[Air-l] peace

[Steve Jones]

I would not be at all surprised if many, maybe most, subscribers to 
air-l are on other lists in which the conversation is non-stop about 
the war (regardless of whether that is "on topic" for those lists). 
Perhaps air-l is a haven of on-topic-ness. Maybe very few people are 
paying attention to air-l right now. Maybe, as I have seen with some 
of my students, some people are "warred out" and don't wish to talk 
about it. I also expect that people are otherwise engaged about this 
war in ways _not_ involving the internet, whether they are seeking 
peace or not when it comes to this war. And there are likely many 
people right now seeking news, being with family and friends, etc., 
and not being very attentive to email lists (or the internet 
generally).

I would also not be surprised if there were those concerned about 
publicly posting a comment about the war, and I would want to be 
respectful of that. It does not matter that I believe or would like 
to believe and convince them, and everyone, that there is nothing to 
be concerned about raising one's voice, for even if there is nothing 
to be concerned about there are those who wish not to speak and to 
coerce speech is not necessarily better than to silence it.

I have found myself flooded with email about the war, but I do 
wonder, as Nils asks, whether the internet will matter in the case of 
this war. If, in fact, the fighting begins, one may want to say that 
it has not and will not. But the internet will matter in other ways, 
even if its collective outpourings do not succeed in bringing peace 
and avoiding war. There are the perhaps mundane ways, such as those 
mentioned in a USA Today article 
(http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-03-18-iraq-internet_x.htm) 
concerning web-based news coverage of the war, and we should keep in 
mind that television had a significant role to play in U.S. public 
opinion about the war in Vietnam. Perhaps the internet will have 
similar consequences and at a more rapid pace than did the older 
medium. And there are the incredibly meaningful ways in which the 
internet might matter, by allowing families and friends to be in 
contact, as I have witnessed with my colleague at the university 
whose son is in the military and was ordered to Kuwait a couple of 
weeks ago.

That the "deadline" set by the U.S. for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq 
has passed and that there has not been immediate and massive military 
action is at least a glimmer of continued hope, and false though it 
may be, I'll take it. There is little available at the moment but 
hope for peace.

Be well and be safe,
Sj





At 2:18 AM +0000 3/20/03, Nils Zurawski wrote:
>  David,
>
>at 2.10 am 3/20/2003 I am checking my email to find your posting.. 
>which list approriate or not.. touched me... the deadline has passed 
>and for weeks no one listened... to no protest to no official to no 
>inspector... nada...  I am angry, fearful, outraged about this.... 
>pro peace - certainly not a friend of Saddam... and his 
>philantropists of earlier years... Reagan and Bush 1..... so yes the 
>INternet has helped to spread the word, get people on the street... 
>but did it really help to prevent the war .. or to rather blame it 
>on them afterwards... I am not sure... we are certainly not anymore 
>in the realm of the unknown.. but what did we win... sorry for the 
>fatalism here...  when the first shot will be fired... collegues of 
>mine will be getting a phone call to get their butts in gear to rush 
>to the newsroom to cover the whole thing...online... as if somebody 
>cares in Germany at this time of the day... I may be covering for 
>them tommorrow... despite a week off..... so that is the Internet as 
>well....   seem to have lost my clue here... anyway... I am with 
>David, but sceptical if the INterent really does make a change.. or 
>only for us... that we fell better...  disillusioned... nilz
>
>_______________________________________________
>Air-l mailing list
>Air-l at aoir.org
>http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l