The windshield and the rock
Dec. 20th, 2007 10:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pjthompsonI was listening this morning to an interview with Tom Hanks and Mike Nicholls on their new black comedy, Charlie Wilson's War, which is based on real events. Charlie Wilson was a Texas congressman who in the 1980s finagled and maneuvered funding to support the mujahideen in their war against the Soviets in Afghanistan—with the help of a CIA operative, a socialite, and the "most famous belly dancer in Houston." What I found particularly fascinating was the notion of how many unanticipated consequences sprang from that action. Nicholls and Hanks said was the point of their movie, how we never know what the consequences of any of our actions will be. Two of the biggest from Charlie Wilson's war: the end of the Cold War and 9/11.
You see, the Soviets were so weakened by their defeat in Afghanistan that it bankrupted them. They could no longer hold their conquered and fractured states together, so the Soviet Union broke apart, and their client states in Eastern Europe, left to their own devices, said to hell with you and went their own way, too. This has led to so many ripples in this world, most arguably good, I think, but some very bad, very bad indeed—and none of them truly anticipated.
And 9/11? Well, of course, the guy leading the mujahideen in Afghanistan was Osama bin Laden. He took Charlie Wilson's money so he could beat the Soviets, all the while hating us and hoping for the day when he could do the same to the West. I can't think of much good that came of 9/11. Maybe your perspective is different from mine.
I found myself wondering: if we had an accurate crystal ball and could have prevented 9/11 by keeping the millions of people in the Eastern Bloc under Soviet repression and domination, by continuing the dirty, covert Cold War that affected millions of more lives around the globe, should we—could we, would we—have done it? Three thousand lives precious to their friends and family. Millions of lives precious to their friends and family. There aren't any easy answers. And what unanticipated consequences would come of those actions?
I found myself thinking: you never know how the glass is going to splinter until the rock hits the windshield. The flaws inherent in the glass are invisible to the eye until the rock is thrown. Every moment of our lives, every decision, is a rock hitting a windshield with impact patterns splintering in all directions. We can't refuse to make decisions, because our refusal to decide also has unanticipated consequences.
Much hilarity has been made of Bush declaring himself to be The Decider. But you know what? We're all The Deciders. We just don't see such a clear-cut consequence of most of our decisions. Reality is a consensus web made up of all our attitudes and decisions. The answer is not to hide in a black hole and refuse to participate. It seems to me the answer is to act mindfully, and try to remember that everything matters.
Everything.
You see, the Soviets were so weakened by their defeat in Afghanistan that it bankrupted them. They could no longer hold their conquered and fractured states together, so the Soviet Union broke apart, and their client states in Eastern Europe, left to their own devices, said to hell with you and went their own way, too. This has led to so many ripples in this world, most arguably good, I think, but some very bad, very bad indeed—and none of them truly anticipated.
And 9/11? Well, of course, the guy leading the mujahideen in Afghanistan was Osama bin Laden. He took Charlie Wilson's money so he could beat the Soviets, all the while hating us and hoping for the day when he could do the same to the West. I can't think of much good that came of 9/11. Maybe your perspective is different from mine.
I found myself wondering: if we had an accurate crystal ball and could have prevented 9/11 by keeping the millions of people in the Eastern Bloc under Soviet repression and domination, by continuing the dirty, covert Cold War that affected millions of more lives around the globe, should we—could we, would we—have done it? Three thousand lives precious to their friends and family. Millions of lives precious to their friends and family. There aren't any easy answers. And what unanticipated consequences would come of those actions?
I found myself thinking: you never know how the glass is going to splinter until the rock hits the windshield. The flaws inherent in the glass are invisible to the eye until the rock is thrown. Every moment of our lives, every decision, is a rock hitting a windshield with impact patterns splintering in all directions. We can't refuse to make decisions, because our refusal to decide also has unanticipated consequences.
