INTS100: Introduction

 I wanted to create a website that documented anti-militarization efforts with a focus on the protests that occurred in Seattle during the summer of 2020. As a veteran, my perspective of the protest and the use of military type efforts to subdue the protestors generate some emotional triggers. I wanted to explore the idea ‘Loyalty Demands Dissent’. I read this title off an autobiography of a Thai Buddhist monk and activist named Sulak Sivaraksa. I gathered articles, images and video clips of the protest that occurred in Seattle, WA and of veterans protesting forceful engagement through military action. I want to create a gallery of quotes from articles or images. As a veteran, I’d like to demonstrate the internal dialogue that I experienced as the protests occurred in Seattle. Watching the media and reading the news online as the protest and unrest unfolded resulted in feelings and impressions that challenged certain belief systems that adhered to and I tried to find spaces where other veterans expressed similar challenges. Participating in anti-war protests before the pandemic and supporting the de-militarization of police departments seems to be more aligned to a personal oath independent of my military service with both sharing a common thread of defending and supporting the Constitution. I believe dissent has been given a negative connotation only because it challenges dominant ideologies. The meaning that I’d like to convey supports and encourages my practice to continue to grapple with ideologies that I become loyal to by understanding the intention of each ideology.