Reply #5: Has Iraq exploded?

[PATRICK]

Most Iraqis are also trying to go about their even more unsatisfactory lives as they were the day before shock and awe rolled over them. Usually it is a fringe of activists, dissidents and "them" groups going to prison, doing and suffering the most in the percolating drama.

Explosion is probably a joke in our context, and a barometer of how far we can go into the typical human history- interesting in the rampage of armies, the intrigues of dictators, the blindenss of perfunctory civilization, and not something to be caught in if you are commoners.
History is something most people avoid and whistle at from afar.

Something mundane such as critical search for the facts and engagement in
civic responsibilities is about as universally avoided. The illusion that most of the fish can escape the shark will diminish sharply some day when it is too late to expect any good from a reolution. Those who decide to fight the shark are guaranteed more immediate excitement.