A hilariously silly and handwringing
article headlined "Mood changes as America finds war is not a video game," in the Independent today. My favorite bit is this:
Across Los Angeles, the mood was overwhelmingly one of consternation and just a little dread. "I have a sick feeling about where this is all heading. They made us believe this would be a cakewalk, and now look what is happening," another woman, a writer married to an entertainment lawyer, said. "This can only make the world hate us Americans more." In what is perhaps a sign of the times, she did not want to be identified by name.
There is an awful lot of sillyness in that one paragraph. First, consider the words "Across Los Angeles, the mood was overwhelmingly one of consternation and just a little dread." The writer quotes just two people (both women) in the entire article, and from that he deduces what things are like across Los Angeles? Second, the argument of the woman quoted here makes no sense. The fact that the war is not turning out to be a cakewalk is going to make the world hate us Americans more? Why? Would they be happier if we had won it in two days, but killed 10 times as many civilians? Third, who is the "They" who made her believe the war would be a cakewalk? Fourth, why in the world is it relevant that the woman being quoted is married to an entertainment lawyer? Is this an attempt at legitimizing her job as a writer or making her sound a little more mainstream? The other woman quoted in the article is identified as a nursery school teacher, with no mention of her husband's c.v.; apparently no resume bolstering is required in her case. And finally, I can't help but chuckle at the last line about it being a sign of the times that the writer did not want to be identified by name. Just red meat to the folks who see McCarthyism under every bed.
