What, if any, will be the psychological effects on America of 2K dead?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

I remember the 1K milestone and it seemed to shift ever so slightly support for the war.

WHat do you think 2K will do? Anything?

[Inland]

1. The Bush odometer of death keeps turning over.

What difference does it make? I dunno, fact is that milestones like that really do affect behavior in a way that is not entirely rational.

In my mind, it isn't the milestone one passes, but the fact that you can look down the road and it goes on forever, with nothing but more milestones, if you get my analogy.

At some point, a person has to decide that there is a material price that has been paid, and that has to be justified.

[JuniperLea]

2. I had a similar thought...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4326689&mesg_id=4326862

[pointblank]

3. You have the right to post what you like...

But be warned, that posting something like this gives the freepers ammo for their argument that 'libruls don't really care about the number of war dead, as long as it makes Bush look bad'

I swear, I've heard them use it.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

4. What freepfucks think of me is none of my business

[pointblank]

7. fair enuff

Doesn't bother me, I just wanted to point out the depths to whcih these people will sink in trying to discredit our cause.

Peace.

[comsymp]

17. Unsolicited, but elaborating on NSMA's (poetic, as always) point

It doesn't really matter what is said here, or how it's stated. Hell, recent events like the Plame outing and the demonization of Cindy Sheehan demonstrate just how sick bushbots are, and how willing they are to twist anything said / done by someone in opposition to the Maladministration's actions, to present it in the most negative light possible.

[achtung_circus]

8. That 2,000 Americans will die in Iraq is a certainty.

That certainty is not due to progressives saying it will happen, it is a by-product of being there.

How many more die to ressurrect the PNAC worldview of the USA as THE world power is an open question. The end of the Cold War left Cold Warriors out in the cold. They seem to be willing to spend other peoples' lives to recreate that bipolar vision of the world.

In my mind the milestones have enormous impact on the sheeple.

If and when the death toll in Iraq exceeds that of 9/11 heads will turn.

That does NOT imply that I, or anyone else wants it to reach that point.

To say otherwise is to fall into the "support the troops" by swallowing the * lies paradigm.

[wryter2000]

5. Not sure

But when the number equals the number killed on 9/11, that ought to get attention. And it will get that high if we don't get out fairly soon.

[Norquist Nemesis]

6. The same as 1K

But depending on which day of the week it falls on, the "news" of reaching that toll may be like a tree falling in the forest.

[BillZBubb]

9. No impact.

The pro-invasion idiots aren't going to change their minds no matter how bad the situation becomes.

[no_to_war_economy]

10. what war? I have soccer practice to prepare for

[Fleshdancer]

11. It's time to start the "Honor the Fallen, Show the Coffins" campaign

I think we messed up on this one to be honest. I think we should have pushed harder from the very beginning to keep the homecoming of our fallen soldiers public. 2,000 soldiers is 2,000 too many and yet most of them are faceless and unknown to the American public they swore to protect.

My 2 cents

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. Nothing. The Sheeple don't care, and it was all foa good cause, and

they knew what they were doing when they signed up...

Why do RWers hate our troops?

[booksenkatz]

13. Avg. American will be forced to

shift position in his La-Z-Boy, moving bulk of weight from left butt cheek to right butt cheek; may need to adjust volume on the TV a bit.

That's about it.

[pointblank]

14. I have also heard

freepers say that compared to Vietnam, the number is small as another way to justify it. I don't have links, because it was on another message board.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

18. We were 5 years into Viet Nam before we even lost 1000 troops

[pointblank]

28. Really?

I didn't know that.

I assume you are counting the five years up until Johnson committed a large numbers of ground troops when we had mostly advisors and instructors there.

Even if that is true, it still is a pretty bad trend considering the numbers, weapons, training and experience level of the Iraqi insurgency versus the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong guerillas is much lower.

It has only been two years and a few months..What will it be if god forbid we hit the five year mark?

[tnlefty]

15. I wish that I had some idea, but I don't.

If people had more accurate numbers of the wounded and the severity of the injuries coupled with the KIA numbers reported with the frequency of the Aruba story, people might become more concerned more quickly.

I'm sick of seeing Smirk/Sneer '04 stickers still! W ovals, and I'm still seeing Boycott France stickers. Idjits.

edit: just the mention of freepers upthread caused spelling error!:dunce:

[comsymp]

16. Doubt it, unfortunately

Call me a pessimist, but it looks to me like public perception won't change much more significantly than what's represented by the current glidepath it appears to be on -- at least, not for the worse. Given the hardcore Duh-bya supporters' conscious rejection of nearly anything reality-based, they'll continue with the delusion that everything BA is good, and all evil flows from the Clenis (sorry for the imagery). My bet is that support will ultimately bottom out at around 35-40%.

Things have been going badly (to varying degrees) for so long that the public are almost immune to bad news at this point, barring something really, really shocking: the release of some seriously sick AG pix, a truly horrific attack against troops, etc. <And for lurking RWNs - yes, Liberals believe that troop deaths are a bad thing> Hell, look at the general lack of reaction to recent casualties - it's already at the point that additional stories of troop losses are basically just becoming background noise.

I'd be willing to bet, however, that there will be a few upticks in war support whenever anything happens that can be labled / spun as positive: Iraq adopting a Constitution, some milestones w/the Iraqi military, etc.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

19. Well, as someone who really avoids the media, I was struck last night

by the very negative impression of the war. NBC led off nightly news with Cindy

[comsymp]

20. Generally, I avoid the Corporate media, too

and was somewhat surprised to hear NPR news give the Sheehan story a slot in the morning news.

Guess what I'm basing my opinion on is more along the lines of water cooler talk than MSCM news coverage... although each certainly shapes the other. The best analogy I can think of is gas prices. I really expected $2/gal to dethrone the Bush mafia, yet here we are (in NC) at over $2.30 and nada. Just seems like no amount of shit will stick to this gang.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

21. Did you see the truckers shut down the highway in Fla?

It will get there.

[comsymp]

22. Yet another of the many, many things I love about you

is your optimism. I think your faith in human nature may be a little stronger than mine, too. Not sure of the cause(s) but I'm just running a little low on those commodities right now.

I dunno, but remembering way back in '01 when the Inauguration nearly became a riot, then when tens of thousands marched on DC in May, I expected the country would have been shaken out of its complacency by now. Then, along came so many other egregious acts by this gang, and nothing has ever stuck. I suppose I'm just in a "we're getting what we deserve" mode right now. It'll pass... eventually.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

25. Actually, MisU and I did a breathing and toning workshop

this week..very metaphysical and was good for my general outlook...so it isn't so much optimism as taking my pessimism to a clinic to get it looked at ;)

[LibDemAlways]

23. As long as their own kids aren't at risk of

being sent over there, Mr. and Mrs. America are content to slap a yellow magnet on the back of the SUV to show their support while not knowing or caring if its 2000 or 20,000.

However, send an induction notice to junior and watch the shit hit the fan. It has to get personal and uncomfortable before most Americans will wake up.

[leftofthedial]

24. I think the 20,000 to 50,000 maimed

may soon begin to have a bigger psychological effect than 2000 dead.

[DemGirl7]

26. I'm not sure, but I'm leaning towards nothing happening

There is little/none critism of Bush in the MSM, which the majority of Americans watch,it's like brainwashing, and no one gives a shit anymore...

[lectrobyte]

27. Let me simulate a typical response: When will the new Survivor start up?