been involved in are united across time by one commonality: they never get anything done. If all these marchers and chanters actually gave a damn, they’d start forcing change. One of the latest iterations of this phenomenon is the antiwork subreddit. They make some truly excellent points about how screwed the worker is, but all they do is complain. They have ZERO organizational capacities to start building anything like a movement. But, wow, they’re totally woke about bathroom pronouns and demanding that everyone show respect at all times. What’s that? Respect is a thing that is earned? (Click. You’ve been banned. Everyone gathers ’round the moderator to congratulate them for their bravery. “I learned it from the New York Times. Pravda could learn from how they run the discussion threads.”)
‘The “protesters” to these various wars the U.S. has been involved in are united across time by one commonality: they never get anything done.’
You must be too old (second childhood) or too young (first childhood) to remember how the Viet Cong and American anti-war activists double teamed against the Imperial States of America to bring the end of an invasion and war.
The end of the invasion/war came because the U.S. troops lost the will to fight/came to their senses and started disobeying orders and fragging their COs. The drugs probably helped a lot with that. I’d welcome a citation that would convince me that people chanting and carrying signs in the U.S. was what ended the war in Vietnam, but I think it was more a case of “Mr. Senator, the war is so unpopular and expensive it could cost you your seat.” The protesters protested and were allowed to because, in the end, it was meaningless. Just like why we’ll all be voting in 2022 and 2024. The dems have already selected their pieces for each set of contests.
I certainly appreciate your sentiment, Ted, but I had to read what you wrote to understand what you are trying to get across with the cartoon.
Maybe a second panel with just one person, alone, carrying a “US out of Somalia” placard?