Just a second of your time.

If you don't know by now that the war in Iraq is totally fucked up, then you are seriously out of touch with everything.

Something needs to happen now. I tell the people I know and meet, but nine times out of ten it falls on completely deaf ears. I talk to people at parties about it. I get yelled at by the targets of my conversation for being an asshole. I get yelled at by my friends for not being polite. I don't give a fuck. Not many people know what it's like to not give a fuck. To stand up and say, "I have no power, or influence, or money....anywhere, but I know that what you're doing is completely wrong, and I'm going to say something about it. And if you ignore me for long enough I'll eventually find a few people who think like I do. And I bet that they know people who think like they do, and we're all going to have to do something about it."

Kind of like how right now the war's just 'going on'. Outside of the people in harms way (and their families), It literally affects no one's life in a negative way. It's time for us to "Just do it" too, but I hope this time we'll actually be doing something just."

We are living in the age of double-think. If you know what that means you're susceptible to it's control. If you don't know what that means then you need to find out. And then after you do it's a good idea to be sure you're not thinking yourself out of understanding what's going on.

This cannot continue. If you've read this far you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about.

Everyone thinks there's nothing they can do.

-It's the Bush Administration's fault.
-It's the Neo-con's fault.
-It's a war for oil.
-It's the splitting of Iraq into three regions in order to destabalize it and ruin their chances to control their own land, a land which controls the flow of oil, which is so important for us to have if OPEC is going to drop the dollar as it's standard for trade as we enter the wost depression in our nation's monetary policy's very short and unstable history.
-It's everyone, but the Democrats will save us.
-It's the Illuminati.
-It's the New World Order.
-It's them....it's their fault....it's the evil they.

The war on Terrorism must end now. Period. There is no "they".

If you have a different point of view I'd love to talk to you about it. Call me up. Seriously. Talk to me. I want to understand why you think we, as a country, should be acting as we are. Debate is all well and good, but our country is acting on our behalf. Actions speak louder than words, but we're, for all intensive purposes, talking to the hand right now. Everyone knows that the hand don't talk back. It also don't explain why it's got the other hand doing some very horrible things.

If you know about the increase in poppy seed production and understand that it's tied into the war on drugs and the dissolving of everything America should actually be fighting for, great.

If you don't, what the fuck. We're the government. It's tax season. You better know. You are fucking lazy if you think it's someone else's fault.

There is no "they". They are not running shit. They are not in control. They are not the ones with the power.

We are the they.

If you don't understand that the war on terrorism is bigger than Iraq it might not be your fault. There's a difference between willful ignorance and forced ignorance. All I'm asking is that you take a look around for two seconds.

Delay your trip to the bar by ten minutes. Ask your teacher or professor or mentor or parent why we're in Iraq. Ask someone who thinks like you do what the war on terrorism is supposed to solve. Try to learn anything and then tell everyone what you've learned. If they already know they'll give you a knowing nod. If they don't know they'll either listen or yell at you.

If you are a Republican and you feel good, shame on you.

If you are a Democrat and you feel good, shame on you.

If you didn't vote because you know it's all bullshit and you're not saying anything, shame on you.

If you know there are more places to be on the 'political' 'spectrum' than what I just said and you're not saying anything, shame on you too.

Seriously. Someone say something. I'm almost out of breath.

-Matt Nicole