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Shoot Out at the OK Corral. Wait a minute--this isn't a
movie!
By mickielynn on 2008-11-18 15:26:17
Since Waging Peace received Wally's comment about "fight or flight" alternatives in a bar room brawl, I've been seeing
scenes that bring true life to the on the ground effects of recent U.S. foreign policy. Let's go back to the Wild West image so
popular in movies. There's alcohol on board and someone takes offense. A punch is thrown. It's returned and soon
everyone has joined in and the bar is trashed. Then a gun is drawn and before the other fighter can draw he's shot dead and
lying on the bar room floor. Now in those days there were a lot of dead or exiled gun slingers, and vigilante posses and
general lawlessness. But today, if the same thing began to happen there would probably be "peacekeepers" in the form of
bouncers, or someone would call 911 and the police or sheriffs would arrive. Maybe there would be charges pressed and
some people might be jailed. Maybe they would be tried and sentenced to a drug and alcohol rehab program, some
community service or anger management training, depending on past behavior. That of course is if the system is working
well and the sheriff who arrives isn't the sheriff of Maricopa County and the police are dispensing justice without regard to
race, religion or country of origin. Let's zoom out a bit: Now we're seeing "West Side Story" with the romantic version of
gang life in NYC and a Romeo and Juliet style tragedy. Yes there's some notion of death and loss but mainly there's
glorification of the gang mentality and the "heroism" of the fighters. Now a real life alternative in Los Angeles, sorely
plagued with gang violence and the deaths and imprisonment of hundreds of young people with lots of death handed out to
innocent bystanders and tremendous loss of property and potential. Again we're dealing with a fight and show that you're a
man (or woman) mentality. But along come some ex-gang members who begin to work with the young gangstas and show
them some other ways of dealing with conflict. The result, a dramatic decrease in violence and gang activity and gang
membership. So when it's just some fools hurting each other in a drunken, or non-drunken, brawl, there may be injury or
even lasting disability and there may be destruction, and some fear for those in the situation, but the consequences are not
extreme. In the case of gangs, and of distressed young people with weapons, everyone is afraid and they shoot first and ask
questions later, as was experienced by the death of a beautiful, innocent 10 year old girl in Albany earlier this year. This
can also reach the level of a response to unmediated bullying that has resulted in several tragic school shootings. Now let's
up the ante and look at Iraq, the nation and the people. Not the war movie or video game version with the airplanes and the
new "smart" weapons, the Marines and the humvees, but the actual results of attacking and occupying another country
instead of involving those "peacekeepers" and diplomats and members of the world community in finding a less violent
solution. If we use our brains instead of our adrenaline and if we work cooperatively with community there are many other
possibilities besides fight or flight. It's too late for the people of Iraq and for the almost 5,000 US soldiers dead and the
scores of thousands injured and disabled but maybe it could work in our dealings with the problems in Afghanistan and Iran
and in coming to a peaceful solution between Israel and the Palestinian people. To spell it out a little more: There are at least
1 million Iraqi citizens dead and about 6 million displaced and exiled as a result of the war (out of a total population of about
26 million). The medical system that was once the most modern and effective in the region is destroyed and even basic care
is unavailable to most people. There is almost no available, reliable electricity, not enough clean water, a shortage of food
and no money and jobs to buy it, no safety provided by civilian law agencies, no safety from being shot or run down in the
streets if you're in the wrong place as military contractors are driving through, no safe haven in your own home. The
possibility of bombs or explosives or kidnapping by sectarian groups is always present, as is the arrest and detention by US
and Iraqi military personnel, without charge or a chance to confront your accusers. I'm not just imagining this. In 2005 I
spent several months researching and writing a paper on the health and medical effects of the war on the Iraqi people. I still
live with the images of the suffering of those people. Especially the women who often had to walk long distances for water,
stand in lines most of the day to find food for their families and live in anguish when they found that none of their efforts
could keep their loved ones safe, or often even alive. There wouldn't be that adrenaline fueled rush to fear, flight or fight if
we didn't whip up panic by labeling people "the enemy", "the other" Whether it's communist, socialist, terrorist, uber ---, or
fill in your favorite ethnic, racial or cultural insult. When we think of the people that we have conflicts with as brother and
sister human beings we're more likely to try to work things out with hope and creativity rather than with fear and violence.
Check it out!
