‘Bullying ... disguised as Patriotism’

On Aug. 6, Warwick Women In Black will stand vigil for the gruesome bombing of Hiroshima 67 years ago, when 100,000 people were, in the words of Major General Curtis LeMay, “scorched, boiled and baked to death.” I remember it well. Here is why I will be with them: War is the epitome of bullying - the brutal imposition of bias and judgment on another. Bullying is cruel unless it is disguised as Patriotism and then it is glorified. Instead of loving one another, War allows us to hate. Whether bullying is a cluster of kids ganging up on one, or the force of governments clashing, or political duels fed by greed and deceit, the people are screwed. They protest and they are pummeled into submission. They are bullied and abused in a fruitless struggle to survive. We must protest the cruelty of bullying. War is a contest the laurels of which are the dead. If you die, I lose.

Jude Roche Warwick