I have to ask: Do we really know? Does anyone honestly have enough real information about the situation to make a “THIS is what we should do” statement. I am growing very weary of every average Joe with a mouth having a definitive opinion about what should be going on in Iraq. Mr. Average Joe, tell me all you know about Iraq. Answer: You really don’t know squat. I don’t either. All I see is what the media allows me to see. Not this is completely wrong. I don’t believe the media is out to get me and convert me to flaming liberalism, but it is what is it, a perspective from individuals with presumptions about what the American people need to see. And it would be naïve to think that those presumptions about what we need to see is completely objective.
I am not saying you can not or should not have an opinion, but what I ask this is: If you are going to communicate your opinion about what is going on in Iraq at least temper it with a statement like, “I know I don’t have all the information about what is really going on there so I could be totally off base with this, but here is what I believe about the situation…etc”
Unless you have logged long hours over the course of months on the ground in Baghdad or have sat in many high level leadership meetings with Bush’s administration, then before you give us all your sweeping judgments and imperatives about what should be our nations involvement in Iraq at least show some proper humility with your statements.
And yes, I do see my circular reasoning here. I am making a definitive statement that we should not make definitive statements about Iraq. So yes, I grant that what I say here could be off base, but I think that the ubiquitous voices of opinion on Iraq give me the information I need to make these statements. My point: your information on Iraq is very limited so simply give some qualifying statements when you give your opinion about what should be going on there.
I have written some more on this in the past in more general terms. I’ll reprint it here for those of you who were not taking your Vitamin Z a year or so ago:
My Problem with Politics
In an earlier post called "Kanye and Criticism", I discussed the need to listen and received as much information as possible before making judgments about issues or people. This leads me to a discussion of politics in general. I believe that to live in the USA is an amazing priveledge and I believe that democracy is probbaly the best form of government among all the world political systems, that said, I find myself being fairly skeptical and cynical when it comes to politics.
Is it possible to really make an informed judgment about a certain issue or a certain person without really having the chance to dialogue with them directly about why they voted a certain way on a certain issue, or made a certain statement? Living in a sound byte world means that we need to take great care in coming to conclusion about people and their views, since everything we hear has been edited through various filters before it reaches our ears. That said, I do believe that we can align ourselves with certain people whose beliefs are consistent with Biblical values, for example I would as a rule never vote for a candidate that is pro-abortion. But on issues that are a bit more grey when is comes to what the Bible teaches, (health care, the environment, etc) I think it is very dangerous to assume that we know why a certain candidate believes what he does without having a chance to dialogue with that person or those directly in their sphere of influence. This leads me to my problem: Who gets a chance to sit down and talk with a candidate, or at least have a brief discussion with them? I think this leads me to be thankful, yet apathetic towards our political system. Or maybe I just need to work harder at making contact.
Simply put we don't have all the information about why a certain political candidate votes or speaks in the way that they do. To have our political beliefs about a candidate shaped by an organization (republicans, or democrats) that inherently seeks to discredit the other, in my opinion is not a great way to come to conclusions about candidates or issues. For example, if I sit around and watch Fox News, or CNN exclusively then I am probably going to have my views swayed in a biased way. It would be naive to think otherwise. All this to say, we need real relationships with real people (as opposed to caricatures) to make wise and sound judgments.
The danger lies in believing all the political hype that we constantly ingest. When I get a letter from a certain "Christian" republican organization that clearly does not adequately represent what the other party holds to, I get very jaded and numb to it all. I usually just laugh it off. Both sides just label and characterize the other side. Hype and fear equals dollars which allows the organizations to exist and gives people something to belong to.
The other day I got a piece of mail from a republican organization basically saying that Hillary Clinton is the Anti-Christ. Now I do believe that Hillary holds to some views that are very anti-Bible and I would probably never vote for her, but I got the sense that the intent of the mailing was to scare me into supporting the republican party and to work me into a nice frenzy in order to get my vote. This obviously happens by democrats as well.
When I was much younger I used to think that the republican party was basically a Christian organization. Through discussions with Christians who actually work in this party I have come to know that this is surely not the case. Do a majority of my values concerning, abortion, marriage and family, and other social issues predominately lie with the republicans? Most likely, but to hold to a sweeping assumption that the party on the whole is somehow "Christian" would be horribly incorrect.
Where can real truth be found in politics? I'm not sure there is a great answer here. This probably is just the down side as I see it, to the greatest political system in the world. I would love to hear your thoughts about my evolving thinking on these issues.
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