William Rivers Pitt: The Bad Old Days

[babylonsister]

http://www.truth-out.org/the-bad-old-days62216

The Bad Old Days
Wednesday 11 August 2010
by: William Rivers Pitt, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed



Someone once told me that I'm the kind of guy who runs toward a fight. He said it like it was a bad thing - pretty much because I was fighting with him at the time - but I never forgot it, and have since taken it as a badge of honor. There's nothing wrong with running to the sound of the guns if the struggle is brutal, vital, and in need of another body, especially if one more person can make a difference.

It is high summer, the slow time in this business, so I've been thinking quite a bit about running toward fights, about how many fights I've charged into, and especially about how many others charged in with me. You were there, and if you weren't, you know someone who was. There were millions of us, and every time I ran to the sound of those guns, I rubbed shoulders with the best people this country has to offer.

You remember how bad a time it was, right? It started with Bush v. Gore, and went from there into a bunch of faith-based baloney, a huge tax cut for rich people who didn't need it then and need it less now, a ban on stem cell research because sick people can screw themselves...and that was only nine months and ten days into the beginning of the last decade.

It got so much worse on the eleventh day.

snip//

After that? Daniel Pearl. The Chavez coup attempt. The DC snipers. Sharks. Colin Powell lying to the UN and the world. The invasion, again, and Mission Accomplished. Mad cow. Madrid. Abu Ghraib. Nick Berg's head. Jeddah. The 9/11 Commission and whitewash for all, because "No one could have anticipated." Bush wins again. Giuliana Sgrena is assassinated. London is bombed. The Danes deal with Mohammed riots. Bali. The Kashmir earthquake. Bird flu. Mumbai. Lebanon. Katrina. Haiti. Oil hits $100 a barrel. The US economy collapses. Thousands, millions, die with no justice, dozens a day at minimum, every day, over all these years.

You get the idea. You were there. Like as not, you charged in against these things, some or all, like I did.

In these hot, quiet summer moments, I've been remembering all those damnable awful things. I wrote about every single one of them, every day, and survived the madness by being here at Truthout. I read everything, just like you, tried to figure it all out, and was better for the effort.

A guy once said I run toward fights. Damn straight I do. Always have, always will.

What’s the alternative?

[Raven]

1. You are a sweetheart! And Will has a memory! n/t

[babylonsister]

2. My pleasure, Raven. I so enjoy his way with words! nt

[Demeter]

3. A la Lanterne, Comrade!

See you on the barricades.