In the first part of this series, I discussed propaganda as it related to the popular cult film Reefer Madness. In the second part, I discussed "do-gooder-ism"; that seeming need some people have to put their noses into the business of their fellows. In this part, I want to look at a strange phenomenon; the declaration of war against concepts.
In the mid to late thirties, the movie Reefer Madness, other exploitation movies, and a campaign by William Randolf Hearst and Harry J. Anslinger eventually rendered the use and possession of marijuana illegal in the US. Mr. Anslinger became the first official "Drug Czar". With the naming of the first Drug Czar, the war on concepts began.
Onward Christian Soldiers
Of course, a war not only needs a Czar; it also needs soldiers. As I pointed out in the last article, due to some genetic anomaly, some people are driven to be do-gooders. These do-gooders become the foot soldiers that join the fight for the side of "good". Who better to be these foot soldiers than people who not only have a talent for do-gooder-ism, but also are members of a religion that encourages this reprehensible human trait? To my mind, you couldn't pick a better group of busy bodies than those that claim to be christian! Of that lot, those of the evangelical bend are easily the most pernicious and nosy!
This should be surprising to no one. From about the time that the Holy Roman Empire was brought into being by the acceptance of (and forced obedience to) christianity by Emperor Constantine in 313AD, it has had a militant and bloody history. Given the propensity for do-gooders to spring from christianity, what better group to be the foot soldiers in the initial drug war?
If you need further proof, keep in mind that Reefer Madness was originally produced by a church group. While producer Dwain Esper produced other exploitation films in the same vein as Reefer Madness, had the church group not popped for the initial production on Tell Your Children, Reefer Madness wouldn't even exist.
Therefore it is fair to lay the war on drugs on the actions of numerous "christian solders". While it is true that christianty doesn't have the market cornered on do-gooders and do-gooder-ism, history bears out the truth that the first war on something other than a country (or group thereof) was brought about chiefly by the acts of christian do-gooders, and the propagandists preaching to them.
Wars Without End: The Butcher's Bill
A bad precedent was set that day. The drug war opened the door to the incredibly American idea of declaring war on a concept or thing other than a foreign country. Since the drug war began, we have also declared war on hunger, racism, poverty, and of course, terrorism to mention a few.
Drugs are still a social problem. Racism is as prevalent as ever, and just as popular. Poverty and hunger are pandemic in America, the richest country in the world. The war on terror is completely pointless. Making war on a tactic of war makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Declaring a war on a concept is a complete waste of time. It turns what might otherwise be an easily solvable, or at least less serious situation into a matter of life or death. While it can be argued that the above listed concepts we are at war with are matters of life and death, it can just as easily be argued that the last thing one needs to fix something like poverty is to declare war upon it.
What do people hope to be achieved by declaring war on something such as poverty? On what do you declare said war? Do you set lose another Robin Hood upon society? Do you shoot down the rich, lay waste to Fort Knox, and distribute that booty to those in true financial need? Do you nuke the "poor side" of your town? How does one wage war on poverty?
I would think it would be much easier to use a livable welfare system with job rehabilitation, and other services specifically designed to abate poverty and give jobs to people that want and need them. The job rehabilitation would be there to help people change careers, and survive the inevitable education time required to learn new (and perhaps technically advanced) job skills. Perhaps it's just too simple to work, but I'd think that taking constructive steps as listed above would bear much more fruit and be immeasurably better than declaring war on poverty.
But what do I know? I used to think that honesty was the best policy. I used to think we were a nation of laws, not men. I am obviously wrong about those things. Maybe I'm just too simple a creature to understand why we must declare war to solve a problem.
Great article Pappy. People are tribal in nature, and war is something that most people feel is necessary to deal with other tribes. Plus it is very lucrative for some.
Too bad the peace pipe hasn't made a comeback.
John
by
John R Moffett (78 articles, 14 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 587 comments)
on Sunday, July 15, 2007 at 9:10:57 AM
Great article Pappy. People are tribal in nature, and war is something that most people feel is necessary to deal with other tribes. Plus it is very lucrative for some.
