[marssaxman]

I was 25 then, but it seemed like mindless vengeful insanity all the same. The entire national character seemed to change, almost overnight, in a bleak and awful way; I felt like I was standing in the surf while a powerful wave receded, water and sand and gravel all rushing away around me, while I remained in place. I have felt like a foreigner here ever since, still a citizen but no longer an American.

[sanderjd]

Yeah. But would you say that your view was the prevailing one among people your age? Or, as I think you're implying, that you were more the odd one out, including amongst your peers?

Because unless I'm assuming wrong, I think your experience is in line with what I said.

My experience was different than yours though. It wasn't until I started mixing with more "grown ups" during college that I realized that actually the prevailing view among people even just a little older than me seemed to be in favor of the war, whereas the view I was familiar with from my own crowd of people my age was the opposite. And as I have talked to more and more people over time, I have continued to feel that this is basically correct about the prevailing view by age at that time.

[marssaxman]

Sure, I'm not trying to disagree, but to share the sympathetic experience I had on the other side of that generational divide.

My view certainly was not the prevailing one, as polls showed and Bush's re-election proved; but my peers at the time were a bunch of musicians, artists, activists, nerds, and weirdos, living in a big coastal city, so I was not alone in opposing the wars. Part of the horror of that experience was the dawning realization that we lived in a tiny, fragile bubble, and nothing we could do had any influence whatever on the mess being made outside it.

[sanderjd]

Yep! I did think this is what you meant, but wasn't entirely sure, and was interested in your perspective.