First of all, I’d like to thank everyone who wrote me in the previous week with their well-thought out criticism of my criticism of. I’d LIKE to do that, but for some odd reason only two people wrote to complain about my column and both of them seemed more interest in accusing me of having some sort of vendetta against Scott Kurtz. In one case, one even questioned my mother’s virtue and the legitimacy of my birth.
This theme continued through most of the mail I got regarding my review of “The Ultimates #9”, that I wrote two weeks ago Lots of comments regarding my sanity, my general intelligence, my eyesight and my sexual orientation were made. But I’m not upset or all that angry about any of this.
After all, most of us do live in a free country. And as such, we have the freedom to speak our minds and opinions. I have the right to say that I think that PVP and you have the right to call me names for my opinions. Of course I have the right to insult you back. But I also believe I have a right to remain silent… and a duty as a member of the media to hold myself to a higher standard. Great power means great responsibility, as a great man once wrote.
And it is that responsibility and duty that leads me to take a break from discussing the action-packed fantasy world of comics and make a statement about our action-packed real world.
Operation Shock and Awe is aptly named, as it has filled me with Shock and Awe. Shock at the apathy and ignorance of my fellow Americans and Awe at the wanton cruelty of the current administration.
I was shocked when I read a Newsweek survey that showed most Americans believe that Iraq was involved in the 9-11 attacks. This is far from the truth. Most of the terrorists who hijacked the planes involved were from Saudi Arabia, and the Al-Queda is known to hate Iraq (a secular regime in a mostly Muslim region) nearly as much as the United States. Osama bin Laden, in his most recent audio-taped announcement, even went so far as to call Saddam an infidel: not exactly a term used between close friends.
I was in awe this morning, as I read the on-line edition of my regular newspaper and saw the pictures of wounded Iraqi children, injured in the alleged “pin-point” bombing of Iraq that the network media said was only being used on soldiers and military bases. ( What, the government lying to us, Starman? Say it ain’t so! )
For more information about what you may not being hearing about the executive military action (It isn’t a war without an act of Congress), I recommend the following websites:
http://apj.us/20030311Baker.html
Sorry to keep it short this week folks, but I’m not in much mood to talk comics. It’s hard for me to talk about heroes that aren’t real when I’m thinking of all the real ones we are loosing to a pointless conflict.
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