So, Is This World War III, Yet?

I definitely feel like we're all suffering from that curse--you know the one I mean. The one that says "may you live in interesting times."



I feel like we're living in an important part of history. Bigger than Vietnam, bigger than Korea and approaching the level of importance of WWII. In fact, I'd almost say it's identical to the time before WWII.



Labor is cheap and our economy is weak (though I suppose it was back on track after the depression in the immediate years before WWII) and we're looking at war in "multiple theaters." "Multiple theater war" is just a Web 2.0-style phrase that describes a World War.



America, the Earth's last super-power has combat operations in Afhganistan and Iraq. We seem to have our sights set on Iran. Turkey has invaded northern Iraq as you can see from the above screencap from Google News (get updates here: http://news.google.com/ ). There are all sorts of military messes in Africa, Pakistan is unstable (to say the least), Kosovo has declared its independence and Israel and Palestine, well, let's just say they're still not getting along.



So, with all of these skirmishes, is it time we start calling this World War III?



I feel that if we start calling it what it is, we'll take it that much more seriously and work to end it. Since we're still thinking of it as "The War Against Terror" it seems a bit too close to "The War on Drugs." I don't think any of us took T.W.O.D. too seriously. Likewise, T.W.A.T. doesn't seem that much more like a "real" world than T.W.O.D. did. As a result, we're all very disconnected from the atrocities being committed in our name.



I feel like we Americans are not very good at facing the depressing realities of our world. And I say "we" as in me, too. Calling this a World at War just might hammer home the seriousness of what's going on.



Then again, American Idol might be on.

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