People who supported the invasion of Iraq were fatuous, bloodthirsty, ahistorical, immoral, politically naive, callous, unthinking, reprehensible morons--to the man. The proper attitude is contrition, silence, and contemplation.IOZ is right, on both points.
I frequently think back on the multitude of profound failings that led to my supporting what I supported (albeit a disinterested and inactive support). Michael Shermer says that "smart people believe weird things because they are skilled at defending beliefs they arrived at for non-smart reasons," which I suppose is part of the explanation. For some "weird things" that might even be comforting, allowing me to still think of myself as smart, and to shift the blame to my environment. I just adopted the views of my tribe without adequately examining them. No big deal. But this wasn't just some silly squabble about which sport is more exciting or whose imaginary friend is better. Real lives were at stake. I was not just callous, fatuous, naive (those charges I could live with); I was bloodthirsty and immoral. I remember thinking that war was exciting and that hunting down Saddam was, like, fucking awesome! If a few innocent people happened to get in the way, well, whatever.
Reprehensible isn't a strong enough word for what I was. I don't know if I'll ever get over that. And now expressing that feeling sounds like unforgivably pathetic whining compared to the pain of the families of over a million dead Iraqis and the unfathomable human suffering unleashed by an invasion that I cheered on. Woe is me with my wounded pride, my scarred ego, and my guilty conscience, right? I guess that's why my contemplation and contrition should be done in silence.
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