1
1
1
Is there anything in the world that will finally wake the American people to the fact that our current foreign wars are clearly illegal, immoral and totally without any kind of justification? Have we Americans allowed ourselves to become so mentally conditioned that we can no longer differentiate between right and wrong? These wars are wrong and if we continue to accept and condone them, then we are more than wrong. We will become part of the problem instead of part of the solution.
By our actions and inaction, we are allowing America to be defined as a nation of war, intent on the conquest of other nations for personal gain. After so many, many wars that have taken place in our history, is war now in our blood, embedded in our national psyche? I would certainly hope that this is not the case but the evidence indicates that we are unable to shake off the war mentality that has America in a suffocating grip.
The last war that America waged that can be considered as being honorable was World War II. The many wars since then, including those against the tiny nations of Grenada and Panama, as well as the fiasco called the Vietnam War, are a reprehensible part of our history. These wars and so many others have accomplished nothing of value and positive results but, rather, they have greatly tarnished our reputation in the world. Nations that once respected us now fear us.
Speaking of World War II, the years proceeding that very dark time in history were an example of one of the most successful programs of mental conditioning in history. The German people, highly intelligent, industrious, and normally peaceful succumbed to the psychological techniques of Joseph Goebbels, a highly educated and skilled master of communications, who became the Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. He cleverly planted the seeds of war into the minds of the German people and they passively submitted to an expansive, destructive war agenda.
Is there currently an equivalent to that Great Communicator of those disastrous times? Today's equivalent of Goebbels is not one person in our government; it is the mainstream media that has become masterful at spreading misinformation and fear into America's national psyche. It is now common knowledge that this media is the communication division of the military-industrial complex that profits from the agenda of perpetual war. That is the mission of the many bloodthirsty ministers of war and propaganda on right wing radio and TV.
They are masters and very, very skilled at doing their assigned job of selling war. Many of you will remember the masterful job they did in selling the Vietnam War, one of the biggest blunders and disasters in our history. Their grip on the American mind at that time was finally broken when the fearless and greatly respected journalist, Walter Cronkite, had finally had enough of that war and exposed it for what it was. At that time, President Johnson, who had continuously escalated troop deployments, made this famous quote after Cronkite had turned against that war: "When I lost Walter Cronkite, I lost middle America." And he was right as both his presidency and the war went down the tubes after that great point in journalism history.
This controlled media fed us the many lies that led to the Iraq War, another historical disaster. And the same techniques were used to convince Americans that we had to invade and occupy Afghanistan to suppress Al-Qaeda. The problem we have today in America is that there is no Walter Cronkite or an Edward R. Murrow to tell the truth to the people and to cancel out the great propaganda machine. And that's why it's running rampant and out of control.
There are a few TV hosts that have spoken out against our current wars, albeit only on occasion and not with any great appeal to Americans to reject it. Most of them are on MSNBC; Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz. They appear to be against the wars but they know full well that if they speak out too often and too strongly, they will be muzzled; and that is simply because they work for a massive corporation that would in no way tolerate anti-war statements.
What is it going to take to get through to the vast majority of Americans that we are on a destructive path, one that no longer can be sustained? People are so concerned over their jobs, their homes and their personal safety, as they certainly should be, but do they not realize that the root of all their problems are the monstrous costs of these wars? Those strongly opposed to war must find the ways to get that message across and counteract the message of the right wing media.
America does not need to become an empire whose aim is to dominate the world for our own selfish interests. Our government can adequately protect the American people and keep our nation secure without creating an empire. We do not need military forces in over 750 bases all around the world. We can use our navy to see that rogue nations do not disrupt world commerce. We can use military might in a positive rather than a destructive manner.
I've been trying to determine the American peoples' true feelings about war and where it is taking our nation and, perhaps, my thinking has been flawed. I keep reading about these polls that indicate that 60% or more of Americans are opposed to the war in Afghanistan/Pakistan. But what exactly does "opposed" really mean? Does it mean that they think the war is legally and morally wrong, that it is doing great damage to America because of its tremendous costs?
Or do they think that it is not worth fighting any longer because we are not winning? Is that what it's all about not winning? We all know that winning is what America likes to do whether it's in politics, sports or even love. Winning may have become an obsession in this society but could it be such that, if the U.S. was beating the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, the polls would be showing that Americans are overwhelmingly in favor of it? I don't like that thought at all.
I have no answer to those questions; the only answers lie within our own hearts. But if the majority of Americans are of the mind that winning is all that matters, then they and America will be the big losers. If that has now become fact, then America is rapidly approaching one of the lowest points in its history. We will be on a course that will become almost impossible to reverse.
So what does the future hold? Will these wars become so very pervasive and costly that the mass of Americans will finally rise up, reject them and demand that they be ended? From the evidence at hand the probability is not very high. As I listen for signs that America might be starting to wake up I hear nothing but a deafening silence. No matter where I go, no matter with whom I interact day to day, I hear no concerns, no dissent or even interest relative to that one word war.
Here are the facts. The powers in control, the military, and the multitude of war hawks have no intention of ending this agenda of war and the expansion of empire. There is only one way to deal with this dire situation; it will have to be done through the relentless, intense pressure and demands of the mass of the American people. It's not happening right now but it has happened in the past (Vietnam) and it can happen again.
War is not the answer; it never was and never will be. When will the people of America come to that conclusion and realization? What is it going to take? It's time to break out of this mind entrapment and refuse to listen to the facilitators of war. We need only to listen to our own innermost feelings and we will know what we must do to get this nation back on track.
1 | 2
