Get Serious

This weekend, NBC's News' David Gregory castigated Hillary Clinton and "the left" for not being "serious" about the Iraq War. First, so much for the purported objectivity of NBC's White House Bureau. I guess we know where they stand.

Second, I do not understand why pundits and politicians continuously refer to people who are anti war as being somehow unserious. Like we lack the gravitas of our life taking brothers. Why is viewing the unncessary taking of human life as a mistake not a "serious" position? Why does a willingnes to engage our troops in combat somehow make you "serious?" Why are you only "serious" if you are supporting the position of those in power? Should a proximity to those in dark suits render you more "serious" than anyone else?

Can anyone examine the run up to this war and the feints and denials that now accompany it and think for a moment that our government is morally or intellectually serious? Can anyone look at the carnage, both physical and reputational, that this war has brought and not think an anti war position is serious?

I think "serious" has come to mean "mainstream," "inoffensive" and "in line with our leaders." That has the effect of rendering anyone oustside a very narrow and shallow band a lightweight.

There is something seriously wrong with that.