Reply #17: It's absolutely true -- I'll even cite a side example vis a vis Iraq

[IrateCitizen]

The overwhelming majority of us here opposed the invasion of Iraq. But in the follow-on of the invasion, what I hear from many of my fellow leftists is an allusion that it is actually a GOOD thing when the policies fail over there.

The other day, I was listening to WBAI (Pacifica Radio), and the host said something to the effect of, "I'm optimistic that the whole thing will be proven to have been based on lies."

Excuse me? Optimistic? There's nothing "optimistic" about this. The caller to whom the host was speaking questioned her on this, and she said something along the lines of, "Well, I'm not really optimistic, I just think that it will all be proven out."

But it's really more accurate to say that she WAS optimistic about all of this. This is something that we often do that is completely self-defeating -- we seem to actually REJOICE, in a manner of speaking, when RW policies go wrong. We can all agree that many of those policies are completely misguided, but that is no cause for any kind of celebration when they go wrong -- especially when they have life or death consequences.

If the invasion of Iraq would have actually worked in setting up some kind of true democracy there, I can honestly say that my first reaction would actually have been regret. The more I have thought about this, I have realized just how wrong this attitude is. Although we all see the chaos that has been unleashed in Iraq, we need to keep sight of our humility in the process. The goal isn't to be proven "right", as we often mistakenly assume it to be. The goal is to make the world a better place. If listening and thinking about some of the things conservatives have to say can help accomplish that goal, then we need to all put our egos aside and be willing to do that.