Yes, as I said in the article, "wars on concepts make money." Expanded outward, it can be seen, especially if you follow the profit and loss statements from companies like Halliburton, that war is big business. As long as war remains a source of unlimited income (at least as long as the oil flows), we can rest assured that someone with an axe to grind, or a point to prove will do so in a military fashion.
This is pitiful! There are so many other ways to make money in an illegal fashion without resorting to war. I guess the fact that wars are so easy to wage is part of the appeal. All you need to do is make an enemy. It matters little if that enemy is made of flesh and bone, or is a straw man. As long as the population at large remains blinded, there will be an unending supply of people in love with the idea of war.
Which is the surprising part of the Iraq War. It is clear that everyone is over the idea...however, the money flow still keeps the Republi-fux on the war...er I mean money path. One would think that the public outcry would be enough to shut the money valve. Unfortunately, the Demo-creeps are sold on the idea that the straw man against which we fight is a real construct. I guess it's true; stupid is as stupid does...and stupid lives in Washington DC.
Too bad the peace pipe hasn't made a comeback.
Interesting analogy...since it is by the violation of accords and treaties drawn under a peacepipe that decimated the native Americans. Of course, it is clear that the European interlopers knew that there was gold in them there hills. The only thing in their way were those pesky aboriginal inhabitants of the land. Since they were seen as "dumb children", "savages", or otherwise "less than" the newcomers, it was easy...very easy to lie to them, steal from them, and turn the plains red with their blood.
It's sad that in the high tech age of the twenty-first century that no one is yet smart enough to devise a better way to deal with the rest of the world by means of war. For all the good it has done in insuring the continued survival of the species, the reptilian part of our brain will be our downfall. Unless we try to rise above that evolutionary glitch in our reality, we can rest assured that we will turn this planet into a cinder. Then again, considering how pissed off Mother Nature is at us, she might welcome our help in shaking the scourge of humanity from the surface of the planet.
Blessed be! Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 863 comments)
on Sunday, July 15, 2007 at 2:48:46 PM
I'm sorry to hear of your encounter with your government. Your government has attacked me with its concept of do-gooding. It is truly an evil government that tries to disguise its evil by claiming it is doing good. Your government has also killed more people than drugs could ever kill.
So, Whom or what concept should "WAR" really be declared against?
Maybe Alkida is not really an enemy?
Maybe they see your government for what it really is?
Or maybe your government is just a bunch of lost "do-gooders".
by
Gallaher (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 470 comments)
on Monday, July 16, 2007 at 12:32:52 PM
I'm sorry to hear of your encounter with your government. Your government has attacked me with its concept of do-gooding. It is truly an evil government that tries to disguise its evil by claiming it is doing good. Your government has also killed more people than drugs could ever kill.
While I am the first person to love a bit of overstated hyperbole, and while I also see the present iteration of the American federal government as evil and corrupt to the core, to say that America has killed more people that drugs is simply incorrect. America has only existed as a country for a little over two hundred years. Opium and other plant-based pharmacopoeia has been around much longer than that, and would therefore have more corpses clicked up on its Butcher's Bill than our silly little country.
As far as my run-in with said government, in the grand scheme of things, it's not that big of an issue. While it's true that if I do nothing, I will be in bigger trouble than if I fight it, I'd hardly call it a reason to be completely down on the government.
AND even though what Scooter Libby did to America is far more pernicious than anything I have ever done, will ever do, or could conceive to do, at least I can say that I worked on the problem and was willing to face whatever music I must as a result of my actions.
I still love America. I don't love the assholes that are currently fucking it up, but they will be gone soon enough, one way or another. America will recover from this, as it has recovered from other such things. It may take a while, but it will happen.
So, Whom or what concept should "WAR" really be declared against?
NO ONE! Declaring war on a concept is, for all intent and purpose, a stupid game of semantics. Further, declaring war just for the sake of declaring war winds up making the person making the declaration look like a war monger. Obviously, this is the case with DUBYA.
Maybe Alkida is not really an enemy?
