On Supporting War [View All]

Something odd just occurred to me, as things that are odd do from time to time. I have seen the phrase "war supporter" zillions of times over the past several year but for some reason, seeing it today gave me pause.

"War supporter," I thought "seems like a very odd way of putting it."

I thought back to 9.11.01, and in the weeks that followed, our invasion of Afghanistan. You could say that I was a war supporter then. I was raw from 9.11 (as many of us were), Bush et al said "The bad guy is over here!", the Taliban wouldn't give bin Laden up, so I figured that a military response was necessary - and this made me a war supporter.

But the thing that struck me as odd is how nauseating, how revolting it is to think of oneself as a war supporter. To me, the term almost sounds like I am some sort of a cheerleader or -- at the very least -- gain a sort of satisfaction from the fact that we're dropping bombs and shooting rifles and "interrogating" detainees.

It never struck me like that before and, when it did, it made me want to throw up in my mouth a little.

Now I'm not exactly a pacifist. I think that violence is sometimes necessary in this world. I do not, however, think that violence should ever be "supported". It should never be cheered or hoped for. It should be a stain on our conscience, a blight on our civilization that we found ourselves in such a position where bloodshed was inevitable.

Perhaps I'm reading entirely too much into what it means to be a war supporter, but I will say that I will never identify as such again - even if I view conflict as inevitable and necessary.