Doonesbury on Chickenhawks
Marty alerted me to this great series Doonesbury is doing on “chickenhawks,” those wonderful people who are gung-ho for war as long as THEY don’t have to fight it. I have great respect for principled pacifists and conscientious objectors. I also respect, though disagree with, those who believe war is sometimes the lesser of evils and so volunteer to put their lives on the line. I have ZERO respect for–or even tolerance of–those who advocate for war as long as it is others who do the killing and dying–who sacrifice nothing and pay no price for their violence-by-proxy. Yet these cartoons are not even exaggerations–I hear these lame rationalizations daily.
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About
Michael L. Westmoreland-White, Ph.D. I live in Louisville, KY USA with my wife, Kate, and our two wonderful daughters. My wife, Kate, is a Baptist minister. Our daughters are Molly (’95) and Miriam (’99). I am a former soldier converted to gospel nonviolence and a once (and future?) academic theologian turned peace activist, author, and peace educator. Contact me at mlw-w@insightbb.com
The Levellers were a 17th C. movement during the English Civil War. They were a religiously-inspired political movement for democracy, human rights, justice for the poor, and peace. Their strongest leader was Richard Overton, a pacifist General Baptist influenced by Dutch Mennonites. In the spirit of Overton and the Levellers, this is a series of “Leveller Manifestos” for 21st C. U.S. life.
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A small narrative.
My father was drafted into the Korean “conflict” out of college. By that, I mean, the government pulled him out of his studying.
He was in a company of men which consisted of Italian-Americans, Polish-Americans and African-Americans. They were an Engineering company but the job on which they spent most of their time was to go into the minefields and pick the mines up by hand with their fingers on the pin before disarming them. My father saw many of his friends blown up.
It is as a result of this experience that my father became a pacifist. Although it was also as a result of this experience that he became and remains and atheist.
Thanks for posting these, they’re brilliant.
These are hilarious and spot-on. I have to confess that there was a time when I made such arguments. Thank God those days are past.