Who's PC Now?

HAVE you heard the anti-war demonstrators lately? It's hard to avoid their "die-ins" outside the Yard, their meetings all over Cambridge and their placards in Harvard Square reading "Stop the U.S. war machine."

These demonstrators advocate immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Saudi-Arabia. I've heard their reasons, I've listened to their chants--I've even laughed at their slogans. But all the while I've been a little bit uncomfortable with them. When they stand outside, shouting and singing and protesting, something just doesn't click.

They stand on John F. Kennedy Street, bundled up against the cold and rain, shouting about Yankee imperialism. They tell passing pedestrians that we are fighting an immoral war. They say that the U.S. only serves its own interests by mandating the actions of all countries around the world. They reason that we shouldn't be the world's police officers.

They shout with the conviction of the liberal. They know they're taking a moral stand and their arguments have merit. After all, Kuwait is far away. It has nothing to do with us. Who cares about the Kuwaitis. They're just Arabs. Right?

ASSUME for a moment that, instead of Kuwait, Switzerland was invaded. What if a million-strong, battle-hardened army swarmed accross its borders? Pretend that Swiss, rather than Kuwaiti, women are being raped in the streets of Geneva rather than Kuwait City.

Now Zurich's banks are being looted, and millions and millions of dollars of Swiss money are being carted off. The brave Swiss, although threatened with execution for protecting U.S. citizens, are hiding Americans in their homes. Even many of the wealthy residents who could leave are staying in Switzerland to fight for their country's freedom.

The United States would fight to liberate Switzerland immediately. No question about it. No Security Council resolution, no arguments by Congressional leaders, no anti-war protesters in Harvard Yard.

The President would never have to resort to lame arguments about the standard of living of Americans. He would never have to warn about a possible threat to world security, he would never be mocked for calling Saddam Hussein ruthless. No one would repeat the errors of World War II by arguing that this is a "European problem."

Liberating Switzerland would be as American as mom's apple pie.

THE only difference between this scenario and the real world is the country invaded. The Swiss are Western. They share the same socio-political values as us. Their cities are beautiful, often visited by Americans. They wear Western clothing, they speak Western languages, their literature is similar. They drive Western cars--not camels, and they look the same as us. We feel an affinity for them.

So all you self-righteous protesters outside the yard, think how horrified you would be if one Swiss woman was raped by an Iraqi soldier. The rape of many Kuwaiti women by Iraqi soldiers doesn't seem to bother you.

Yes, for all your chanting and your slogans and your self-professed liberalism, you are just as ethnocentric as the rest of us.