This last week, when the Syrian rebels freed prisoners from Assad’s notorious dungeons and a celebration broke out in the streets of Damascus, I thought about the romantic rescue scene in the 2016 Tina Fey movie Whisky Tango Foxtrot. How glorious it must be to be a political prisoner freed—freed by sympathizers, by force, by physical effort, by life-risking efforts. Could you argue it is the strongest expression of love?
The movie is based on the memoir The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Kim Barker. In the movie reporter Kim (Tina Fey) is a television journalist dissatisfied with the state of her career covering low-profile stories. She decided to take a short assignment as a war correspondent in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom, in 2003. While in Afghanistan she falls for a field reporter Iain played by Martin Freeman. Iain gets captured by rebels. Kim cashes in a favor from a general and organizes a rescue. True love.
I’m up with LOVE in a big way. I am also against the physical attributes of WAR. As the song goes “What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.” My mind drifts a bit and I begin to think about how perception and political relationships can bend definitions of civil actions. Of course, those who write our history play games with our perceptions. Telling us how “good” an attack was and how important it was to our freedom. For example, while doing research this week I discovered this tragic truth about the end of WWII:
According to historical estimates, following World War II, around 10 million Japanese people were at risk of dying from starvation after the surrender, with some experts predicting such a large death toll if the war had continued; however, an exact number of deaths directly from starvation is not officially recorded due to the chaotic post-war conditions. Article here
I can hear my parents, aunts and uncles, and even my history teachers explaining how dropping nukes on Japan saved millions of lives. So I ask today, was the math 10 million Japanese dead < 10 million American dead? Where is the love? No love. This is straight up war.
December is a season of giving, love, and hope in America. It is also our darkest month. In my state, up on the 48th parallel, the winter sun sets early at 4:30 p.m. Sitting in my warm bed, drinking my second cup of coffee, as I do, trying to make sense of the planet. I’m thinking about the wonders of war, freedom, and victory. This morning, I am stuck between WTF and WTH.
shannon p. laws 