Falling Skies

A reader wants to know why I'm not making the same anguished noises about a possible, now all-too-probable, U.S. attack on Iran as are Arthur Silber, Chris Floyd, and Jon Schwarz. Who cares about my comedy past? We need every intelligent, passionate voice available to wake people up to the approaching carnage.

Of course, I oppose any attack on Iran, as I think I've made clear numerous times, for plainly stated reasons. There's no secret to what I think on that front. And while I'm alternately depressed and angry about what might happen, I really don't see the point of me adding my screams to the chorus. If you're reading me, then chances are very good that you're also reading Arthur, Chris, and Jon, and since they're all over the Iran issue, my tortured thoughts won't bring much more to the table. Indeed, I'm learning a lot from their posts; so in a sense, I'm just another reader like you. Besides, I doubt I could sustain the relentless, bleak rhythms established by that trio (though Jon does season his posts with humor). I claw enough walls as it is; and if/when the bombing of Iran begins, I predict that my intense pain will be heard by everyone in or near my orbit.

What Arthur, Chris, and Jon are doing is important and commendable. We should make our opposition to an expansion of murder and madness repeatedly known to those in power. But as Maureen Stapleton's Emma Goldman directly put it in "Reds," the rulers of this country can drag us into war any damn time they feel like it, and there's little if nothing we can do to stop them. That's not an endorsement of apathy and despair. That's simply the raw, inescapable fact. And remember -- Maureen Stapleton won an Oscar for her performance. It's not as if they give those statues to just anyone.