Because I have stopped listening to conservative talk radio, it took a front-page Chronicle article to remind me that Cindy Sheehan is still around. The aggrieved mother has undertaken a nationwide anti-war tour that included a stop in the Triangle area last week. The tour will conclude this Saturday with an anti-war march in Washington, D.C.
It is no secret that Sheehan rubs many pro-Bush conservatives the wrong way. Protesters of the Iraq War often get blamed for screwing up America, and Sheehan certainly falls into that category.
Yet to her supporters, something sets Sheehan apart from the rest of the "peace is patriotic" crowd. In the eyes of New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, Sheehan possesses "absolute moral authority" over everyone else because she lost her son in Iraq. Unlike most Americans who express an opinion on the Iraq War, Sheehan has experienced actual loss because of it.
But for those like me who do not support her, Sheehan belongs in another category for a different reason. Sheehan's 26-day vigil outside President George W. Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch this summer captured the public eye and brought into America's homes an image of wartime grief rarely witnessed by the American people.
What some first considered a noble effort against an unjust war, however, should now be seen as something far different. As her saga continues, it is becoming more apparent that Cindy Sheehan, this supposed figure of "absolute moral authority," is now using her notoriety for political causes other than an end to the Iraq War. This abuse of her brief celebrity status should be an embarrassment to those who supported her and a wake-up call to the American public she has taken advantage of.
The entire reason Sheehan protested outside President Bush's ranch rested on her desire to meet with the commander-in-chief and encourage him to withdraw from Iraq. Though doing the latter at this moment would be foolhardy and disastrous to that region, Sheehan had a legitimate reason to demand this-even if it's unrealistic.
But when the national news started covering her, everything changed. It was no longer just about her son and Iraq. Sheehan began to say crazy things that had nothing to do with the war. Here are some prime examples, culled from major national news sources:
"Our government is run by one party, every level, and the mainstream media is a propaganda tool for the government."
"Thank God for the Internet, or we wouldn't know anything, and we would already be a fascist state."
"The biggest terrorist is George W. Bush."
"George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq, and excuse his self [sic] from power."
"Is there anyone in America who cannot yet see that Donald Rumsfeld is a liar, that he-as with Hitler and Stalin-will say anything so long as he thinks it will help shape the world to his own liking?"
"I was raised in a country by a public school system that taught us that America was good, that America was just. America has been killing people... since we first stepped on this continent; we have been responsible for death and destruction. I passed on that bulls--t to my son, and my son enlisted. I'm going all over the country telling moms this country is not worth dying for."
With a terrorist as our president, Stalin at Defense and a propaganda machine running the media and our public schools, I'm surprised Sheehan wasn't whisked away to the Gulags the minute she stepped foot in Crawford!
Sheehan's tasteless (and sadly unoriginal) rhetoric should alert the American people to the fact that she is no longer the grieving mother-but rather a political pawn for the "hate Bush" crowd.
She no longer adds moral authority to the anti-war cause, for her venomous words are themselves immoral, not to mention offensive. It would be wrong to encourage her to continue abusing the celebrity she gained from the American public's deep sense of caring for its fellow citizens-especially those fighting in Iraq.
Let us hope this national tour is a farewell one.
Jamie Deal is a Trinity sophomore. His column runs every other Thursday.
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