Themes of War in Star Wars

           A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away a young man had a dream for a movie franchise that would take the galaxy by storm. Well, more accurately, it was only 40 years ago in California, the young man was George Lucas and the movie franchise was Star Wars. The sci-fi war story was developed as a story for young teenage boys, but soon fell into the hearts of people of all ages. 40 years, and nine completed films later, the franchise has become one of the most beloved in the world’s history.

Although it is a well-beloved sci-fi action franchise, the story is wholly about war, and the products of war. Which means that many of the themes discussed in true-to-life war novels are also discussed in these films to some extent. It seems almost impossible for a sci-fi franchise for children to adequately explore some of the heavier themes of war, yet Lucas manages to do so with a light hand, managing to show the true effects of war in a way that is not overwhelming, yet also captures the true nature of war.

Throughout novels of true-to-life war there are themes that rise to the surface: the broken warrior; the maltreatment of women, including rape and sexual slavery; the subjectivity of bad and good; the reality of duty or honor as the driving force for military enlistment; the development of super weapons; the change in a soldier from eager, curious citizen to sober, battle hardened warrior; and so many more. These themes play out in the Star Wars films to a lesser extent.

In the interest of time and space, this analysis will only talk about three themes found in the original trilogy (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and The Return of the Jedi) in comparison to the themes found specifically in the books Fear, The Sorrow of War, Catch-22, and Shoot Like a Girl. The three themes explored will be as follows, the change from citizen to warrior, the fractured warrior, and the treatment of women in war.

The Eager, Curious Citizen to Battle-hardened Warrior

            In Fear, Jean Dartemont heads to war “not to fight but out of curiosity: to see.”[1] In some ways, this young man is the epitome of young and naïve. He simply wants to experience what war might be like. Dartemont notes that the last war was so long ago that the newest generations don’t know what it is like. War is a curiosity to those who are not actively involved. However, as the war progresses Dartemont becomes more and more of a cynic, commenting on the seemingly futile nature of shooting at the Germans on the front. For Dartemont, the war is no longer a curiosity, but a dreaded nightmare with seemingly no purpose. In fact, it becomes almost a badge of honor among the troops to be so badly injured that one can no longer fight[2].

            This second attitude is also showcased in Catch-22. While we never actually get to meet Yossarian before he goes to war, by the time we do meet him he is a cynic and has definitely espoused this battle-hardened, sober warrior who would rather be at home or in the hospital than fighting a war that doesn’t seem to have a purpose[3].

            This theme in Star Wars is most obviously found in Luke Skywalker himself. He is the epitome of eager, curious and naïve citizen. If one were to read literature found in the extended universe they would discover that when Luke asks to go away at the very beginning of the film, he is asking to go train in Empire flight school[4]. However, Luke is somewhat unwittingly recruited by R2-D2, C-3PO and Obi-Wan Kenobi to join the light side. Once they leave Tatooine Luke is thrust into a fight he didn’t necessarily want to be a part of, but joins anyway, mostly because there is nothing left for him on Tatooine[5].

            By the later films of the series Luke has seen so much death and loss that he has become the battle-hardened warrior. He doesn’t quite cross the bridge into cynicism, because it would be difficult to have a film for young teenagers in which the main character was not eager to be a part of the fight, but he does seem to be tempered a bit in later films as he becomes a Jedi and a leader among the rebel alliance[6].

            War changes a person. A person who has gone to war is never the same when they come home, and this is a theme that is still portrayed in Star Wars as it is in books written about our historical wars.

The Fractured Warrior

            If war changes a person, then we have to account for all those who come home from war broken, both spiritually, physically, and mentally. More than any other war novel, Sorrow of War, encapsulates the mentality of the warrior who returns home so very, very broken. This novel details the experiences of one North Vietnamese warrior who was witness to terrible actions and experiences. This young man, Kien, starts as a naïve and innocent young man. He and his high school sweetheart grow up in a world where war is going on but hasn’t yet reached them. By the time they have reached their majority, Kien is sent off to fight in the war. However, by the time he reaches his unit he has already witnessed his friend being raped, a train being blown up and many other horrible things. This was just in the first few days of Kien’s war[7].

