In 2011, when choosing a name for this blog, I maybe put too much thinking into it. I had a short-list that was waddled down from a much larger list that soon became a choice between DEPARTMENT ONE-- Which was a subtle reference to flipping the bird-- or THWART...! -- A word that I fell in love with because everytime I ran it past someone in conversation I'd say "Hey, I'm thinking about starting a blog called 'Thwart' what do you think of the name?" then most people would respond "What'd you say? 'Fart'?" And that became the deciding factor between the two possibilities.
To say the least, the definition of what 'Thwart' meant, or one of the things it meant, was enough... 'Opposition'... As I looked deeper past the whole 'Fart' thing, the word Thwart itself was co distinct of other words that I felt I also wanted the blog to represent. Besides just punk-rock, I seen art, war and wart popping out at me too! I added the ellipses and punctuation mark at the end of the name as an encompassing surprise statement... A literary bang that gas grown to become an encompassing statement for the blog itself and evens substitute for the name.
One of the things many people don't know is my strange fascination with military history and strategy since a young youth playing with plastic army men and GI Joe action figures. Despite things that have become to be part of Thwart, I feel 'war' is the one subject that I really haven't covered.
Let me clairify that war is a terrible thing. I didn't think that there was truly ample reason to involve US soldiers into Gulf War One or Two, in 1991 I was part of a small handful of students at Fairfield High School that opposed the war that manifested it's fervor in a school-wide walk-out to the front of the school for about 30 minutes of chanting "USA!" In repetative and rhythmic patterns and waving flags in support of a war that really didn't make sense on many levels but was easy on the TV eye.
When Gulf War 2 rolled around I opposed that. Speaking from a strategic stand-point, Saddam Hussein made no-sense. The US and it's Coallition of The Willing aimed to end Saddams reign (this tine for real) which it did... The weapons of mass destruction were 'never found' despite well-documented reports of their use on northern Iraqs Kurdish population. There was speculation that these weapons were relocated at the last minute to Syria but I think that with the US bearing down AGAIN on him, Saddam would have used every weapon he had chemical or otherwise to wreck terror on his aggressors including throwing every SCUD missile he had toward Israel to start a wider war.
Also, fighting another two-front war, the US invasion of Afghanistan to fight the Taliban and Osama Bin-Ladens Al-Quida I felt was a total farce. I began to feel that I was living an Orwellian existance with all the talk of networking cave-dwellers who was led by a fictional leader that would swiftly be captured and then buried at sea (allegedly). I can't honestly say Obama Bin Zladen was even a real person... The whole 'feel' of the post 9/11 world is more like the first chapters of a Tom Clancy book and/or a video game.
The destabilization of the Arab countries and the Spring Revolutions were a direct result of US meddling... Libya, Eqypt, Syria... Good job turning the region into a sectarian nightmare. The 'Keep them busy fighting each other and not us' mentality isn't going to last forever. Eventually, one way or another, one side will win the war... The US practice of dumping problems on the next generation has nearly came to its climax.
So now, the current and seemingly without a fastly satisfied flare-up of Gaza and Israel adds nothing positive to the mix. I've seen countless facebook friends choose a side to this conflict that really epitomizes the same principles of the previously mentioned Orwellian atmosphere I feel a part of. Things just feel off. Things are wrong. Some of the leftist allies I thought surrounded me aren't looking too much like allies anymore. They have beyond intolerant and accusatory attitudes about my views as I continue tolerance to theirs despite sounding more and more anti-semetic everyday. More times than I wish in recent days, Ive had to start messages and communications on social media off with 'Are you sure you really want me to answer that? I don't think you will like my answer' when asking why I support Israel.
Yet no one stops there. They ask, I tell, and it all boils down to a decision for some of them to censor themselves with the truths that they see. I can't say that I blame them. It's hard looking at people I admire publically and privately pic a side that's not mine but I do! I tolerate their views despite them not tolerating mine. Throwing statistics and catchphrases at me foes little to help. I'm finding myself seemingly on the un-popular side that I'm more comfortable with than originally thought. I'm use to opposing and etching out my own spot, my views and my own place... I do this by default now. Thwart has truly become my place that, at a moments light touch of a fingertip, can be (or not be) here or there to anyone
This... This has turned into something that I didn't expect out of nowhere. I originally wanted this to be a short, sweet and precise post of One mornings research reading about Nazi Germanys V-Weapons program against the only other country in history that's had to endure unguided suprise rocket bombardments. This original piece began with this paragraph that now serves as an ending:
Considering wide-spread criticisms concerning Israels stance on the defense of their land... What acts as advocates for Gazas Hamas would say is that In 1944-45, despite over 9,000 deaths*, over 23,000 casualties* and 20,000+ houses (per day at campaigns height) being destroyed*, the United Kingdom and it's Allies were not only wrong, but 'kind-of dicks' too for fighting back and invading captured territory against the National-Socialist Germans and the Axis powers during World War II. I find the juxtaposition of attitude toward the current situation in the middle-east unsettling. I stand in opposition to the repetative terror-attacks against Israel... Like it or delete it, it shouldn't hurt to read it. I stand with Israel.