Much hilarity has been made of Bush declaring himself to be The Decider. But you know what? We're all The Deciders. We just don't see such a clear-cut consequence of most of our decisions. Reality is a consensus web made up of all our attitudes and decisions. The answer is not to hide in a black hole and refuse to participate. It seems to me the answer is to act mindfully, and try to remember that everything matters.
Everything.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-20 07:34 pm (UTC)I do think we underestimate the possible consequences and impacts of our decisions - as individuals, and more significantly as a country. It's fascinating to me to study history and *see* those cracks as they spiderweb across the years and I'm really looking forward to seeing this movie.
Thanks for giving me something to ponder.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 01:06 am (UTC)And yes, I love reading history for similar reasons.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-20 08:21 pm (UTC)I agree that nothing good has come from 9/11. Nothing. Yet, because of American ignorance, we allowed more bad to come from it than we had to. Perhaps I ought to pause a moment here and raise my own hand, acknowledging that I was as ignorant, if not more so, than anyone. I actually voted for Bush. I thought we should go to war, cuz well, surely, our good president knew what he was doing and Colin Powell agreed with him! *coughs*
How we handled 9/11 could have resulted in some good. Perhaps not nearly enough to justify the sacrificed lives of that hateful day, but it could have been the thing that united the world against terrorism, it could have caused the nations to actually respect, and maybe even think favorably about the U.S. But, instead, we allowed our preznit to use it as an excuse to take us to war against a country that had no WMD's, had nothing to do with 9/11, and serves only to line the pockets of large corporations, especially those (Halliburton) to which our leaders have been intimately involved (Cheney).
Of course, had we actually gone after Bin Laden and the Saudis, we would have risked jeopardizing a significant portion of our economy. The Saudis owned 6% of Wall Street in 2004. They just bought out large portions of WaMu this month. Sometimes, when we let ourselves become dependent upon our enemy, it's hard to know what to do.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 01:09 am (UTC)Yet, because of American ignorance, we allowed more bad to come from it than we had to.
Absolutely. That's the thing that kills me: we squandered this incredible wave of fellow-feeling the world directed our way. Think of what good we could have accomplished with that. Instead we decided we needed to lash out at the first convenient target, regardless of culpability.
I actually voted for Bush. I thought we should go to war, cuz well, surely, our good president knew what he was doing and Colin Powell agreed with him! *coughs*
Hey, you know what? We've all bought the lie from time to time. You won't get fooled again.
The Saudis owned 6% of Wall Street in 2004.
And the Bush family have been their long-time allies. It's a stinking, corrupt mess.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 01:50 am (UTC)I think this, more than anything else, is what will guarantee Dubya's place in Hell. He was handed a chance to be great, and decided to be petty and insane. The people who allowed him to do that (I refuse to use the word 'we' because there were too many of us who opposed it from the start) will bear responsibility as well, but I don't put being a craven coward on the same level as a mass murderer.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 05:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 01:48 am (UTC)But one missing factor in your supposition is that 9/11, and the events thereafter, didn't kill just 3,000 people. If you want to follow it through to its logical conclusion, then you'd have to factor in the 3500 U.S. soldiers that also died, plus the 100,000 Iraqis. Still, not an easy question, but I think that nudges the indicator closer to letting the cold war go on for a few more years (though you'd have to factor in how many people were dying anyway...) You could probably say the Iraqi lives pre- and post- Saddam are a wash, because I rarely hear any reports of them thinking life in general is better now.
I think someone could probably go mad trying to figure it all out.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 05:27 pm (UTC)But one missing factor in your supposition is that 9/11, and the events thereafter, didn't kill just 3,000 people.
Absolutely. 9/11 was the tip of the iceberg.
I think someone could probably go mad trying to figure it all out.
Completely. So it's probably a good thing we don't have those accurate crystal balls because we would go mad try to decide between all the possible outcomes. We just have to do the best we can with the moments and decisions we're given.