            When the war concludes, Kien is the only remaining man alive from his unit. He returns a completely fractured man, unable to fully function as a person. He sits in his apartment furiously writing, a little bit scary as an individual and worrisome to his neighbors. Sorrow of War is written from Kien’s perspective, and it is fractured with abrupt shifts from one time and space to another. One is never quite sure of the timeline of events and memories interrupt the daily goings on without clarity of the change in scene and time. This warrior, returning from the battle is fractured. He is physically broken, he is mentally gone, and his spirit has been wounded irreparably[8]. Kien is not the only soldier to return from war broken, this is common among veterans who have witnessed atrocities they never could have imagined.      

            In Star Wars this fractured warrior is represented through the characters of Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Through the back story of the prequels, and the animated TV show The Clone Wars[9], it is clear that both these crucial characters were involved in the Clone Wars which were the events that precipitated the rise of the Empire.

            In Obi-Wan, we can see the warrior who has secluded himself. He hides himself from the world partly because of necessity, but also because he might be hiding from the people he had to kill and the things he had to see. In his duel with Darth Vader he simple stops and surrenders as a distraction for the rest of the crew to get away from the Death Star, but it seems to also be a relief for him to surrender and to be released from the torture of the things he’s seen and done[10]. In essence, Obi-Wan’s sacrifice is an act of suicide, which we are seeing in unprecedented numbers from American veterans as well[11]. The Star Wars representation of suicide must be seen as noble, but nevertheless, the hopelessness of the fractured warrior is clear when examined beyond the narrative.

            In Yoda, the soldier who is simply tired is showcased. Yoda is tired of war, he is tired of violence and atrocity. When Luke first arrives on Dagobah, the viewer is pretty well convinced that Yoda is crazy. He is certainly not the calm, sedate, wise Yoda one comes to know in the prequels. He is jumping off of everything and talks strangely, even for him, who structures his speech object-subject-verb. War changes a person, and sometimes breaks their ability to be calm and collected. Yoda is broken a little differently from Obi-Wan, but he is still broken, just as every soldier who comes home from combat is broken differently from their compatriots. The one thing that Yoda is able to do, even in his broken state, is focus on his duty and train the next Jedi, Luke[12].

            Even the most broken soldier, according to Star Wars, has some measure of honor. Star Wars is teaching the martial values of honor and doing one’s duty, even while it is acknowledging, to some extent, that being honorable may have a cost.

Maltreatment of Women in War

            It is a well-accepted fact that women, civilian and military alike, are not treated well when there is a war. In the novel Shoot Like a Girl, Mary Jennings Hagar details her experiences in the Air Force. Including the systematic discrimination, disrespect, and even sexual harassment and rape[13]. These are not uncommon for women in the military forces, and many are stepping forward to make a change. However, maltreatment of women in the military forces is not the primary violence against women during a war.

            Rape is, unfortunately, a common occurrence in war and is often mentioned in novels about war. To not talk about this reality in a novel of war would be disingenuous. In The Sorrow of War, Kien refers to several instances of rape he witnessed. First was the rape of his own girlfriend by a fellow soldier on the train to the battlefield. Then he watched as his fellow countrywoman offered herself up to be gang raped and killed by a group of Americans to distract them from the presence of Kien and his troops[14].

            These are far from being the only instances of rape and maltreatment of women during war. War is a time when the most basic self-control is shattered as actions that are usually prohibited, like killing, are all of the sudden acceptable and encouraged. Naturally, this means that other forbidden impulses slip by the carefully guarded gate. If one forbidden fruit is allowed, then it is hard to keep the other forbidden fruits out of reach.

