I'm disappointed with basically every protest of the military involvement in Afghanistan. It's not because I'm a warmonger, although I do believe that military action is necessary in certain circumstances and cannot be categorically opposed. My opposition has to do with the fact that protests that might otherwise be productive and insightful simply revert to the same exhausted idealistic rhetoric over and over.
I'm all for open-mindedness. I speak out in favor of an open-minded consideration of others' beliefs more than anyone else I know does. But that doesn't disqualify me from analyzing those beliefs with my critical, realistic eye. I know that, for the most part, the intentions of those who protest the first semblance of war are noble (of course, there are exceptions, such as flag-burnings at Amherst that only make the situation worse). It is unfortunate that innocent civilians might die, and, indeed, already have died, in the effort to punish the perpetrators of terror. No one likes war.
I'm not even a history major (for that matter, I've only taken one history class at all, but fortunately it happened to be about the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict) but I can tell you that war has been a staple of humanity for a long time. Throughout history people have tried to devise solutions to war; obviously no satisfactory one has been hit upon to date. In fact, often when people try to think of new and creative ideas to avoid war, it only makes the war worse -- case in point, the appeasement of Hitler or the Russian alliance with Napoleon. That doesn't mean we should stop trying, but it does mean that solving the perennial problem of war is not as simple as saying, "War is bad!"
Just protesting war, then, is not enough. It's a worthy pursuit to question the validity of war to undermine its negative consequences as much as possible, but opposing viewpoints carry a larger responsibility than mere opposition; they should carry alternatives as well. Open-mindedness is a great proposal, but once minds are open, you have to put something inside them! Instead, I've just been hearing a great deal of clamoring for an open-minded analysis of the situation but nothing to fill in the void the open-mindedness creates.
Just protesting war because war is bad is downright superfluous. In a perfect world, we would never have to go to war. Everyone loves peace and harmony, but in the real world, something has to happen in order to achieve them. Everyone knows that war should be questioned and not just fought for the sake of fighting, so just questioning the war effort does nothing.
The fact of the matter is, especially in this situation, there are no valid options. Protest all you want, but until you find the magic solution to this problem, a solution that has eluded civilization since its beginning, the protests are all worthless. I support open-mindedness but I would like once, just once, for all the naysayers and peacemongers to give us a valid alternative to war. If you do, you'll be doing the world a great service; if you don't, all your words constitute empty idealistic rhetoric that ignores the reality of the current situation.
Our government deliberated for several weeks and is undergoing procedures to cause as little civilian suffering as possible. The U.S. is doing more for the people of Afghanistan by way of relief efforts than the Taliban has ever done. In this situation more than ever, war is necessary; alternatives like negotiations and attempts to create understanding will simply not work with this sort of enemy.
So, please, if you're going to protest, go out there and wave a sign that offers the world a more profound message than "When will the pain end?" or "War is bad" or "Americans are the real terrorists." Offer us a solution. The world will be a better place for it.
