Speak Out or Keep Your Peace!

I go to NYU, one of the most influential universities in the United States. It's a center of culture, a place of progress. The population is overwhelmingly liberal; there is an incredibly strong gay community, there are protests for this and that event constantly. I say this not to brag, but to show you why I'm bothered by my peers.

Today, there was an anti-war rally. For those not in the know, this is about the Iraq war and the coming Iran war. I don't want war, in either scenario. As such, when I heard about said protest I was ecstatic. I'm a freshman in college protesting the same war I was protesting when I was a freshman in high school. I marched on San Francisco; estimates of 200,000 people in that march were made. We marched, we protested. It was a peaceful protest. Now, four years and six-hundred fifty thousand dead bodies later (a rough estimate), I protest again. Instead of 200,000, though, we had about forty people. NYU, with all its progressivism, has 45,000 students. There were about forty people, and about a quarter of those came from their high school. Two were from a middle school. 45,000 people, and all we can muster is thirty for a protest of a war that has been proven time and time again to have been based on falsehoods. Thirty students. That's one high school class full. The NYPD were there; if there was a riot, they would be prepared. There were about as many of them as there were of us. If this is how people feel, then that's fine, I suppose.

I'd like to offer this thought: if you don't protest a war in which innocent people are shot, you support it. You support a war in which, just weeks ago, a girl was raped by three United States Marines while her family was shot in the next room. She was, of course, shot immediately after. The marines are looking to get off with a wrist slap. Do you support that? If you don't protest, that's the message you give Bush and Cheney and Rove and Libby and Rice and all those in power who make war for political purposes. It makes me wonder that if a draft were instated, many of you would say that it's unfair when your number came up. There would be mass protesting of how the war is unjust and our leaders are corrupt. Democrat and Republican alike would protest. Why? Surely not because we oppose violence; 300 is a high grossing movie, violent crime is (as always) high, Grand Theft Auto 3 is one of the most popular games ever to come out. No, it's because so many people are content to be sheep up to the point where somebody forces them to do something. If you don't oppose the war, you're supporting it. If a draft comes, shut your fucking mouth and get in line for the buzz cut. And don't give me bullshit about having to go to class, having to go to work. If you're in high school, middle school, anything, get out and be heard! If you can't get to a rally, protest, whatever, then write a letter to your congresspeople. Write a letter to the white house. Take an hour out of your life and do something, however small, to make the politicians accountable for their actions.

This next statement is not an endorsement of Michael Moore. I don't approve of his methods, I don't approve of his appearance as a "common man," I don't approve of him. One thing that I think he did right was when, in Fahrenheit 9/11, he approached congresspeople and questioned them about their children and offered information about the armed services. These people have no more to lose in sending their children off to war than the impoverished do. In fact, they have less to lose; those with no other means to support themselves can lose everything from an injury. The government is getting worse every day in dealing with our veterans; it's harder to get treatment, harder to get welfare, harder to get heard. What we need is for anyone who'd bitch about a draft to get off their lazy fucking asses and do something. If you'd complain in the slightest about being chosen to go fight in this war, speak up. If you don't speak now, you might lose your rights to speak up in a few years when you're in the military with a drill master yelling in your face.

I don't write this to start a debate. If you agree with Bush, then you're set. If you wouldn't mind being drafted, or if you're going to sign up for the armed services of your own volition, then please disregard this. I'm writing this for anyone who bitches privately but won't go out in public and yell, march, organize. I'm writing this to try to wake some people up. Apathy is lethal, and I don't want to die because of yours.