5.28.2007
Don't Die For A Lie
Memorial Day disturbs me.
Like other holidays, it's a time for fun-filled noise. Shouldn't this be a day for reflection?
I've been thinking about the phrase, "It's your duty to protect your country." Is it still your duty if your leaders are corrupt or just fucking stupid?
You can look at a country as being its citizens, the average folks, and those who are in power. Too often leaders have exploited the citizenry, especially when it comes to war. The power players get involved in all sorts of global shenanigans for personal gain and when a snag is hit, it's time to call upon the citizen to defend his country (i.e., defend the players' thwarted plans).
I don't question a citizen's sincere patriotism, especially the patriotism of someone who enlisted after 9/11 because he thought America was in immediate danger. Yes, terrorism is a problem -- but how big of a problem?
For the cynical power players 9/11 was an opportunity to inflate that problem into an all-purpose scam, a convenient rallying point invoked to rationalize the Iraq misadventure. Also, by creating The War On Terror, it would keep the populace pre-occupied so that it wouldn't have time to realize that the terrorism problem was the result of American players screwing around in the politics of other countries.
But this has happened before in history: if the players stirred up the hornet's nest, they went straight to plan B. Plan B was easy: demonize the enemy, hypnotize the citizenry with patriotic fervor, and let the dogs of war rip. The protected and comfortable masters let their obedient canines do all the dirty work for them.
No, I'm not one of those hippie-pacifistic types who believe all violence is wrong. I'm a realist. Sometimes war is justified. Sometimes it isn't. I've seen how power players will lie and lead on others on, only gambling with their money and prestige, but not with their lives. In fact, they won't even risk the lives of their own pampered offspring. (You don't see the Bush Twins serving in Iraq, do you?)
Leaders are supposed to represent the people. In actuality leaders only represent themselves. If you think otherwise, you're living a blissful life.
In ancient times it was believed that a man born mentally defective had glimpsed the gods: his subnormal condition was a sign of their awesome energies. In a way he was blessed.
Wrapped in his nation's flag, the idiot leader of the US commands his followers to die needlessly, his simpleminded dream of victory a nightmare for everyone else. But despite his gods-blessed mind, the leader must know that his crusade is nothing but a lie.
When someone dies for his country, is it really for his fellow citizens or for the power players that control the nation at that moment?
Something to think about besides the parades and the picnics on this day to remember.
(C) Copyright 2007 Stan Spire
# posted by Stan Spire @ 6:26 PM 