            This theme is tricky for Star Wars to handle, and while it doesn’t show any actually rape, the original trilogy are all rated PG, they still address the mistreatment of women in the films. Anyone who has ever seen Return of the Jedi has seen Princess Leia in that famous gold bikini, but what people never seem to remember is that that gold bikini is accompanied by chains around her neck and a grotesque creature who puts her into uncomfortable positions. In addition, there is little memory of her predecessor, a young female alien who was also forced to wear a skimpy outfit, wear chains and dance upon command. When this young alien refused and rebelled, she was killed[15]. If one looks beyond the sexual appeal of Leia wearing a gold bikini one will see a representation not only of rapists as ugly, fat and terrible people, but a representation of the maltreatment of women during war in Star Wars.

Conclusion

            While Star Wars is a movie franchise created to appeal to teenagers, its broader impacts are in addressed the very real impacts of war. The movies are most often called a ‘space opera,’ but it truly does address, at least to a certain extent the terrible things that take place in a war. It is true that to a certain extent the films glorify war, there is no getting past that, but what these films do accomplish is to bring attention to some terrible effects of war in times when it is unlikely that a realistic war film would be well received. Star Wars was directly referencing problems from the Vietnam War when the war was barely over, in today’s popular culture we are just now finding it appropriate and acceptable to talk about the effects of that war.

            Pop Culture has the unique capability to bring attention to valid and appropriate concerns in real time. Star Wars not only does so effectively, it does so will lovable and timeless characters, meaning these stories and lessons will be shared across generations, and maybe eventually the lessons will be learned.

Works Cited

Chevallier, Gabriel. Fear. New York, New York: New York Review of Books, 2008.

Heller, Joseph. Catch-22. 50th Anniversary. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2011.

Kershner, Irvin. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back. Action, Adventure, Fantasy, 1980.

Lucas, George. A New Hope: Star Wars: Episode IV, 2008.

———. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. Action, Adventure, Fantasy, 1999.

———. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. Action, Adventure, Fantasy, 2002.

———. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. Action, Adventure, Fantasy, 2005.

———. Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope. Action, Adventure, Fantasy, 1977.

———. Star Wars: The Clone Wars. TV Series, Animation, Action, Adventure, 2008.

Marquand, Richard. Star Wars: Episode VI-Return of the Jedi. Action, Adventure, Fantasy, 1983.

Mary Jennings, Hegar. Shoot Like a Girl: One Woman’s Dramatic Fight in Afghanistan and on the Home Front. New York, New York: Penguin Random House LLC, 2017.

Ninh, Bao. The Sorrow of War: A Novel of North Vietnam. New York, New York: Riverhead Books: The Berkley Publishing Group, 1996.

Shane III, Leo, and Patricia Kime. “New VA Study Finds 20 Veterans Commit Suicde a Day.” Military Times, July 7, 2016. https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/2016/07/07/new-va-study-finds-20-veterans-commit-suicide-each-day/.

---

[1] Gabriel Chevallier, Fear (New York, New York: New York Review of Books, 2008), p8.

[2] Chevallier.

[3] Joseph Heller, Catch-22, 50th Anniversary (New York, New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2011).

[4] George Lucas, A New Hope: Star Wars: Episode IV, 2008.

[5] George Lucas, Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope, Action, Adventure, Fantasy, 1977.

[6] Irvin Kershner, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, Action, Adventure, Fantasy, 1980;

Richard Marquand, Star Wars: Episode VI-Return of the Jedi, Action, Adventure, Fantasy, 1983.

[7] Bao Ninh, The Sorrow of War: A Novel of North Vietnam (New York, New York: Riverhead Books: The Berkley Publishing Group, 1996).

[8] Ninh.

[9] George Lucas, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, TV Series, Animation, Action, Adventure, 2008; George Lucas, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Action, Adventure, Fantasy, 1999; George Lucas, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, Action, Adventure, Fantasy, 2002; George Lucas, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, Action, Adventure, Fantasy, 2005.

[10] Lucas, Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope.

