Why are Americans on this site so obsessed with the war?Most if not all questions are related to that.?

Question

I find that whenever I come onto Yahoo Answers especially on the Political Page to answer queries since I have specialized in Political Science and International Relations, I find only one thing,Americans are all over the place asking direct and indirect questions related to the Iraq war in fact obsessively. I was here a month back,5 months back same thing as if all other topics have taken a backstage this is what they mostly ask. Why this obsession? first I saw religion is being taken seriously ,outcome of the war perhaps but it is being taken too seriously by Chrisitians,Muslims and all alike, Politicization of Religion and questions related to War and Racist and Xenophobic questions being raised and what not but everything directly and indirectly leading to the same thing, the WAR, is this an obsession?

Someone said I am being naive since it's a hot topic, well I am from India, we have terrorist strikes every now and then,many innocent civilians lose their lives in it, one such attack happened just a few days back but people have to move on, or else they stagnate, our Government seems totally relaxed only giving compensation to victims and not acting properly but even then such level of obsession is not there, why because people have to continue, live on. Here it seems that that's what lingers in everyone's mind all the time. WAR is a hot topic, but politics isn't revolving around it, what about regionalism, Free Trade, Climate Change, Demographic shifts, Political corruption even inquiring into the very nature of political systems so that proper debate can take place, it's not that WAR,gosh it's War, what the hell!!!!O My God there's a war out there, Mankind will be annhilated, man what should I do? O no sort of an attitude, because that stagnates society.ptsd(post traumatic stress).

I would also add, that I know that there are friends, relative and spouses of American citizens fighting over there and that's why this question is raised by those concerned about their loved ones, but hey still those soldiers fighting out there are doing their duty, so that you can sleep properly at night and feel protected, if they weren't doing that would you be so free as to sit on your computer and answer to my question, but then again that's WAR but isn't there anything else to ask to question? War is War so one should deal with it instead of being so obsessed with it. It will be in history books soon as one of the wars that once happened, there are more important questions in the political arena right now. Someone also said why don't I go to Yahoo India, I wish to tell you that it is the Yahoo Research Labs in India which develop this site ,along with Yahoo India and it is not an American Site but a global one made by computer engineers not only from US but also from India

Answer 1

You're right. Why should Americans be so obsessed with an unconstitutional, illegal, unjustifiable, immoral 'war' that consumes their lives?
This 'war' will cost American taxpayers TRILLIONS of dollars, which means we'll all be paying higher taxes for generations to come.
This 'war' has degraded America's reputation as a world leader and global peacekeeper.
This 'war' has been fought so that the Bush family could settle its persona vendetta against Saddam Hussein; so Dick Cheney could steal all of Iraq's OIL; and so that the giant U.S. military-industrial complex could boost its sagging profits from too many years of peace;
This 'war' has divided our country worse than at any time since the Civil War;
This 'war' has created runaway spending which will result in a severe economic depression shortly after Bush leaves office;
This 'war' will create such massive debt that our biggest creditor - China - will ultimately take over as the world's greatest superpower and we will see the collapse of American society as we now know it;
This 'war' has caused our government to neglect the needs of America's poor, disabled, disadvantaged, elderly, sick, underprivileged, hungry and homeless;
This 'war' has kept our government from any focus on the environmental crisis facing our world;
And - not that it's of any real concern to you, I guess - this obscene 'war' has taken the lives of 675,000 Iraqis and 3,800 U.S. soldiers - to date.
Is this an obsession? YOU BET IT IS!!
-RKO- 09/04/07

Answer 2

Maybe because this is primarily an American site you're on,and we are at war,and war is literally a matter of life and death.Go to Yahoo India if you want to engage in abstract political theory.That is not the function of this board.

Answer 3

The war has been over for a long time now .

Answer 4

I could be wrong, but it can have something to do with the number if our soldiers dying, the fact that there is still this gaping hole in lower Manhattan and OBL is still AWOL and despite the ever-changing stories of the war's origin and continuation, we have no way of knowing when this war will end.

Answer 5

Some of them are obsessed with letting the other side know how wrong they are...no matter the subject. The war just happens to be a hot button topic.

After all it is our friends, spouses, children, and neighbors fighting over there....

Answer 6

I have asked the SAME question! Why does EVERYTHING (no matter the question) always come down to Bush being an idiot and the war in Iraq?

You ask about the economy? You get an answer about Iraq.

You ask about the UN? You get an answer about Iraq.

You ask about democratic presidential hopefuls? You get an answer about Iraq.

You ask about interest rates and the effect of the crumbling homeowner market? You get an answer about Iraq!

You ask about global warming? You get an answer about Iraq!

I'll tell you what, for claiming to hate George Bush and the war in Iraq, it's ironic to see that it's ALL some of the people in here can seem to talk about. Personally I'm getting pretty tired of it.

Answer 7

You're in the politics section and you don't expect to see a lot of debate over one of the most important political questions of the day? Are you really this naive?

Answer 8

Well, it is pretty important to us right now. But most of the questions I have seen from Americans have been concerning illegal immigration.

Answer 9

Yeah, you're right. The war isn't really a big deal, is it? No reason we ought to be discussing it. And it certainly has NO impact on American politics, right?

Answer 10

It's probably the most important issue of the time, that's why so many people are obsessed with it.