Why is it a silly slogan? Doesn't it question who it is exactly that we're supporting by having the troops continue to fight?
>It takes a while for americans to get used to the fact that their
>government can really have evil intentions. They need a temporary
>crutch.
I wonder. I was going to take up this issue in a "class-consciousness and war" post, but this is as good a time as any. I was just rereading "The Hidden Injuries of Class" this weekend and noted the authors' repeated observation that the working class in the US have a very hard time conceiving (even though they literally know better) that their managers/execs might be incompetent, misguided, or "evil." When their own experience brought them into conflict with management, workers (again and again) voiced the refrain "well, they must know better, they must know what they're doing." This morning, I was chatting with my office mate. He has a good friend who is a shrink for the Coast Guard; his friend told him that none of the men he had treated for stress/anxiety related to this war seem to be able to conceive that the president "might be making a mistake" ...never mind that he might be acting from any but the highest motives. Their fear at imagining this possiblity so closely resembles the syndrome described by Sennet (in Hidden Inj of Class), that I think we really need to take it into account as an expression of class unconsciousness and note that it is neatly balanced by the arrogance, grandiosity, and megalomania of the ruling class.
>To that extent (its aid to the protestors themselves) it's not a
>wholly outrageous slogan. But it's got to be broken at some point;
>people have to get beyond it.
Please explain what you mean by "get beyond it."
Joanna