[11] Leo Shane III and Patricia Kime, “New VA Study Finds 20 Veterans Commit Suicde a Day,” Military Times, July 7, 2016, https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/2016/07/07/new-va-study-finds-20-veterans-commit-suicide-each-day/.

[12] Kershner, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back.

[13] Hegar Mary Jennings, Shoot Like a Girl: One Woman’s Dramatic Fight in Afghanistan and on the Home Front (New York, New York: Penguin Random House LLC, 2017).

[14] Ninh, The Sorrow of War: A Novel of North Vietnam.

[15] Marquand, Star Wars: Episode VI-Return of the Jedi.

Most Israeli’s view Iraqi Kurdish Independence Referendum as Positive

Many different Israeli news sources are posting opinion and analysis pieces about the positive effects of the Iraqi Kurdish Independence referendum set for September 25th. The most commonly cited effect: the increased security of a non-Arab ally in the face of Arab neighbors. The only outlier among them is Ha’aretz which argues the opposite.

Israel’s constant struggle to find allies in its own region is well documented. The Kurdish referendum is seen as an opportunity for Israel to have a fairly strong state ally against Arab neighbors. Kurdistan is also viewed as a substantial road block to an increasing Iranian influence in Iraq. Preventing the strengthening Iranian influence in Iraq is paramount for many Israeli’s.

Israel has had covert military, intelligence and business ties to the Iraqi Kurdish communities since 1960s which have been used as a buffer against Arab adversaries, as Natan Sachs, director of the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution points out. Given these ties, Netanyahu’s support of the Kurdish referendum was predictable. In fact, in June 2014, Israel made its intentions to support a Kurdish state clear.

Ha’aretz, an Israeli newspaper seems to be the only negative Israeli voice against the Iraqi Kurdish referendum, stating that an independent Kurdistan could prove detrimentally destabilizing to the region, inevitably leading to Iran and Turkey launching a war against Kurdistan. In this case, the US would have to remove itself as its allies, Israel and Turkey, would almost certainly be in opposition. Ha’aretz is the only source to posit that the Kurd’s would be unable to function as a nation-state citing an inability to sell its oil, government corruption and a weak Peshmerga. However, Ha’aretz is an outlier among the many Israeli outlets that project positivity towards the Kurdish referendum.

The Israeli decision to support the referendum is a strategically savvy move. The Kurds tend to value the honor bestowed by international recognition of any sort and will likely be even more amenable to supporting Israel against the possibility of Arab or Persian aggression. The Kurds also have strategic motives for lobbying the support of Israel. They see Israel as the direct conduit to United States approval. If the United States expressed its approval for the referendum the Kurds would feel much more secure in the knowledge that the rest of the world would follow.

Sources:
 Haaretz, “Israeli Minister: Independent Kurdistan Would Benefit Israel and the West,” Haaretz, September 11, 2017, http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.811697;
Manish Rai, “Independent Kurdistan Won’t Be Against Interest of Its Neighbours: Kurdistan FM,” The Times of Israel, accessed September 17, 2017, http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/independent-kurdistan-wont-be-against-interest-of-its-neighbours-kurdistan-fm/;
Manish Rai, “Kurdistan Will Be a Success,” The Times of Israel, accessed September 17, 2017, http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/kurdistan-will-be-a-success/;
“Netanyahu Endorses Kurdish Independence - Hamodia Jewish and Israel News,” Hamodia, September 13, 2017, http://hamodia.com/2017/09/13/netanyahu-endorses-kurdish-independence/;
“The Strategic Case for Kurdistan - Opinion - Jerusalem Post,” accessed September 17, 2017, http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/The-strategic-case-for-Kurdistan-503922.
“Israel Should Support the Kurdish Independence Referendum - Israel National News,” accessed September 17, 2017, http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/20680.
“Netanyahu Finally Supports a Two-State Solution — In Iraq,” Foreign Policy, accessed September 17, 2017, https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/09/13/netanyahu-finally-supports-a-two-state-solution-in-iraq/;
“Israeli Ready to Recognize Kurdish State - Hamodia Jewish and Israel News,” Hamodia, June 26, 2014, http://hamodia.com/2014/06/26/israeli-ready-recognize-kurdish-state/. Anshel Pfeffer,
“Kurdistan Independence: One Day in September Could Wreak Havoc in the Middle East,” Haaretz, August 28, 2017, http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/iraq/1.808730.
 “Kurds Enlisting Israel in Independence Drive - Hamodia Jewish and Israel News,” Hamodia, August 16, 2017, http://hamodia.com/2017/08/16/kurds-enlisting-israel-independence-drive/.

