We are going to war. It is happening as we speak. No matter the ultimate result of UN weapons inspections, we all know it is going to happen. When, not if.
People talk about this war with Iraq, and possibly North Korea, and we wonder what it will entail. How long will it last? What kinds of weapons will be used? Will it also take place on our own soil with terrorist activity? Will our family members die? Will our family members come home with strange illnesses?
We wonder, and feel anxiety. The anticipation of the impending situation may be more painful than what potentially may ensue.
Here in Maine we have another war. There will be no chemical weapons. There will be no high-powered automatic rifles or daisy-cutter bombs. However, the anxiety is high, and the emotions are fevered.
For over a month we have known about the arrival of (no longer legally recognized as) the World Church of the Creator (WCOTC) into Lewiston Saturday. In fact, before the rally was publicized, a concerned citizen brought me a flier she found nailed to a telephone pole on Congress Street. It surprised me to see something like that in Maine.
Since the WCOTC has made its presence known, a coalition of people have come together to organize a counter-rally to show that Lewiston and Maine are not very interested in white supremacy.
This is encouraging.
As a writer of sorts, the First Amendment is very dear to me. It is encouraging that it is alive and well and the marketplace of ideas can exist here. No matter which rally suits your interests, you have a choice.
The First Amendment was written, and written first, because one of the most critical rights we have as Americans is the right to express our beliefs. That makes our country singular. Occasionally restrictions are put on this amendment, with anti-terrorism governmental restrictions and related legislation, but people are not going to jail for saying that President Bush is a dingbat or that the Portland City Council is a bunch of no-account self-interested windbags.
No matter how sensational the opinion, we have the right to say it. And we also have the right to say that we don’t like what other people have to say. However the idealism of the marketplace of ideas theory applies to the events Saturday, this is still a war.
The WCOTC members are categorized as hate-mongers. The frightening things they profess on their Website, including children’s coloring books of white supremacy images, are enough to make the average person at the least flabbergasted that people in this century still feel this way, passionately.
From there, feelings of resentment for these people trying to infiltrate our happy, albeit economically disadvantaged, mill town. Anger.
The emotional clash between these two incredibly opposite views is extreme. Herein lies the war. Who will win this battle of passion? WCOTC doesn’t want Somalians (or Jews or other blacks or pretty much anyone other than themselves) in the quiet town of Lewiston. People in Southern Maine don’t want WCOTC in Lewiston.
Fueling this fire as well are feelings of confusion toward people of Arab descent and Muslims. After Sept. 11, many Americans felt paranoid about people they had known for years. Some of those feelings died down over time, but with the president going on about the “axis of evil” and Osama and Saddam, it is all very confusing.
Which brings us back to war. The war has already started. It is here in our state, in our towns. The fighting has already begun and it is in our backyards. No one can say how long this will last, but it has been going on for a long time. The weapons are not typical, but they are definitely capable of mass destruction. No blood may be shed, but it will leave many maimed.