Hearing Voices...

I was forced to reacquaint myself with dry land yesterday, so that me old radio could get the once-over from a repair man. It hasn't been itself since I accidentally poured some coffee on it a month or two ago. Glad to say, she's righter than rain now, having had a small surgery and a bit of TLC.

While all of this was happening, I took a jaunt into the city (no names, no pack-drill) to see what was what. To my delight, I ran into an old friend - a lady from the US, who I last spoke to three years ago. We went for a jar and a bite to eat and talked about old times for a bit. Eventually (inevitably) the conversation got around to current affairs and, more precisely, the occupation of Iraq. Although I am usually quite fast to criticise the chump with his oily finger on the button, I was a little more reserved than usual - seeing as how my pal is an American an' all. So when I mentioned Bush, I did so in a questioning way rather than with my usual barrage of invective. Her response was interesting - and it is something I have noticed before in my American friends. Quiet embarrassment. She, sort of, shook her head grimly and expressed her utter bewilderment at the situation her country has gotten itself into.

Like most outside observers, she says that she was worried about Bush from the outset, and she said that even people she knows who initially liked him are now appalled by his ridiculous antics. What stunned her (and, I must say, this is something I hear a lot) was that he won the second term so convincingly. She finds it hard to believe that millions of her fellow citizens looked at what he had done during the first four years, said "we need some more of this" and voted for him.

It has often seemed to me that most Americans were stunned by the 9/11 atrocity - it had never occurred to them that they were so hated. Likewise, Bush's re-election was a shock - it had never occurred to them that he was so liked.

She also noted that although the war is very unpopular, not so many folk are out protesting against it (although, of course, some brave souls do). What might this mean, I wonder? Could it be that Americans have given-up on social activism? Or have they, on some level, adopted a 'patriotic' stance, where it might be viewed as unseemly for them to protest while "the boys and girls in uniform" are at risk? I really don't know.

What I do know for sure - and meeting my friend reaffirmed this - is that there are millions of Americans who oppose Bush and his shabby crusade. How or whether that will translate into anything which might give hope to those under occupation remains to be seen. But it is clear that this anti-war sentiment is in no way a cohesive force, in the way that "the movement" was in the Vietnam era. Only time will tell, I suppose - but the voices of the American dissenters can be heard if you listen, though sometimes you have to ask.