Protesters’ denouncement of war in Iraq hypocritical

Sometimes I wonder whether anti-war protesters really know what
they are talking about or if it is all for show. If they are
protesting the war as a human rights issue, where are the
protesters for Somalia, famine in North Korea and Saddam
Hussein’s past atrocities?

On campus we protest a second Gulf War, screaming about the
inhumanity of casualties for oil. We rage against the Yale, Harvard
and Princeton graduates who are the political leaders encouraging
this undiplomatic course of events. We think we are the ones who
know everything.

Then, once we’re done criticizing, we hop into our
oversized sport utility vehicles, complain about skyrocketing gas
prices, and grumble about the economic instability and rising
unemployment rates.

We are who we are. As Americans, we live in a capitalistic
society ““ a powerful, influential nation. It’s amazing
that some people wonder what all this fighting is for. Our parents
give us big cars, fancy shoes and prestigious educations so we can
get great jobs and $100,000 salaries. And we complain that America
is going to war for the wrong reasons.

The bottom line is that we as Americans have an excessive and
unnecessarily opulent lifestyle ““ but we love it. We love it
so much that if we had the choice between living in a third world
country and death, many would choose the latter. And because of our
desire to maintain our excessive lifestyle, maybe it’s OK to
fight for what we believe in and to uphold our standard of
living.

The United States’ present day perch is contingent upon
Americans always fighting for what is best for Americans. This
assertion may sound sickeningly selfish, but if it is so wrong, you
can take your unappreciative self out of the United States. There
are a billion different people around the world who would love to
take your place.

Americans, being part of the wealthiest nation, do the least
amount of traveling to third world countries. Therefore, most of us
don’t know that the human condition in the United States
surpasses that of any other nation.

If the protesters are really for peace and understanding, they
wouldn’t tear up pro-war signs and deface property with
anti-war slogans, while physically pushing pro-war demonstrators
away.

So I have a message for such hypocritical, anti-war Americans.
For those of you who criticize the war, I dare say nobody should
listen until you trade in your SUV for a blue line pass. Then you
can complain about gas prices. Until you downsize from that
five-bedroom house for three people and move into a more suitable
home, you cannot complain about America’s corrupt desire to
control Iraqi oil fields. You can’t complain about the
inhumane and immoral push for this war until you rid yourself of
brand name jeans, $300 cell phone expenses, and trade in those
$100,000 a year ambitions for a non-profit humanitarian cause. This
war is merely trying to secure your American dream.

Wu is a fourth-year economics student.