A Letter to All Human Beings Pt. 2

Dear Human Beings,

There is a scream lodged in the back of my throat. You know that place where tears build up into a ball that blocks your airway until you can no longer breathe without sobbing? That's what's going on with me right now. It's either a scream, or it's tears. Either way, it is born of frustration, emotion, and utter disappointment.

Over the last four days we've watched the events of Charlottesville, VA play out. First with a group of men my age on the campus of University of Virginia, marching with tiki torches alight yelling things like "you will not replace us." On Saturday morning this was followed by a gathering of white supremacists, neo-Nazi's and members of the KKK sporting Nazi and confederate flags. Also in the vicinity were counter-protesters, many of them of the clergy who were trained in non-violent means of protesting. militia's were on the ground in addition to the actual, sanctioned police forces. By the end of the day on Saturday one woman was dead as a result of a hate crime. Two police officers were also dead because their helicopter crashed.

The President of the United States spoke on Saturday evening saying that the fault for the violence was on "many sides." It wasn't.

On Monday he tried to rectify his statement by condemning movements like the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacy. but less than 24 hours later, on Tuesday afternoon, he had all but retracted that statement and once again thrown his support behind the white supremacists.

Read all the reporting here, here and here.

And this is why I can hardly breathe for wanting to scream or cry or throw all the emotions out on the table. It is so hard to hold all of this in. In fact, at first I ignored what was going on. Now before you throw me under the bus you have to understand that I exhaust myself all week reading the news and feeling empathy and sympathy for all the terrible things going on in the world. On the weekends it is sometimes nice to forget that there is a world outside of my parent's lawn mowing business. That's a luxury I know a lot of people cannot afford, and obviously I can no longer afford this luxury either.

The one thing that I think has been made abundantly clear through the surprising election and emotionally exhausting presidency of Donald Trump is that White America thought it was a post-racist society, and in that supposition we were as racist as we could possibly be.

It is hard as a white woman to tread the waters of racial accuracy. I say this not to be all "woe is me" but to express that I do not know how to help change something that I see as fundamentally wrong. I hate the fact that there is racial discrimination. There is no place or time in which it should be acceptable for someone of another race or gender, or gender orientation to be discriminated against in any way. But as I find myself among the race that is often doing the discriminating I don't know what to do. This weekend it has become quite clear that people like me cannot sit back and assume that someone else is going to do something about discrimination and intolerance.

I must stand up and reach out. So must everyone else around me who has been given the genes or the proclivities that are deemed "normal." White supremacy is fundamentally wrong. Any race thinking that it is above another is fundamentally wrong. How can we argue that we deserve more than anyone else? We don't. You deserve what you work for. People don't work to be subservient, they work to escape it. People don't work to be denied admission to college or a job, they work to achieve admission or hiring. To be denied something on the basis of race, gender, religion, or gender orientation is just wrong.

We've been here before. We have been here so many times. Someone decides that Christianity is wrong, so they are forced to fight lions and gladiators. Someone else decided that Judaism was wrong, so they were herded into gas chambers and killed by the thousands in one of the largest genocides in recent memory. People have decided that same sex attraction is wrong and so those who feel that way were tortured or killed. Someone decided that Islam is wrong and so we fight a war against a peaceful religion.

