You can't desecrate the flag or the national anthem by kneeling at a football game without clamorous rabble, and you can't have a parade displaying military power without a cacophony of disapproval, but by God you better believe you can roll tanks and rain bombs on countries you've never visited and know nothing about for decades and nobody will say a word.
I don't know what it is, but some part of the propaganda for perpetual war is working perfectly. There has been nary a peep from any large constituency on either side of the (false) political spectrum since the Bush Jr. Presidency.
Obama's Presidency was so incredibly pacifying to the agitated masses they gave him a pass on militarism for eight years, as long as he said everything with that ultra cool and calm bravado we all came to love so dearly. He could sell us anything. Hell if the wall was his idea it might be being built right now. He is a great guy, an intelligent guy, a seeming good guy, but the fact that he kept the war machine at full throttle, even increasing the budget well over what was initially warranted during the height of the hype for the War on Terror, suggests otherwise. Every President since Kennedy has done this without question.
We have had a wonderfully effective public pushback on war efforts in the past, but today there is almost nothing, no one speaking against the atrocities we are committing daily under the guise of protecting our freedoms and spreading democracy.
Where are the peacniks? Where is the Anti-war front? Where is the outpouring of emotion for the thousands of innocent civilians killed by our military? Where are the progressives, the feminists, the don't tread on me's, the small government's?
Did you know the budget for war this year is over $700 billion? Did you hear that it was proven that the DOD was lying about the number of civilian casualties? Why oh why is almost nobody talking about this?
To tie this in to the current gun control debate I want to point out two things:
One, the emotional argumentation that we have to ban guns because it is so unbearable to see children die such horrible violent deaths is embodied largely by Obama fans who said nothing while he bombed the shit out of the middle east, killing thousands of innocent women and children. Again, where is the moral consistency? They only care about children when and where the idiot box tells them to.
Two, the argument that owning guns will not protect us against our own military because it is so incredibly advanced and powerful should scare the crap out of you, if in fact it is true. Is their logic really to just give up the guns cuz hey, resistance is futile? This is incredibly disconcerting to me and makes me want to ensure my defensive abilities all the more, not less.
So the next time you hear people calling for justice, look and see--are they consistent in their arguments or are they just reacting to emotional programming? Please, for the sake of humanity, for the children, oppose war. Keep your voice in this loud and fresh. Nothing is worse for humanity, for culture, for the environment, for freedom, than war.
photo credits
obama
drone
peace symbol