"The first example of the mugger is mirrored in the fact that most of the defense industries look at the United States treasury as a limitless source of money, not as a resource that must be carefully husbanded, unless it should bankrupt the nation. [The second example is illustrated by the fact that individuals both inside and outside of the Pentagon have pocketed billions of dollars, and have attempted to cover-up crimes--including rape of female personnel--by military personnel and civilian contractors. In terms of misappropriation of funds, the results of a Defense Department audit, released in a press conference by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on September 10, 2001, showed that 2.3 trillion dollars of the taxpayers' money could not be accounted for. Of course, that news was lost the next day in the furor over the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. Coincidentally, the evidence was destroyed by whatever it was that hit the Pentagon that morning in September. This was before the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. I have seen figures two to three times as high (4.5 to 7 trillion dollars of the American taxpayers' money) that cannot be accounted for by the Pentagon today.]"
I recently came across a picture on Facebook that perfectly expressed the point I was trying to get across seven years ago. It shows the rear view of a man kneeling, in a traditional prayer or meditation position. In his left hand are the buildings of a great city (pre-9/11 New York City?), signifying material wealth; and in his right hand, a small, glowing, translucent Earth, with a tree seedling growing out of its top, signifying life. Written over him on the picture is the following:
"People were created to be loved, things were created to be used. The reason why the world is in chaos is that things are being loved and people are being used."
God, I wish I had written that. It is perfect.
There is nothing new about this: people putting things--material wealth as well as ideology--ahead of people is at least as old as civilization and written history. It was condemned by Buddha, Lao-Tzu, Jesus of Nazareth, Mohamed, Francis of Assisi, Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi, as well as Karl Marx when he wrote of the capitalists exploiting their workers one-hundred and fifty years ago in his Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts as well as Das Kapital. (See my 15 November 2012 OpEdNews article "Marxism for Fun and Profit," for more on this subject.) This switching of this ideal purpose of humans and things is the material basis for narcissism, selfishness, and slavery.
"The sale of pills are at an all-time high,
Young folks walking 'round with their heads in the sky;
Cities aflame in the summertime,
And oh--the beat goes on."
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