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gene and i went to the heritage festival yesterday.

it was more than a little odd to see a civil war reenactment in the seattle area. as far as i know, seattle didn't give a rat's ass about the civil war. i don't think there even was a seattle at the time of the civil war. i guess too many east coasters have moved here and are missing their little battles.

how strange is it to view war as entertainment?

not so strange i suppose when you think about the gulf war and its place atop the media charts in the 90's, but to go as far as to dress up in costumes, carry period weapons and march in the exact formations that actual soldiers did more than a hundred years ago? that's just sick.

imagine a civil war soldier, magically transported to the year 2001, only to see these history obsessed geeks playing war. do you think he'd find it amusing? or do you think he'd find it horrific that we make so light of the incredible suffering of the civil war, that we sit in the sun, in our lawn chairs, and cheer as people pretend to die.

needless to say, we skipped the reenactment and instead watched the performing pigs, a strangeness of a completely different sort.

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