Voices Of America

Two opinions, one from my inbox and the other from the comments section about what the American man-on-the-street thinks of the situation in Lebanon:

First, from Paula Meyer, “a 50-year-old female, mother of two, grandmother of 3”, who also has a few questions for the Lebanese:

I want you to know that I strongly believe the majority of Americans feel the way I do regarding this situation in the Middle East:

1) I firmly believe that a country, all countries, have an inherent right, nay…RESPONSIBILITY TO THEIR CITIZENS…to defend their country. I can tell you that if Canada started launching missiles into the US, we would certainly retaliate.

2) I have GREAT empathy for the Lebanese people. I know that the majority of Lebanese people would like to live in freedom and peace and that they have been striving for that for years.

3) I cannot, however, see the Lebanese as totally blameless here. Lebanon has had six years to implement the UN resolution to disarm Hezbollah. Not only does it appear that they made no progress on that front, but further legitimized Hezbollah by voting them into several seats in Parliament. If I were Lebanese, I would be furious with my government, and my fellow Lebanese, for allowing the atmosphere that would surely lead to the current outcome. And maybe even myself. I’m sure you’ve heard of the “American Revolutionary War”. Trust me when I tell you that the residents of this country were not all in agreement when that conflict started. It took the “minority” to convince the rest of the country that sometimes it is worthing dying for what you believe in. History shows that we won. And I see it every day when I go to dinner and movies with my Muslim, Jewish and Christian friends. And none of us has a desire to kill each other over the practice of our religions or some “past transgression” by “our” people or “their” people.

4) Having stated item #3, I also feel the international community, and perhaps the Arab countries more particularly, have failed Lebanon because they knew what was going on there and did nothing to assist the Lebanese government and its’ people in ridding themselves of these extremists. If aid to Lebanon had been more forthcoming, perhaps the Lebanese government could have provided better core services to its’ people and they wouldn’t have had to depend upon “good neighbor” Hezbollah to provide them. I’m sure this is a good part of why they have any support at all.

5) Having said all that, as a constituent of Senators and Congressional representatives and even the President, what is it you would have “America” do NOW to assist in bringing peace back to the area? What is it you would have us say to our government to assist the Lebanese people, not just now, but to promote an ongoing strong, peaceful, prosperous Lebanon?

I’m just curious.

Second, from Papa Ray, in west Texas, who thinks we’re on our own:

I have a lot of friends and relatives that don’t blog, don’t read much of the newspaper except the funnies and the sports pages. Likewise they watch very little network or cable tv except for the movie channels.

I have spoken to most of them over the last week and asked them what they thought about the Lebanese and the Isralies and Hezbollah.

Most of them didn’t know what I was talking about, except that “everybody hates the Jews”. Those that had heard about it or saw something on the news about it, all said something to the effect “the U.S. should just stay out of it completely, including any diplomatic actions.”

In other words, in my informal poll of a bunch of middle class Texans, you guys are on your own.

Which I know, means really nothing, except that I would be willing to bet that over fifty percent of America feels the same way.

Now, turn it around, lets say that America was attacking Mexico because they were killing our citizens and law enforcement people (which they have) would you give a rats ass if Mexico was getting blown all to hell?

I doubt it, except for those of you who hate America in the first place.