A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll indicates that a majority of Americans (56%) now think that the invasion of and subsequent war in Iraq were not worth the cost in lives and money. A substantial number of people have shifted over the last two years.

I want to find these people and smack them silly. What the hell were you expecting would happen? How does this quagmire come as a surprise to you? You probably think I shouldn't be mad because people are seeing the light, but I don't really think they're seeing the light. This is one bad decision that they're realizing was bad, but I seriously doubt they're realizing their whole decision-making process is wrong.

They might come around on this one issue, but the next time there's some serious decision to be made, they're going to make the same mistake again. They're ignorant of the world. They confuse patriotism with nationalism. They're willing to trust politicians who say things that are patently false if they're repeated often enough. They think decisiveness is a virtue and hesitation a sin. None of that has changed. People aren't learning, they're becoming cautious of war, and those are two entirely different things.

If, five years from now, there's a legitimate war that needs to be fought, these people will oppose it because they don't understand anything beyond the superficial. It's better than them denying reality, but I can't take much comfort from people belatedly realizing what was obvious 2 years ago. I can't take much comfort from the realization that only actual disaster will make these people realize they were wrong, and that they will never actually understand how and why they were wrong. So they'll keep on making bad decisions over and over, except they'll be different bad decisions. And they'll drag the rest of us along with them, until we finally evolve and get on the spaceships out of here.

¶ 999 Posted at 12.19 PM ⇒ No Comments ( iraq | stupid people )