“The most persistent sound which reverberates through men’s history is the beating of war drums.”
~ Arthur Koestler
An excellent and concise piece by Paul Edwards, titled
The Bonfire of Humanity was published at Counterpunch at the weekend.
Snips:
What’s the difference between an alcoholic or a junkie… and the American Deep State War Machine?
Nothing. There isn’t any.
Both are deep in the grip of addictions.......
...Just as the addict’s out-of-control behavior breaks down and humiliates love, trust and hope in those who care, and tramples their loyalty and support in the mud, so the rabid, fathomless, ungovernable greed of the War Machine has broken, deceived and betrayed the American people, who stand in the same violated, scorned relation to it as a soul-scarred Alanon wife to a mad, lost drunk or a heartbroken, brutalized child to a smack-ravaged parent.
They will tell you, the wise ones, that the only sane way to treat an addict is with “tough love”: accepting that his horror is his own and deciding to cease being part of it.
The great difference in the cases is, of course, that while the addict can destroy both himself and those who love him most, the War Machine, if we continue to feed its appalling disease, can and will destroy us all...
Lying, deception, denial, are the techniques of addiction. All have been employed to convince us that its disease makes us safe, when in truth everything it does robs and cheats our society, bringing us decay, ruin and misery at home, and anger, hatred, and enmity all around the world.
Love never had anything to do with citizens’ support of the War Machine, of course, at least not for the sane. It was always fear that was used to enslave us. This should be liberating. Perhaps, if Americans could once see through the toxic cloud of cloddish, vapid, idiotic propaganda, and realize that no nation on earth threatens us as a people, they might turn their justifiable wrath on the mainlining monster that jeopardizes our society and all our lives.
It’s the only way to detox the monstrous War Machine.
“War is only a cowardly escape from the problems of peace.” – Thomas Mann
It's a monster T. And I've reflected often on what those trillions of dollars could have done for the world in the way of health and eradication of poverty.
ReplyDeleteIt's disheartening.
XO
WWW
Wisewebwoman ~ A monster indeed! I fear that as personal knowledge of war recedes (as it has for World War1 and shortly will do so for WW2 and even Vietnam) people will become even less likely to protest. I guess it'll take another "big one" - I say that very, very sadly. :( I do admire writers such as Paul Edwards who try to keep the anti-war spirit alive.
ReplyDelete