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-- Resignation letter from Cindy Sheehan...
Resignation letter from Cindy Sheehan...
... the woman who's been leading the anti-war demo in Crawford, Texas. Makes for a sobering read...
Monday, May 28th, 2007
"Good Riddance, Attention Whore" ...by Cindy Sheehan
I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called "Face" of the American anti-war movement. Especially since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such "liberal blogs" as the Democratic Underground. Being called an "attention whore" and being told "good riddance" are some of the more milder rebukes.
I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this Memorial Day Morning. These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now. The conclusions that I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are very heartbreaking to me.
The first conclusion is that I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a "tool" of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our "two-party" system?
However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the "left" started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of "right or left", but "right and wrong."
I am deemed a radical because I believe that partisan politics should be left to the wayside when hundreds of thousands of people are dying for a war based on lies that is supported by Democrats and Republican alike. It amazes me that people who are sharp on the issues and can zero in like a laser beam on lies, misrepresentations, and political expediency when it comes to one party refuse to recognize it in their own party. Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on. People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don't find alternatives to this corrupt "two" party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland. I am demonized because I don't see party affiliation or nationality when I look at a person, I see that person's heart. If someone looks, dresses, acts, talks and votes like a Republican, then why do they deserve support just because he/she calls him/herself a Democrat?
I have also reached the conclusion that if I am doing what I am doing because I am an "attention whore" then I really need to be committed. I have invested everything I have into trying to bring peace with justice to a country that wants neither. If an individual wants both, then normally he/she is not willing to do more than walk in a protest march or sit behind his/her computer criticizing others. I have spent every available cent I got from the money a "grateful" country gave me when they killed my son and every penny that I have received in speaking or book fees since then. I have sacrificed a 29 year marriage and have traveled for extended periods of time away from Casey's brother and sisters and my health has suffered and my hospital bills from last summer (when I almost died) are in collection because I have used all my energy trying to stop this country from slaughtering innocent human beings. I have been called every despicable name that small minds can think of and have had my life threatened many times.
The most devastating conclusion that I reached this morning, however, was that Casey did indeed die for nothing. His precious lifeblood drained out in a country far away from his family who loves him, killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think. I have tried ever since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful. Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most.
I have also tried to work within a peace movement that often puts personal egos above peace and human life. This group won't work with that group; he won't attend an event if she is going to be there; and why does Cindy Sheehan get all the attention anyway? It is hard to work for peace when the very movement that is named after it has so many divisions.
Our brave young men and women in Iraq have been abandoned there indefinitely by their cowardly leaders who move them around like pawns on a chessboard of destruction and the people of Iraq have been doomed to death and fates worse than death by people worried more about elections than people. However, in five, ten, or fifteen years, our troops will come limping home in another abject defeat and ten or twenty years from then, our children's children will be seeing their loved ones die for no reason, because their grandparents also bought into this corrupt system. George Bush will never be impeached because if the Democrats dig too deeply, they may unearth a few skeletons in their own graves and the system will perpetuate itself in perpetuity.
I am going to take whatever I have left and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost. I will try to maintain and nurture some very positive relationships that I have found in the journey that I was forced into when Casey died and try to repair some of the ones that have fallen apart since I began this single-minded crusade to try and change a paradigm that is now, I am afraid, carved in immovable, unbendable and rigidly mendacious marble.
Camp Casey has served its purpose. It's for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford, Texas? I will consider any reasonable offer. I hear George Bush will be moving out soon, too�which makes the property even more valuable.
This is my resignation letter as the "face" of the American anti-war movement. This is not my "Checkers" moment, because I will never give up trying to help people in the world who are harmed by the empire of the good old US of A, but I am finished working in, or outside of this system. This system forcefully resists being helped and eats up the people who try to help it. I am getting out before it totally consumes me or anymore people that I love and the rest of my resources.
Good-bye America�you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can't make you be that country unless you want it.
It's up to you now.
Thanks for sharing... sad that it is how it is, and people can't just be given understanding without first having the desire for it.
As unfortunate as it is, welcome to politics.
Bill O'Reilly will have a field day today.
What I find most concerning and appaling is that our generation (or generation of people born in the last say..... 30 or so years) has been bred to lack any moral fiber, backbone, or even a hint of activism. For the most part, it seems like activitism movement is not only a nearly-extinct phenomenon but it is as if the ENTIRE NATION has become complacent.
I'm not going to limit this observation only to US, as there are other countries where opposition is also becoming fast extinct. Needless to say that we're not likely to see too many revolutions - it appears that the only radicals left in the world are muslims extremists. Or trully poor people who have nothing else left but protest, even if it means murder. Or those that have really nothing else to lose. Leaving a rather small minority of people, which have not yet been corrupted by corporations, who haven't been purchased and sedated in their relative comfort of their isolated little holes.
The 60's are sooooooooooooo over, man.
Welcome to Fascist States of America.
"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it."
-- Martin Luther King Jr.
