Militarism

Humans disagree. Conflict is inevitable. Violence, however, is a human choice in the twenty-first century. While violence works for the biggest and strongest at any given moment in human history, it does not work for the human species.

There is a new militarism in the US. It is becoming subtle, gentrified by corrupted politicians, who value re-election and financial gain over the welfare of their constituents. Militarism is no longer a Left-Right issue. Corporate corruption of our political system has seen to it that the media they own foster this new militarism with sentimentality and near-sightedness. Even 'public' broadcasting outlets, both radio and television, have fallen prey to this. It was probably inevitable when all media succumbed to the Bush-Cheney manipulation of embedding reporters in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As a child of post-WWII America, I have lived with the side effects of the militarism of that period. I was raised by a traumatized father, whose psyche was permanently twisted by his experiences in WWII. I watched as my own government tried to intimidate those of us who demonstrated peacefully against the Viet Nam War. I was a college student at the time of the Kent State Massacre. I watched Buddhist monks set themselves on fire in front of TV cameras to show the suffering of their people and the evil of war.

We are emerging from eight years of Right-Wing indoctrination and intimidation in the US. The military establishment was an active part of that process for eight years. Now, while portraying himself as a centrist, our President, who we elected as an agent of change, is engaging in the militarism of the culture by participating in sentimental patriotism, which sounds to me like old-fashioned nationalism, complete with 'God and country' speeches.

I mourn this Veterans Day for all those pacifists who have fallen, who have been victimized, who have been forced to leave their country to avoid persecution. I mourn all those civilians all over the planet who are killed and tortured by men and women, wearing uniforms and wielding guns or machetes.

Murder

The recent shooting deaths at Fort Hood, Texas, have been reported as an atrocity which has shocked and dismayed the military. Great sentimentality has accompanied the endless stories of this situation in the media. "A sentimentalist", Oscar Wilde wrote to Alfred Douglas, "is one who desires to have the luxury of an emotion without paying for it."

What does the military do? Some would say they are defending us. This is an atavistic piece of indoctrination, in my opinion. In fact, the incident at Fort Hood illustrates that the US military establishment is incapable of defending itself against lunatic violence. The business of the military is gun violence.

The high murder rate in the US, the highest among wealthy nations, reflects the commitment of American culture to violence as a method to resolve conflict. The US is a gun culture, a violence culture. Its media reflect this. Its politicians bow to it, whenever the question of gun control is raised. The NRA is perhaps the most powerful lobby in the US.

So, why all the hand-wringing and weeping when a lunatic shoots people at random? This reflects a deep immaturity in American culture. It reflects a culture which has lost its compass. It reflects a culture which is based on materialism and wealth-accumulation over quality of life and social equality. It reflects a culture where people will murder valuable, educated physicians to protect an embryo. It reflects a culture bullied by religions which promote hatred and rationalize the murder of those who disagree with them.

At the core of this breakdown of values in the US is the corruption of power by money. The ability of the NRA to prevent measures which would immediately decrease the murder rate in the US is simply wrong. The determination of the US government to continue to squander its human and economic capital in Afghanistan and Iraq to prop up corrupt regimes is a symptom of its own corruption. Corruption always enlists violence historically to maintain its power.

Practicing non-violence in a murderous culture is courageous. Responsible valor entails valuing human life over one's own personal interests or beliefs. Responsible patriotism entails a commitment to improve the quality of life for all citizens in one's country. Responsible parenting is teaching your children that violence is wrong, whether it is on a video screen or on a street.