By alexander Rubin
Wednesday, august 17, 2005
Cindy Sheehan is a far cry from Rosa Parks.
From declaring that america "is not worth dying for", to accusing pro-Israel lobbies of masterminding the war in Iraq, to asserting that the United States is "waging nuclear war in Iraq", Cindy Sheehan has infuriated a large cross-section of the american public.
She has misled the public over the circumstances of her son’s re-enlistment and refused to pay taxes, explaining that she "won’t owe [the I.R.S.] a penny" because the war is "illegal".
She has been called attention-grubbing, a traitor and worse.
But this anger is misdirected. Right-thinking people should feel nothing but sympathy, and perhaps pity, for Cindy Sheehan. Decent people should be understanding of the situation Cindy Sheehan finds herself in; she has lost her eldest son, and it seems clear that she blames herself for his death. Behind the diatribes and the rants, the publicity and the debate, lies a woman who wants her son back.
a woman, broken by her son’s death. It seems probable, from interviews she has given, that she disagreed with her son’s decision to re-enlist. and perhaps she blames herself; perhaps she thinks that if she had fought a little harder then, argued a little louder, then her son would be with her still, and not buried. She is a woman consumed with her quest to unseat the President, perhaps believing that its completion will allow her to expunge her own guilt.
But her son was a man grown, a 24-year-old adult, who had already seen one term of duty and proudly re-enlisted of his own free will. already a veteran, he could not be accused of starry-eyed naivete, nor of being tricked by a military recruiter, as Cindy has alleged in the past.
In fact, Casey Sheehan volunteered and argued to get into the mission which cost him his life, because he wanted to help rescue the patrol caught behind enemy lines. Cindy confirmed this, saying that "the sergeant said, 'Sheehan, you don't have to go,' because my son was a mechanic.' and Casey said, 'Where my chief goes, I go.' " Casey served with distinction, and earned himself the Bronze Star for courage.
No one was responsible for the decisions Casey made but Casey.
The tragedy of her son’s death has affected her badly, and she pays a heavy price for her diatribes. Her in-laws publicly divorced themselves from her, stating that they "do not agree with the political motivations and publicity tactics of Cindy Sheehan. She now appears to be promoting her own personal agenda and notoriety at the expense of her son's good name and reputation."
It is also clear that her other children could stand a little more attention from their mother. Even as they loyally support her, as they should, Cindy recognizes they need her attention, and that she is not able to give it to them. While her son andy tries to pick up the slack "by becoming Casey", Cindy realizes that "I am not able to help them that much because of my pain, and because I feel so compelled to fight the injustice and bring the troops home. I know they believe that what I am doing is right, but they wish we weren't in the situation, as do I."
Cindy is just a woman who has, in her grief, made some unfortunate statements. She does not deserve the harsh treatment she is getting; if those statements offend, correct the statements, don’t insult the woman.
The anger directed at Cindy Sheehan is not unprovoked, but it is misdirected. She is a woman consumed by her quest, and that is tragic, and nothing else. Rage should be directed at the grief pimps who exploit this woman’s pain for all it’s worth; those who view her as more ratings, or another arrow in their quiver to send against the President.
It should be directed at those members of DailyKos, perhaps the largest left-wing blog, who believe that her son should not be referred to by name, that "theatre professionals at the Sheenan vigil… should arrange things much more theatrically" and that Cindy should only be called "’Mother Sheehan’" reasoning that "we should never call her Cindy… ‘Mother Sheehan’ is her title, and expresses her ceremonial status as a bereaved mother, calling forth over the dead body of her son. She is not a person now, she is a mother, which is not an expression of her individuality, but rather the expression of her eternal character: the mother, the bringer of life who has been wronged by state power."
This trend is echoed at Democratic Underground, a far left forum that seems to believe that the end justifies the means. They continue the deification, with one poster stating that "Cindy is a light from above, far away from any religion or G-d, she is pure love and justice…She is the light, don't let it ever stop burning…"
You’d think they were talking about the messiah, not a weapon they intend to use to surround the Bush administration with bad publicity.
Then, almost assuredly unbeknownst to much of the left wing, David Duke, the former leader of the KKK and white supremacist extraordinaire, champions Cindy’s cause himself….if only to use her as ammunition to get at the "hostile Jewish supremacist media."
Charming.
In fact, there are quite a few citizens who suggest that Cindy’s words are not necessarily her own, that she is being manipulated by an increasingly ruthless anti-war movement. They point to statements she made after meeting Preisdent Bush at an event he made to meet personally with families of soldiers killed. "'I now know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis,' Cindy said after their meeting. 'I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. and I know he's a man of faith...That was the gift the president gave us, the gift of happiness, of being together"
It might seem hard to credence that anti-war protesters would purposefully target grieving families in an attempt to use them as propaganda material.
But, unfortunately, it would not be the first time that the anti-war movement would have tried to profit from a gold star family’s misery. Michael Moore can be seen, perhaps tellingly, in a photograph behind Cindy as she gives a speech; the filmmaker is notorious for using the lives of fallen soldiers and their grieving families in his movies. another current Sheehan ally, the Dallas Peace Centre, tricked a grieving family into attending an anti-war rally last year.
Family and friends of Specialist Chad Drake was invited to attend a vigil in honour of Chad’s death. The group arrived, and heard the sound of drums, which aroused their suspicion. a family friend recounted how a woman approached the mourners and inquired if they were there for the vigil. "If this is some kind of protest," Mrs. Drake said, "I'm not going to participate." an organizer assured her that it was not, and they were just there "to comfort you in your grief". Mrs. Drake then saw a man with fliers accusing Bush of war crimes, then saw the drummer was wearing a shirt that said "drums not guns".
When Mrs. Drake then screamed "somebody has lied to me", a woman strode purposefully towards Mrs. Drake, grabbed and shook her, and said "shut up and I’ll explain our cause to you." Her family promptly left the ‘vigil’.
These are the grief pimps. and, do not fool yourselves; they exist both on the left and right and everywhere in between. It is they who are turning Cindy’s story, and a million more, into nothing more than well-publicized tragic farces for the sake of ten million disparate causes.
It is unfortunate that Cindy makes some of the statements she does, but it is vastly more disgusting that the left-wing is trying to deify her in an attempt to use as political ammunition, or that right wing pundits are piling on Cindy without considering the idea that it’s her grief and guilt speaking, or the groups using her, rather than the woman herself.
But let us not lose sight of the most important lesson of this story, and move past the partisan politics, and delve into the very nature of what it means to be a citizen of a democracy.
Despite the inaccuracy and, for some, repugnancy of many of her statements, Cindy has a right to say what she likes, where she likes, when she likes and to associate with whomever she wishes. That is what makes america "worth dying for", and that is a right bought and protected for her by her son Casey, and millions of men and women like him.
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