The weakness of the anti-war movement

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Wed May 26 10:11:34 PDT 1999


Eric Beck wrote:


>Kelley inquires:
>
>>i'd *still* like to know who's responsible for making this claim that a
>>draft would make for a stronger anti-war movment.
>
>I think you can blame it--all of it, everything--on our venerable
>moderator. Here's what he wrote on May 19:
>
>"I can't speak for the rest of the world, but it seems to me that most
>Americans don't care too much if their military is bombing other countries
>as long as no Americans get killed, or are at risk of getting killed. No
>draft, no antiwar movement. Am I being too cynical?"
>
>Some chimed in with here-heres. Others clanged in with buts. Perhaps others
>tacitly accepted it as a truth. But near as I can tell, or far as I can
>remember, it was Doug who started it.

Yeah, guilty, though I'd like to plead innocent of the charge of being "venerable." Though I did tack on a timorous question mark, I still think there's something to this - as long as Americans aren't getting killed, the U.S. public's reaction to foreign military adventures is somewhere between mild disapproval and a yawn. Maybe I'm misjudging things, so I'll happily take correction.

Doug



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