Friday, September 23, 2005

Let Us Declare a Moratorium on Cindy Sheehan

Please. We are reaching saturation point on reading, viewing, and discussing the doings of Cindy Sheehan. This is a pitiful woman hitched to the wagon of a dreadful cause. Can we not, in the name of decency, turn our eyes from her crazed visage and close our eyes to her maundering, irrational spews?

How long are we going to continue to tolerate having her take up room on the national stage? What is wrong with us that we not only permit her to be there but even encourage her behavior by paying attention to it? Thomas Merton was right: sometimes there are no innocent bystanders. In this case, his words resound with justified accusation.

Cindy Sheehan is America’s creation. The Left uses her, and that is to be expected. But we on the Right have been equally responsible in our reactive, defensive, and endless "how-dare-she" chatter about her behavior. In some ways this is understandable: she lost a child in a war and that experience calls everyone to attention because it is only too easy to imagine ourselves in that position and to wonder what we might do in her situation.

But enough is enough. Are we so completely in thrall to the MSM and the machinations of the Left? When are we going to take back our free will and do something meaningful with our time?

How do our soldiers fighting in the dust of Iraq feel when they watch the endless attention we pay to someone who disrespects their task and who drags the spirit of their fellow soldier through the mud at home? They can all too easily put themselves in Casey's place and shudder at the idea that their names and reputations might be as forever sullied as his has been.

Would that we could get back half the energy we have expended on this malevolent enterprise and turn it over instead to public discussions about what our men are doing right now. We owe them; we do not owe her -- though we act as if we do when we give her demands our time and attention. Our behavior speaks volumes here about our moral sense.

Please. Out of respect for the dead soldier, Casey, and out of love for the living soldiers in Iraq let us declare a voluntary moratorium on any more discussion of The Mourning Mother. I , for one, vow not to read about her, not to join in discussions about her, and to the best of my ability to replace any internal judgments or analyses I make of her with thoughts about the guys in harm’s way at this very moment. We go about our daily routines and we don't even think about the men over there. Or at least we don't give them the careful consideration we give this woman.

The Mourning Mother is merely a habit by now. Habits are made by paying attention to them. They can be unmade by giving our attention to something more worthy of our time.

When you think of the limited time we have on Earth doesn't is seem like a waste to have given this much of it to evil?


Greg, at Toe in the Water, was ahead of the curve on this one. Last week he posted his own resignation from further comments on the subject:
    <sigh>
Not gonna mention her name, but you know the woman whose son was killed in Iraq, who 'camped' outside of Bush's ranch this summer...
I originally felt great saddness for her loss, and sadness that she had been co-opted by the forces of darkness in advancing their evil agenda.
No more.
If you hear of other resignations, let's post them.

7 comments:

goesh said...

I agree - time to forget about her and quit wasting time and energy

airforcewife said...

I would love to be able to dismiss Sheehan from my thoughts, but because we are an active duty family she intrudes constantly - whether we want her to or not.

And it's one of the most jarring, grating, demoralizing things that has been done to us yet. The chanting about supporting our troops and wanting to bring them home is the only one that is worse... because (1) no one asks us if we think we should cut and run, and (2)when the majority military opinion that such an action would be wrong is voiced, we are ignored.

Just last night I turned on the news (we listen while cleaning) and was subjected to an angry commercial featuring the family of fallen servicemembers.

I understand that there, but for the grace of God, go I.

Yet most of the servicemembers I know still support what is going on, although it is getting harder for us to hang in there. While we are fighting for our lives, or watching our loved ones in harms way, we must also fight this mental battle at home to defend our actions. The more attention she is given, the more we actually wonder if the America at home has what it takes to help us see this through.

If time commensurate with her actual following were devoted to Sheehan on the media, I would not mind. There is room for all stories... but in all her mindless media devotion, no one has asked me, and my view is entirely different than hers. There are far more in the military like us than like her, but we don't rate the story.

We just rate the fall-out.

Dymphna said...

airforce wife--

I strongly urge you to turn off the "news." As you know, it is nothing but manipulated bits of artificial information. Keep your TV for showing movies, but don't expose yourself or your children to that garbage. Vietman ultimately drove me away from television. May Casey's mom do the same for you.

The Baron came home and told me about the 'demonstration' -- there were 30 people there, outnumbered by those reporting on it. THey cropped the images to make it look bigger. What I want to know is why there was no one there taking pictures of the media taking pictures...there ought to be bloggers at each and every media event. We certainly have enough to go around.

Dymphna said...

a4g--

I'm the opposite of the canary in the coal mine. I am sooo insulated from TV news, images, etc., that by the time it trickles down to me, we're in trouble. If I can't manage to avoid this nag-and-cart show, no one can.

Such incessant pounding has its effects, whether we realize it or not. Eventually, the stone wears down if enough water moves over it.

I hope the wave is receding (to use an unfortunately frequent metaphor of late) but if you look around the blogosphere, there is still way too much energy there. Damaging energy.

It has begun to feel evil -- as airforce wife demonstrates.

Dr. Sanity said...

I'm going to apply for a PPO (personal protection order). I think I've got a case.

Robert Pearson said...

Mother Sheehan is still around? I've adopted a modified form of Dymphna's method. I still have cable tv, but I generally confine my limited viewing time to: HGTV (more useful than the newsies), Comedy Central (more amusing) and History Channel (better war footage. Oh, and those Mythbuster guys.

Getting your 'news' mostly from the internet is now the way to go; faster delivery, yet more depth! The MSNABCBS folks are always behind--unless you want to watch airplanes with mechanical problems circle in real time.

Plus, when you see the words 'Cindy Sheehan' you just press one of those arrows. Doesn't matter which one!

Greg said...

I agree, having taken that step last Saturday, 9/17, with this post.