T-Shirt Ninja, and Other Non-Threats

I'm guilty, I'll admit. I realized this morning, or possibly last night, while washing my face, that I, despite my years of training in you-should-know-betterology, have indulged in one of the greatest sins of all mass media consumptiondom. Yes, it's true, I've been thinking in goodguy/badguy terms. Now, I know, I am painfully aware, that there aren't really good authoritarian dictatorships and bad authoritarian dictatorships, there are no good and bad rebel insurgents, but some part of me still struggles to dichotomize international and global conflict into manifestations of the forces of good and evil.

Perhaps this urge stems from the black and white dichotomies of my religious upbringing. Or maybe I'm just an optimistic little idealist? I feel the need to box up warfare and pull it apart because, apparently, in my merry little world if I can definitely pick a goodguy and a badguy, then I don't have to accept that world peace isn't just impossible, it's improbable. If I can find a goodguy, the world will have its hero.

Never one to hang on to irrational ideas for *ahem* much longer than I know they're irrational, I've revised my thinking on goodguys vs. badguys. Turns out, the goodguys and the badguys are really all just guys. Guys with guns. And if you're looking for someone to stick up for, or whose side you can take with a conscience free and clear, it's the ones without the guns you want.