now the troops are coming home from iraq
i remember in 1973 in florida, 15 years before i moved here, bumming, i heard someone say "the war is over." the band played on, drumming with cowbell clanking, dancing, i just looked at them with an uncomprehending stupor
Posted: August 21st, 2010, 10:36 pm
by mtmynd
Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940), nicknamed "The Fighting Quaker" and "Old Gimlet Eye", was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps, and at the time of his death the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. During his 34-year career as a Marine, he participated in military actions in the Philippines, China, in Central America during the Banana Wars, the Caribbean and during World War I, he served in France. By the end of his career he had received 16 medals, five of which were for heroism. He is one of 19 people to twice receive the Medal of Honor, one of three to be awarded both the Marine Corps Brevet Medal and the Medal of Honor, and the only person to be awarded the Brevet Medal and two Medals of Honor, all for separate actions.
Interesting how long the opponents of war have been around, even with near proof how ridiculous and murderous an endeavor it truly is. But 'we the people' are maliciously tricked into believing each and every war waged by our country is a 'good war' and will make our lives better as it will the rest of the world. Our ideological minds buy into this as a wonderful and sensible solution to the world's problems, not ever giving consideration to whether the world's problems have truly diminished or become even more problematic.
Thanks for this little gem and some insight into Smedley Butler, a man I never knew of prior to this post.
Re: war is a racket so says 4 star general
Posted: August 28th, 2010, 2:07 am
by mnaz
even hemingway eventually said, the war he lied about his age to rush into, in his youth, was in retrospect complete squalor and bullshit, from some of the quotes I googled.
more recently, part of the problem is the giant specter of ww2 and its evil cold war spawn looming over humanity, which in some ways seemed the end of an era of centuries of large armies periodically marching against each other, kingdom against kingdom at the periodic whim of leaders; the stakes and the weapons simply got too high. this is all fairly recent stuff in the span of human history.
yet, the aforementioned ww2, and the continual, multiplying threat of another "hitler" around every fucking corner, and the huge military machine that was built up to "protect" us from that, even somewhat reasonably, some may argue. and the (seemingly unfortunate) need to keep that machine running, good for the economy, you know, jobs and such, and protecting freedom to boot.
all that combined with all of the human explosions of the last 60+ years, creating even more confusion and stress. if we really are near some sort of "singularity point," as psychotropic wanderer and scholar terrence mckenna said, then maybe it's time to suspend all that heavy-handed dogma, at least for awhile until we get a better handle on the picture. problem is, the rabid generals and fire-breathing end times preachers have their own singularity points at hand.
but, as the man in the vid says, THE INTERESTS seem to drive much of these sanctioned violent journeys among the many against the anonymous other, can't say what percentage exactly, but I bet it's damn high, on balance. so there is that decidedly less glamorous, presumably unchanging aspect to consider.