We've been here before. We've been here where someone decides one group is superior to another and it always ends badly. Remember the genocide in Rwanda? The Hutu's turned on the Tutsi's and slaughtered many. The international community didn't step in because they figured it wasn't their place. We're faced with a similar situation.

As white or Caucasian people it is our duty in this moment to decide to step in. The groups facing us right now look like us, they talk like us, they pretend to espouse the same beliefs as us, but they don't. And we must stand with the people who may not look, or act like us. But if we are doing things the right way then they will believe in the same things as us.

They will believe that every person deserves an equal chance despite the color of their skin, the orientation of their attraction, their gender or their religious beliefs. They will believe that hatred is wrong and intolerance of other people should not be tolerated. They will believe that it is our duty to stand up and reach out and they will help those of us who do no yet know the best way to do so.

You may have to stand up to friends and family members who are saying things that are wrong. You may have to reach out to people you wouldn't normally associate with. You may have to do things you've never done before.

But we have to. We must. It is our duty.

As Dumbledore said: "It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends."

White people must stand up. We must be firm in our convictions and we must speak up against those who will not listen to anyone else.

Hatred and bigotry should not belong in this world. Yet here they are and we must fight them with love and acceptance.

So this years' letter to humanity has the same message as last years'. Please, for the love of everything that is good in the world, accept that sometimes you are wrong, work to make things right. love those who are different from you and seek to change those ideas that are fundamentally wrong.

I write this letter with tears blinding my vision. There are probably spelling errors I will try to catch before I publish. But I ask from the deepest part of my heart if you will stand up with me. Will you reach out to those who are different from you and profess that you do not espouse the same beliefs of those who are acting so abominably in Charlottesville? If you also feel sick at heart, join me in reaching out to those around us, condemning hate speech and standing up for those who are not just like us. And perhaps, you and I, together, can create change.

Brigitte

Updated LDS press release:

Original Letter to all Human Beings

The Late Night Hosts who all said it so much better than I:

All Terrorism is Devastating

Today is the one year anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shooting where 49 people lost their lives. This attack was, and is, utterly devastating, and what I am about to write is not intended to lessen the impact of that terrible event in any way. My purpose is to point out an inconsistency that I find, frankly, disturbing.

I felt the same way on the one year anniversary of the Paris attacks, when the world lit up in solidarity with London, Brussels and Orlando. I have felt this way every time the western world shows solidarity for the victims of terror attacks on high profile locations in our part of the world. However, I see a startling inconsistency in our reactions to the equally devastating attacks taking place in the Middle East almost daily.

Last week when major landmarks in Tehran, Iran were attacked, the reaction from the rest of the world was markedly different. The Eiffel tower and Empire State building didn't light up in the colors of the Iranian flag, there weren't candle light vigils worldwide, even the U.S. statement was far from a true statement of solidarity, and was, more along the lines of a backhanded reprimand. When one of the safest (purportedly) districts in Afghanistan was attacked last week we in the western world also didn't react in the same way as we would have had that attack taken place in the diplomatic district of, say, Germany.

Terrorist attacks are so rare in the western world that when we suffer from them they feel catastrophic, and we forget to feel empathy for the people who suffer from these attacks on a weekly, if not daily, basis. We forget that others live in constant fear for their lives and the lives of their family members. And do we stand in solidarity with them? The answer is no as long as we continue to slow the flow of refugees, fear those who look or talk differently than us, and forget to trust other people.

The amazing thing about us humans is that we can feel empathy. We can understand and feel what others are going through. We have an amazing capability to trust, to understand, and to love. Terrorism has stolen that from us. We are afraid to trust people who look or act differently than us. We are so conditioned to be suspicious we forget to make friends, to understand and to love our neighbors.

If terrorism succeeds in making us constantly afraid of the people around us, if we no longer reach out a helping hand to our fellow man, if we no longer make idle chit chat with the people on our daily commutes, or who are our neighbors than terrorism wins. It will not matter if ISIS rules territory in the western world or if it is only in its restricted portion of the Middle East. If terrorism succeeds in striking fear into our hearts and turning us against each other then terrorism wins and we have lost.