Technically, Al Qaeda is a database file; nothing more than a list of names. One need only press the "DEL" key and then empty the recycle bin in order to eliminate a database file, or any file for that matter. Those of us who are graduate-level geeks sometimes hold the "SHIFT" key while pressing "DEL" so we don't have to clear out the recycle bin. Either way, the elimination of unwanted or unneeded files is an easy thing to do. One hardly needs to declare war on bits and bytes.
As far as being at war with the people whose names appear in the Al Qaeda file, that's an entirely different matter. We were at war with them, until we ran headlong into Iraq. Now they are back to their full strength...and for what; so that DUBYA could jack his cock over the thought of doing something his daddy couldn't? We might have been able to deal with Al Qaeda if we would have stayed focused on Afghanistan...but no, that wasn't to happen.
Maybe they see your government for what it really is?
Or maybe they are tired of imperialist fucks damaging their little slice of Terra Firma. As I said in the article, the Middle East has been at war in some form or fashion since humans decided to live in that goddess-forsaken desert.
Christopher Columbus went looking for a way around the area when he "found" North America. Europeans of the time knew that the area was dangerous in the extreme, and costly to get through. They wanted a way to get stuff from India without going through the Middle East. Why is it Europeans from five hundred plus years ago knew to give that area of the world a wide berth, but we more modern types just can't leave those people alone?
Or maybe your government is just a bunch of lost "do-gooders".
Or maybe, they are a bunch of Baby Boomer idiots who didn't have balls enough to have conviction like the hippies among them who did.
From Ronnie Ray-gun's comment about hippies sounding like Tarzan, looking like Jane, and smelling like Cheetah, to South Park and Eric Cartman's one kid war on hippies, there is one overriding truth. The hippies had strength of conviction. This is something that few who follow in their footsteps today have. Hell, it's something even the Demo-creeps can't find within their ranks.
The hippie movement brought much in the way of social change, some of which remains today. And even though issues such as gay rights are attacked as being "morally wrong", every gay man and lesbian that enjoys even the smallest amount of respect from their peers while living a life that is out and proud can thank the hippie movement.
I have spent much time in my head trying to figure out why the architects of doom that dwell in DC are so fucked up. I have to admit that I am at a loss because I simply can't bend my mind into a shape that will believe that war is the only solution to a problem.
Some may criticize this particular article as being a nothing more than quibbling over the word "war"; nit-picking an issue I am powerless to change. I don't agree.
Words have power. When a word with serious negative connotations such as "war" is bandied about as though it were a Hacky Sack bouncing around a circle of hotties, the power in the word is lessened. People forget that war is synonymous with bloodshed, serious injuries, and death. People forget the turmoil and destruction that is war. That's true whether or not we have real wars waging at the time to keep reminding us that human blood is red, and if it's drained from the body with a knife, a bullet, or an IED, we die. Goddess knows, I have yet to know one year of my forty-four so far that didn't have a war in it.
I was born in the Vietnam War Era. I grew up during the time of the six day war. I lived while we fought secret wars all over the world. The Cold War was also a "friend" from my earliest memories. I watched the first Iraq War, followed closely by the war in the Baltic region. That gave way to fighting in Rwanda. Sometime in there, the USSR fought in Afghanistan, ultimately bankrupting themselves in the process. And now war continues to boil over in Iraq and other areas.
My eyes have yet to behold a year without war. I won't say this is absolute proof of my belief that overusing a word kills its power is correct, but you have to wonder why it is war remains a perennial favorite...especially when you hear so many saying, "we didn't want to go to war, but we had to."
What a cop out!
DUBYA wanted war with Iraq from day one! I'll not believe anything less. There is proof of this in the Downing Street Memo. The statements of certain people who used to be a part of the DUBYA administration shows that war was on the table even before the 9/11 attacks. It was only a question of how to get people behind the idea. In other words, when someone says "we didn't want war," what they are TRULY saying is "this war is going to make my friends (and family members) LOTS of money, but I can't let you know how happy I will be when the first shot flies!"
I realize that my stand on this issue is just another example of Don Quixote tilting at windmills. So what? His motives and intentions were pure, even if he was mad.
Blessed be! Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 863 comments)
on Monday, July 16, 2007 at 3:12:45 PM
