Bet you'll have Frankie Valli's voice in your head all day now, huh? Ain't I a stinker?
Quoth Anne Zook in today's Peevish, "It's hard to be peaceful when there's war all around." Yes, I responded, peace is always harder to talk about, to bring about, than war. That's one of the things that makes it so worthwhile, so vital and so imperative. If peace were easy, we'd probably have it already. It's a constant uphill struggle - and see, I was just going to write "battle" instead of "struggle," which is a good example of how difficult it is to even discuss peace when war metaphors permeate our language to such an extent. Is the impulse to war ingrained or learned? If ingrained, can it be surmounted the same way other biological instincts are often consciously discarded due to the gifts of our magnificent brains and the power of reason? While politicians and philosophers and common folk all seem to give lots of lip service to the concept of peace, is the reality even remotely achievable? If peace is actually possible would we even be asking about our desire to achieve it?
Better minds than mine are still wrestling (is "wrestling" a war metaphor or just a sports one?) with these questions. Later today when I get home I'll review what some of them (including Dr. Arun Gandhi) have to say in the first issue of Marvel's 411. In the meantime, some links. All bloggers mentioned herein are listed (blogrolled) on my sidebar.
Via Mary at the Watch, this article by Chris Mooney in the American Prospect profiling Susan Nall Bales. Ordinarily I'd consider "communications consultant" to be a rather B-ship job but I'm torn because I consider what she does fairly worthwhile. The article explains, As president of the nonprofit FrameWorks Institute, she has synthesized four decades of social-science research into an approach called "strategic frame analysis," which is designed to help progressive groups understand public prejudices and thereby better advance their objectives. In other words, they teach progressive groups such as environmental activists how to couch their messages in positive terms rather than negative ones. Wasn't I just saying this back on March 22? Why don't these people ever hire me for these doubtless 3-figure B-ship jobs, whine whine?
Brooke Biggs talks about another casualty of practicing nonviolence in Israel. Another reminder that following the peaceful way is often much riskier to one's person than warmongering. And yes, perhaps there's a thin line between foolishness and bravery, but as I'm neither (at least I hope I'm not too foolish most of the time) I don't think I'm qualified to speak as to where that line is.
Dave Johnson muses about how the soldiers in Iraq (and Afghanistan, and elsewhere) will deal with the trauma of what they've done and are still doing. War doesn't just damage people when it's happening, and it inflicts internal pain upon the perpetrators as surely as they inflict external pain on their victims. Advantage: Peace, where everyone wins.
Lots more peace links courtesy of Kevin aka Cowboy Kahlil, who also has some cool peace graphics, one of which I stole. More when I get home.
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