So tonight I mourn the loss of the 49 lives in Orlando. But I also mourn the loss of life in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Israel, London, Brussels, Paris, Manchester, and so many other cities worldwide.

And I pray for a world in which my neighbor is someone I can love without reservation and without suspicion. But I'm not just praying, I'm working to change myself so that I can love my neighbor without reservation and without suspicion.

"The world is changed by your example, not your opinion" -Paul Coehlo

My Civil War Daymare

I have a recurring daymare, usually as I am walking up the hill to class. I look around me and suddenly I'm seeing in black and white like those old photos from World War II. The houses that surround me are rubble. Torn apart by what I can only assume are bombs. I can imagine people, my friends, hiding in whatever shelter they can find. It's hard for me to picture, but I know they must have guns in hand. I wonder what would be the identifying markers that indicate the sides, or would it be all against all in mass hysteria?

This is the scene in my head that I call my 'Civil War Daymare', and it's a scene that I hope never comes to pass but one I don't think is completely out of the realm of the possible.

As a political science major I am confronted almost daily by the partisan politics that run rampant through our country. I listen to the news. I see the articles. I'm very aware of the climate in which we live. My worry is that we won't be able to bridge the gap and then one day people will snap. Talking will no longer be good enough and only violence will do.

I fear that day probably more than anything else. Because in that day there will be no one to blame but ourselves. We will no longer be able to accurately claim that someone else is the culprit.

To be honest we need to stop the blame game now. Republicans are not solely at fault for this, Democrats are solely not at fault for that. We are at fault for it. We cannot blame others and think that we are innocent. It doesn't work like that. We are as much at fault for the division between us as Russia is.

Yes, Russia may have hacked our election, they may have leaked documents and spread fake news. But who read the fake news? Who didn't fact check? Who believed everything they were told? We did. Us. The American people. If we knew how to responsibly read the news, if we knew how to have a respectfully civil conversation without it escalating into a full blown fight, if we knew how to fact check, then Russia would have had no influence.

The time for blaming is over.
The time for petty fights is past.

The culture where we never take responsibility for our own conduct is hurting us more than we can yet see.

The division between political parties is only a symptom of a larger disease. It's a disease of lack of communication and a proclivity to blame others. And it is a cancer that will continue to spread and infect and kill healthy organs if we don't do anything about it now.

We don't know how to talk to each other anymore and we don't know how to take responsibility for our actions. If we as millennials can learn these two lessons now we can start changing the world.

My civil war daymare envisions a world in which friend fights friend and America is dying. My hope is that this is only a daymare and never a reality.

And that is the future I work towards.

Numbers v. Narrative

I don't think you can explain the world with numbers.

In this day and age of big data emphasis on numbers and size is drowning out the human element. Decisions on a policy level ultimately are not made based on numbers. However numbers may help along the way.

You need a number to explain unemployment. You need numbers to qualify weapons or troops. But numbers don't tell you the resolve of an actor to carry out its aims. Numbers don't necessarily tell you what an actor is interested in pursuing with respects to foreign policy. Numbers won't predict a leaders' substance abuse and the repercussions of that, nor will they predict decisions made under extreme pressure.

Numbers are not the end all be all. Numbers dont tell the whole story. Numbers don't even tell half the story.

But in the same vein qualitative cultural data doesn't tell all of the story either. But it does tell us more of the story. It can examine why leaders and governments make the decisions they make. Numbers can be interpreted many different ways, but then again, so can words.

I think we have a problem in America. We tend to over emphasize numbers, figures and graphs even when we can't understand them. And perhaps because we can't understand them. We trust that those who have developed the numbers are trustworthy. But that's where we fail. Numbers aren't always trustworthy because the researchers or research methods aren't always trustworthy.

We need to augment numbers with narrative. We need to start trusting good qualitative data with the same level of trust we give to numbers.