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| Originally posted by emc^2 What I find most concerning and appaling is that our generation (or generation of people born in the last say..... 30 or so years) has been bred to lack any moral fiber, backbone, or even a hint of activism. For the most part, it seems like activitism movement is not only a nearly-extinct phenomenon but it is as if the ENTIRE NATION has become complacent. I'm not going to limit this observation only to US, as there are other countries where opposition is also becoming fast extinct. |
I don't see what the concern is. Sheenan made her point with plenty of national spotlight. It was up to the people to decide whether her cause was worthy. Her apparent about-face on the issue (in regards to her stance on the war prior to her son's death) as well as the sometimes childish ways in which she decided to display her message, turned most of America off to her. There's a reason why Martin Luther King Jr.'s protests and words still are held with reverence and why Cindy Sheenan's are not; his concerned a just cause and were conveyed in an adult, meaningful manner. Cindy turned herself into a joke, and I don't fault the American people for not getting "passionate" due to the words of someone they didn't take seriously, but saw as an attention seeker.
I believe Americans are passionate about things, however there are many "niche passions" that Americans devote themselves to which makes them seemingly non-passionate as a whole. We have many sports, not just soccer (football) and being semi-isolated geography wise and having the hubris of being the only super power culturally, politically and economically, we are much less interested in international affairs and tend to turn our political attention to national, state and local matters. Americans will and do become passionate about central issues (WWII, 9/11, even these damn gas prices), but it takes quite a bit to shift attention from whatever we are currently concerning ourselves with.
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| Originally posted by HardTranceProd What you are seeing is American culture. I've said it before and i'll say it again... most Americans tend to be calm, polite, soft-spoken individuals who value public order and a way of life shielded from any disturbances. Remember how surprised Bush was to find that a journalist from Ireland was actually asking him *real* questions about Iraq? Remember how squeamish Americans get when they encounter any hint of obscenity or something that goes against the established rules. Remember the World Cup? Most Americans who caught snippets of it on TV were bewildered to see how animated and passionate Europeans were. As somebody commented, "Americans don't get as passionate about anything, really." That's part of the culture. |
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| Originally posted by NeoPhono Americans will and do become passionate about central issues (WWII, 9/11, even these damn gas prices), but it takes quite a bit to shift attention from whatever we are currently concerning ourselves with. |
What exactly is she resigning from? Speaking engagements? Did she actually have a real job other than being Michael Moore's milk maid?
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| Originally posted by Shakka What exactly is she resigning from? Speaking engagements? Did she actually have a real job other than being Michael Moore's milk maid? |
just wondering what have YOU done for whatever cause you believe in. Please be sure to list all your PERSONAL sacrifices as well. I'm sure the public at large would LOVE to hear about your accomplishments.
I made it to 30 in one piece. It sure was tough though. I believe in me. I am my cause. Your turn.
I see, so when a European country gets excited about its World Cup team that is somehow breathtakingly awesome, but an American getting into a TV show or a non-football (soccer) sport is relegated to just a bunch of fat, lazy Americans doing their thing. How exactly is World Cup enthusiasm changing the world any more than someone liking a TV show? What would make you happy? An entire country of 300 million constantly up in arms over every political/economic/cultural issue?
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| Originally posted by NeoPhono How exactly is World Cup enthusiasm changing the world any more than someone liking a TV show? |
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| What would make you happy? An entire country of 300 million constantly up in arms over every political/economic/cultural issue? |
Maybe you and Bono could give some examples of when the World Cup has "stopped war." The closest thing is the Ivory Coast and that was two warlords stopping civil violence to watch their team play. It sure as heck didn't stop WWII, during which the World Cup was canceled twice. If you're hanging your hat on the Ivory Coast and the hooliganism, violence and death that also surrounds international football matches as to why being enthusiastic for soccer is somehow "important," I'm not buying it for a second. I'd argue that TV in the form of news, documentaries and insightful programming has done more to help international and domestic affairs in the form of education and exposure than World Cup matches by a long shot.
You also have to realize that until a person feels directly affected, the chance of them jumping on a bandwagon, regardless the cause is highly doubtful, and I don't care what country you're talking about. America has shown in times of war, disaster or national achievement (moon landing for example) the ability to come together and become "enthusiastic." As soon as a draft would be instated (ala Vietnam), I'm sure you'd see a lot more pissed off people "doing something about it," because you'd have a lot more affected people. Right now most feel opposed to the war, but they also realize you have a voluntary army fighting in an area that could be far worse if the military action were to simply end. You also have the realization that in the next year we'll have a presidential election that will more than likely change what is currently going on. People will continue to be far more concerned about what is going on in their house and their neighborhood than something on the other side of the globe. That's not pathetic or disgraceful, it's reality and human nature.
