FONDA 2.0

The reactions in the comments section of Huff Post to the story that Jane Fonda will now be protesting the Iraq war are some of the all-time hilarious blogging thread arguments to date. The whole run should be put into a time capsule. But then again, the argument has been around for so many centuries it isn't really time specific.

Righties, knowing that they have little ammunition to justify this war in Iraq, are positively jumping for joy at Fonda's stepping out against the invasion. They're like me and my friends when we were broke in our early twenties going to the happy hour at Ranaldi's and ordering one coke so we could eat for two hours: shameless and hungry and covered in chicken wing sauce (okay, maybe not the last one).

One particularly tenacious blogger, Michael Hagan, emboldened by the image of Fonda and a peace sign, fights off the lefties with his giant lefty-slaying battle-axe from atop a pile of dead flawed logic and historical misrepresentations. It gets so ugly he starts criticizing grammar. You know an Internet thread argument has gone awry when grammar is called into question. And much, much grammar is: called into, question,

With Fonda jumping into an already very crowded ring of citizens questioning this war, the word "comparison" no longer seems sufficient to describe the similarities between the Iraq and Vietnam U.S. wars. How about "Identi-parision" or "Same-parision?" Or even just "shit, are they going to cancel the Smothers Brothers again?"

Both wars came at a time when America was skittish after nasty attacks or wars (Korea and of course 9/11). And both wars were justified by a goulash of historically blind paranoia and corporate-backed governmental hawkishness. In the case of Vietnam we believed there was a domino theory in effect and that China was behind North Vietnam. This of course was definitively disproved in the documentary The Fog of War where the architect of the war himself, Robert S. McNamara, admits they made a mistake and that if they had done their homework, they would have known North Vietnam hated the Chinese and viewed the conflict not as communism vs. freedom but as the homeland vs. the imperialists. In the case of Iraq, W Bush and the neo-cons sold the war to America on the fact that Iraq had WMDs and that they were connected to 9/11. Bush himself has since admitted there was no connection between 9/11 and Saddam, and even Rush Limbaugh doesn't argue there were WMDs in Iraq anymore.

Particularly hard-headed supporters of the war will trot out hotel receipts from the Falluja Days Inn that show a cousin of an Al Qaeda member once stayed there, but come on. Bush himself says there's no connection. Let it go. But they can't quite do that. I sometimes think the inability to admit mistakes has caused about five hundred wars, a thousand building collapses and the trading of Shaquille O'Neal for Brian Grant and Lamar Odom. Give up the ghost. We all make mistakes. I supported NAFTA and was completely wrong. I voted for Ralph Nader for cripes sake. I bought AOL stock. But once again, some people aren't comfortable raising their hand and saying "mea culpa" or "my bad."

So enter Fonda. When the Vietnam war was at it's worst and most insane, Fonda was a lightning rod for all those Americans who didn't want to admit they were wrong about the war. She was rich and famous and connected to that weird decadent town Hollywood. And then she visited the Viet Cong, which was pretty stupid. And now she's back. But I say good. Because the real truth is that her support or non-support of a war is pretty meaningless in the face of what's right and what's wrong. As are the terms "Republican" "Democrat" "Liberal" "Conservative." Reality beats these labels and wins out in the long run. And the fact remains that U.S. soldiers and Iraqi women and children are dying every day over there. And for the life of me I don't know why. If it's for free elections then I think any country would rather have 100,000 people not dead than a free election. There was definitely a better way. And whether Richard Simmons or the bass player from Metallica or Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation protest or don't protest this war doesn't change the fact that it was a mistake.

Now let the slamming of liberals, personal attacks and correcting of grammar begin. It's easier than just admitting you made a human mistake.