Numbers and narrative go hand in hand. I wish we trusted them equally.

Echo Chamber

Hello-lo-o-o-o
Are you there-ere-ere-ere?
Can you here me-e-e-e?

I can only hear myself. I can only hear the media I want to listen to. I can only hear what I want to hear. I'm in an echo chamber hearing the same words over and over and over again and while the words change, and the stories change the opinions expressed don't. The same worries repeat and suddenly I'm sure in my beliefs that have been reaffirmed by the people who are like me. Over and over and over again.

The word echo chamber has been echoing through my brain for several days now. I sit and listen to my, admittedly, liberal media. Some of media leans more liberal, while others toe the line, but I'm getting fed a lot of the same opinions. The only dissent is found in CNN's round table discussions and even then I find that I'm siding with the liberals at the table and all too willing to label the conservatives as blind or unwilling to listen. I'm sitting in an echo chamber of my own design and I finally tried to be a Socrates and look outside of the cave.

And when I looked I saw millions of people just like me sitting in their own echo chambers. Some crimson red, some navy blue, some baby blue, some rosebud pink. There were even a few purple boxes in there. Curiously there weren't any white, because everyone believes in something these days. But I looked and I didn't see a world where I knew what truth was. I saw a world where I thought something was truth, but I had to find at least three other sources to back up that truth because fake news is a real epidemic.

I saw my fellow box sitters staring at their version of reality inside their echo chambers and I felt a sense of helplessness. How can you help someone out into the real world, out of their box or cave and see what really is out there? How can you have a conversation with someone in a navy blue box from your crimson box or vice versa? How can you politely discuss the changes that are happening in the world right now if you insist on believing that your reality inside your box is the only way to adequately view the world? How can you only listen to Fox News and Brietbart and call yourself educated? How can you only watch CNN, MSNBC, and Foreign Policy and pretend that you know the opinions of everyone sitting in their own boxes?

Short answer: you can't.

The problem in America right now isn't that we aren't trying to be informed. A good portion of the public is trying to be informed, but we tend to be selective. No one likes to have their ideas and values challenged. Everyone prefers to be validated. and sometimes that's just simply not possible. We can't ever agree on something across partisan lines if we're not even willing to entertain the ideas that the other party has to offer.

Anger is a secondary emotion that usually veils a more important root emotion we try to protect. My anger often stems from a fear that what the other side is saying is correct that that will challenge everything I hold dear. My anger towards some of the political decisions right now is harbored in fear that the international arena could be blown to smithereens by a tweet and an incompetent signature.

But that anger will get us nowhere. We have to be willing to listen. We have to be willing to entertain thoughts that discomfit us. We have to be willing to stop, slow down and decide where we are right now. Are we inside our comfy little box we built all by ourselves and filled with our favorite things?
Or did Socrates the philosopher drag us outside into the abrasive sunshine so that our unaccustomed fingers could feel the truth, that dirt is rough and dusty, that mud is clingy and gooey? Did he show us that the sun shines brightly and the moon smiles softly? Did he wait with us for a rainstorm so we could feel that rain can pelt a person as well as caress them? Did we see that snow can be cold and dreary, or it can be warm and playful? Did he show us the flowers so we could learn that red flowers sometimes smell just as sweet as the blue and that purple flowers may just smell the best of all?

We have to climb out of our echo chambers, we have to stop listening to the sounds of our own voices. We have to stop yelling louder and louder trying to outdo the person of the opposite color sitting next to us.

Peace begins with a smile.
Peace begins with earnest listening.
Peace begins with compromise.

We cannot afford to sit inside our echo chambers anymore. In fact we never could afford to sit inside them. We especially do not have that luxury now.

Step outside, see a sunset, smell the distinctive smog smell, feel your boot squish in the mud. Then get to work, because the smog isn't going away by itself, and the mud is gonna stay muddy unless you plant the grass.

Get going. Listen up. Be better.
Smash your echo chamber and go outside.