Thread by @JYSexton

Considering the Trump Administration is angling to start an illegal, unjustified war with Iran, it's a good time to pass on some advice learned from living through the buildup to the Iraq War.

Things change and they change in a hurry. You need to be ready.

1/

It starts completely out of nowhere. You're doing something one day, just living your life, and then it's there. As if it's always been there. You feel crazy, like everyone had a discussion you weren't included in and now you need to catch up.

2/

All the shows will have it as a segment. Are we going to war? People are talking about war...I hear people talking. What people? What people are talking about war? It's the biggest open secret that war is now a possibility. It gathers its own momentum.

3/

It gathers speed. It's not will there be war anymore. It's WHEN is the war going to happen? HOW will the war happen? This new war has become a certainty that we all just have to reckon with on our own time. It's not conjecture anymore, it's something different.

4/

There will be speeches. And you'll start to notice poll-tested rhetoric. Nicknames for the enemy. It'll get drilled in your head. Axis of Evil. Axis of Evil. There so it's not here. The catchphrases will become chyrons. Everyone will say them. It'll seep into everyday life.

5/

The people around you will start talking about war as an inevitability, as if it's a good, necessary thing. You'll hear family members and friends. They'll say things you never, ever imagined hearing from them. Even the most rational ones.

6/

You'll hear family members say the most fascist things you could ever imagine. They'll talk casually about genocide. Flippantly they'll laugh about dropping nuclear bombs and wiping nations off the face of the earth. They'll fight you tooth and nail if you speak up.

7/

One day, out of nowhere, you'll get called a traitor. You'll have questioned the war, not even in your loudest voice or even that aggressively. It'll be an offhand question. But someone close to you will literally call you a traitor and you'll realize the circle is shrinking.

8/

Now that the war is a certainty, you'll ask what comes next. What's the plan? What happens AFTER the war? How do you WIN the war? There aren't answers. Everyone just assumes it'll be fine. You'll realize war is a means to an end, a reason for itself.

9/

You'll go out in public. Grab a coffee. Pick up some groceries. See a movie. Something mundane. And you'll realize you're a stranger in your own town. There'll be propaganda somewhere. Scratched on a wall. An overheard conversation. You won't feel like you're home anymore.

10/

The war starts on television. Like a dream you once had. Bombs. Long, glittery packages with stirring music and worshipping shots of weapons. Generals on every channel. Hosts talking about missions and directives without questioning anything or giving any context.

11/

Once the war starts, the criticisms you have will just...dissipate like so much smoke. You'll walk through rooms mumbling to yourself while the TV plays the war in realtime. One battle and one day leads into the next. You'll feel like sleepwalking.

12/

Meanwhile, to keep the war fever going, the government and politicians have to keep everyone terrified. Terror alerts. Rumors of potential terror attacks. Terror. Terror. Terror.

13/

SOME NECESSARY ADVICE:

Keep a mental list of everyone who supported the illegal war. Everyone who supported fascism. When the war turns sour, when it becomes a quagmire, when it goes bad, they'll deny it and society will largely forget what they said.

Remember it.

14/

More advice: Go to rallies. Go to teach ins. Go to poetry readings. Go to anti-war marches and events. Get to know the others. They'll form your community. You'll know some of them the rest of your life. Remind yourself you're not crazy, that you're existing in crazy times.

15/

THE MOST IMPORTANT ADVICE:

Learn. Learn why the war is happening. Learn the history behind it. Learn the history of those who pushed for it. Learn the financial motives for the govt. and the media. Learn. Learn. Learn.

16/

You have to learn because this WILL happen again. It always happens again. History teaches us it's one illegal war after another. Next time, you'll need to be one of the leaders. You'll need to educate those who don't know better. Because there's always a next time.

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