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| Originally posted by NeoPhono Maybe you and Bono could give some examples of when the World Cup has "stopped war." |
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| I'd argue that TV in the form of news |
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| ... documentaries and insightful programming has done more to help international and domestic affairs in the form of education and exposure than World Cup matches by a long shot. |
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You also have to realize that until a person feels directly affected, the chance of them jumping on a bandwagon, regardless the cause is highly doubtful, and I don't care what country you're talking about. |
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America has shown in times of war, disaster or national achievement (moon landing for example) the ability to come together and become "enthusiastic." |
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As soon as a draft would be instated (ala Vietnam), I'm sure you'd see a lot more pissed off people "doing something about it," because you'd have a lot more affected people. |
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| Right now most feel opposed to the war, but they also realize you have a voluntary army fighting in an area that could be far worse if the military action were to simply end. |
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| You also have the realization that in the next year we'll have a presidential election that will more than likely change what is currently going on. |
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| People will continue to be far more concerned about what is going on in their house and their neighborhood than something on the other side of the globe. That's not pathetic or disgraceful, it's reality and human nature. |
This is a bit off topic from the original post, but I'm going to continue the current line of thought and present some reasons why TV has a larger social impact (ignoring the negatives) than World Cup Soccer (also ignoring the negatives). I know the proposition seems a bit unusual, but anyway...
1. It allows people to visualize events. The old "a pictures says a thousand words." It's one thing to read about war, it's another thing to see death. It's one thing to read or hear about civil rights and inequalities, it's another thing to see those in action. TV has the ability to make events that occur on a non-local scale appear much more intimate and meaningful.
2. It presents new ideas and information. Not all TV is mindless sitcom. Even in those "mindless" sitcoms we are still exposed to new cultures and beliefs. How many whites watched The Jeffersons, The Cosby Show or even The Fresh Prince of Bel Aire and maybe got a glimpse of black culture? How many people watched the History Channel, Discovery Channel or PBS and learned something new or were able to put current events in context?
You can argue all you want about Americans watching their crap shows, but you can't throw out everything else Americans see on TV. The sheer number of hours the average American watches TV tells us that they watch more than the "fluff" shows.
The two similarities I will draw is that both are a form of distraction and can both bring about camaraderie. However, I find it much more difficult to see where World Cup Football can also be a direct vehicle in the spread of news and information and to expose individuals to emerging and divergent cultural, political and social issues.
A few examples of some of the more impacting TV shows would be; Roots, Shogun, The Cosby Show, Band of Brothers and All of the Family. Those are the purely dramatic variety, and you could also list numerous shows such as Meet the Press, 60 Minutes, etc. that also have quite an impact.
Lastly, can we stop with the "if we would have known we wouldn't have gone to war." Right now that makes absolutely no difference as to what we are trying to accomplish there now. If you have a way to go back in time and change things, great...let's do it. However, we're where we are now and our options are limited; continue trying to establish a stable region, or simply pull out and let things fall as they may. I think most Americans, knowing full well we shouldn't be there in the first place, would rather us at least attempt to leave the region with some stability in place than to simply throw our hands up in the air in defeat and allow complete chaos to ensue. I'm very much opposed to us being in Iraq, however I'm more opposed to leaving the region a complete disaster.
what did we truly expect from this woman?
or more pointedly, how much to the left do you really think this woman could have pulled this country?
...and yes this is a fundamentally right/left issue regarding her and her beliefs. and if not for the people she chose to surround herself with. (who ultimately she was disenchanted with)
how could one possibly think this wasn't going to be her ultimate public fate?
please don't give me this "well it wasn't that way back in the sixties" yes it was! this is deja vu all over again. yes, people watched TV, worried about the bills, the mortgage, the kid's schools, we lived in excess like we do today. it's all the same just different technology, but we don't seem to collectively understand that, as Americans, our core values haven't changed much at all over the decades.
for better or worse we love our children. we love our children more than we love ourselves. we do whatever it takes to provide for them and stand against anything that would threaten them even if it would cost our own life in war or peace. it makes losing one for any reason that much harder to go on not loving ourselves. and i don't think she did.
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| Originally posted by emc^2 We have become a consumerist WORLD. |
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| Originally posted by _Ocean_Drive_ Couldn't agree more, although I am a consumer-whore in some respects... When I did my degree in American Studies, every module could some how be related to consumerism and post-modernism, and I think that speaks volumes for the state of US politics. The Founding Father's opted for an isolationist stance on the world stage, and look where that has now led. I think the idea of an America that they had, is vastly different from what it acutally is now. |
As soon as Code Pink and all the other Left-wing nut bags grappled on and started making her their muppet, any credibility she had, plummeted.
I do feel for her, but then, her son wasn't drafted either...
Come to think of it, to get on that magic bus to begin with, then suddenly decide get off and say it's everyone's fault smacks of a narcissistic mindset that has ran out of tears.
I'm glad she's deciding to focus on family but I'm afraid the damage is already done.
Oh to be a fly on the wall when she dissolved her marriage of 29years (!) only to quit a little later on anyways; was it worth it Cindy?
Financial rune and risking your health and for what?
Now I do applaud her being active in politics however the personal cost far outweighed any warped message she was baling...
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