Peace Meme

[lnr]

Some of you may have spotted the current I wish for peace on livejournal. I'm not sure I believe it does anything much. This war is going to happen no doubt, and wishes won't stop it. But for all I can say I hope it doesn't go on too long, I hope not too many lives are ruined, and I hope above all that it actually does some good. It might, it might not.

I wish we could have had peace, and I wish for it now and always, but I don't believe that wishes come true.

Comments

[reddragdiva]

I prefer the Fax Your MP meme, myself.

[lnr]

Well, she's already resigned her PPS post: Anne Campbell. We were most surprised, since she's always seemed a bit of a Blairite lap-dog.

Never such innocence again

[j4.livejournal.com]

What do these people mean by "peace"? I'm not going to wish for something that I'm not sure I even understand.

Do they mean No War In Iraq? No war at all, ever? No ill-will between human beings? No stepping in to prevent or mitigate bad things happening? No bad things happening in the first place? Or what?

It sometimes seems that history has too much weight for the future to ever change as radically as this. I don't like to think that the whole of the future of the human race has already (at least to some extent) been determined by what has gone before, because it makes our lives seem even more meaningless; but it's difficult to see how radical changes could come about without radical external events driving them (e.g. major climate change, or running out of essential resources like water, or a World War sufficiently apocalyptic to redraw the boundaries of the world as we know it...).

I'm sure I remember when anti-war protesters used to have positive goals, and aims, and ideas for how to act. What most of the peaceniks these days seem to want is, y'know, everybody to stop fighting and just get along with each other. To be honest I find that sort of attitude almost as depressing as perpetual conflict.

I hope the war is short. I hope it doesn't claim too many lives, particularly civilian lives. Closer to home, I hope that the political shenanigans surrounding the war will trigger a much-needed shakeup of the Labour party (and party politics in general).

On the other hand, I don't believe that faxing my MP will be any more effective than navel-gazing and "wishing". I think those in power have already made it perfectly clear that they don't give a tinker's cuss what "The People" think or want. (I'm not even sure that I do want to tell them that they're Evil and Bad and Wrong for going ahead with this war, anyway; I'm far from convinced that any of the alternatives are any better.)

I don't know. To be honest I'm finding it hard to feel anything other than resignation at the current state of world affairs.

Re: Never such innocence again

[reddragdiva]

The MP faxing is likely to have greater effect than posting a link in your LJ to another LJ.

Basically, people don't bother contacting their elected representatives, and so those who do, and do so coherently, have disproportionate effect. Blair was rather surprised how many Labour MPs voted against him the first time. They would only have done so because their constituents had expressed their opinions in remarkable numbers.

It is unlikely to stop the war in its tracks, but I do think it's likely to help affect Britain's involvement.