The Long War it is now called. Reporters and commentators call it the War on
Terrorists, which of course is a little more reasonable than making war on a concept
like terror. It seems that the president still calls it War on Terror. When I hear
him say that in Texan, I hear War on Terra.
Even a war on terrorists is something that the rich and powerful cannot win, or
even wage. Our war machine is based on destroying a visible enemy, a country.
We're very good at making and delivering bombs and missiles that do what they
are designed to do: destroy. Terrorists, however, are people who, for one reason
or another, are mad at people who have powerful guns and armies. If you don't
have a war machine, what else can you do but strike out at a ship, a building? It
is not all that difficult to understand why some people in the world are mad at us.
Not because they envy our freedom. They object to our pushy arrogance.
But it is too late to go back to sanity; the Long War is on. Our War on Terra is only too real, although, strangely, we don't talk about it.
The Media""the few huge corporations that entertain us with news""have not discovered it apparently. This war is our continuing""accelerating with the globalization of our western economy and culture""push to change Nature, erase forests that have existed thousands of years, and so destroying habitats (human and non-human); our continuing, even accelerating polluting of the air, water and
soil of the planet. The consequence of this silent war has been the extinction of species: thousands, perhaps millions of species that are gone from this earth.
Some of us recognize that we had something to do with what we used to call Global Warming and now call Climate Change.
We like to think that we lifted ourselves up by our bootstraps. But in reality, of course, we grabbed more of what we wanted by stepping on the backs of others.
We have a myth that we conquered an empty land; but of course it was not empty at all. Abusing slaves and other humans by force of gunpowder is bad enough,
but the consequences of abusing the land we stole will turn out to be a greater catastrophe.
Has it sunk in what Climate Change means to us, humans? I read recently that scientists now think the level of the ocean may rise perhaps as much as a
meter (three feet) in this century. And the rise may not be gradual, but sudden.
Most of the biggest cities of our world are at our current ocean level; sea transport is still the cheapest way to move stuff from one end of the globe to another.
Stuff like oil, for instance, the substance we are addicted to, our president said. What do addicts do to get rid of their addiction? We are not doing that.
There is a saying, supposedly referring to Cesar, emperor of a crumbling Roman Empire: fiddling while Rome burns. We are fiddling while our earth is
burning. We are fiddling by waging war on this and that, elbowing our way into what everyone knew to be the tinderbox of the world. We are fiddling while
talking about, and even developing alternative fuels to power our monster cars.
Oil is not the problem. The War on Terra is our arrogance, thinking that we are the owners of this planet, and that as owners we can damn well do what we please.
We have that wrong. We are not the owners, not even the managers of this planet. We are part of it, no better than any other life form (or rock, for that matter).
We are made by earth stuff, as every other thing or life form is made of earth stuff. Sure, homo sapiens is different from all other animals""although our DNA
and that of the apes is 99.9% the same. The riches we so greedily accumulate never belonged to us. But even if we were superior to all other beings on this
planet, it seems the utmost folly to destroy, or even disturb, the planet which after all is our only home.
One group of people making war on (which means killing) another group of people has gone on for a long time. But we have improved our weapons to the
point where we can eradicate much of all Life, including ourselves. Does that speak of superiority? What rational reasoning can explain invading a country that was no threat to us with Shock and Awe?
The country was never a country to begin with, it was held together by a dictator who we "removed." We are threatening another country, in between the two that we have occupied, with nuclear weapons, I have read, because we accuse that country of wanting to make nucllear weapons. Sound funny? It isn't funny, of course. It may trigger far worse effects than we anticipate. Obviously, we in this country, and humans in general, are not very good at anticipating consequences of our actions.
People tell me I must have hope. What should I hope? Another election to make a difference? Scientists finding a way to"? Beings from the Pleiades rescueing
us from our own follies?
The buzz word is sustainable. A sustainable society. When half the world's population now lives in cities, when the corporations that grow our food only
know monoculture which requires enormous quantities of fertilizer (made from oil) and pesticides (that pollute the earth, water and air)?
Terrorists, which of course is a little more reasonable than making war on a concept
like terror. It seems that the president still calls it War on Terror. When I hear
him say that in Texan, I hear War on Terra.
Even a war on terrorists is something that the rich and powerful cannot win, or
even wage. Our war machine is based on destroying a visible enemy, a country.
We're very good at making and delivering bombs and missiles that do what they
are designed to do: destroy. Terrorists, however, are people who, for one reason
or another, are mad at people who have powerful guns and armies. If you don't
have a war machine, what else can you do but strike out at a ship, a building? It
is not all that difficult to understand why some people in the world are mad at us.
Not because they envy our freedom. They object to our pushy arrogance.
"The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do."Samuel P. HuntingtonIt would have made more sense to react to the horror of 9/11 by considering the reason why these people are so mad at us. That was no secret.
But it is too late to go back to sanity; the Long War is on. Our War on Terra is only too real, although, strangely, we don't talk about it.
The Media""the few huge corporations that entertain us with news""have not discovered it apparently. This war is our continuing""accelerating with the globalization of our western economy and culture""push to change Nature, erase forests that have existed thousands of years, and so destroying habitats (human and non-human); our continuing, even accelerating polluting of the air, water and
soil of the planet. The consequence of this silent war has been the extinction of species: thousands, perhaps millions of species that are gone from this earth.
Some of us recognize that we had something to do with what we used to call Global Warming and now call Climate Change.
We have a myth that we conquered an empty land; but of course it was not empty at all. Abusing slaves and other humans by force of gunpowder is bad enough,
but the consequences of abusing the land we stole will turn out to be a greater catastrophe.
Has it sunk in what Climate Change means to us, humans? I read recently that scientists now think the level of the ocean may rise perhaps as much as a
meter (three feet) in this century. And the rise may not be gradual, but sudden.
Most of the biggest cities of our world are at our current ocean level; sea transport is still the cheapest way to move stuff from one end of the globe to another.
Stuff like oil, for instance, the substance we are addicted to, our president said. What do addicts do to get rid of their addiction? We are not doing that.
There is a saying, supposedly referring to Cesar, emperor of a crumbling Roman Empire: fiddling while Rome burns. We are fiddling while our earth is
burning. We are fiddling by waging war on this and that, elbowing our way into what everyone knew to be the tinderbox of the world. We are fiddling while
talking about, and even developing alternative fuels to power our monster cars.
Oil is not the problem. The War on Terra is our arrogance, thinking that we are the owners of this planet, and that as owners we can damn well do what we please.
We have that wrong. We are not the owners, not even the managers of this planet. We are part of it, no better than any other life form (or rock, for that matter).
We are made by earth stuff, as every other thing or life form is made of earth stuff. Sure, homo sapiens is different from all other animals""although our DNA
and that of the apes is 99.9% the same. The riches we so greedily accumulate never belonged to us. But even if we were superior to all other beings on this
planet, it seems the utmost folly to destroy, or even disturb, the planet which after all is our only home.
One group of people making war on (which means killing) another group of people has gone on for a long time. But we have improved our weapons to the
point where we can eradicate much of all Life, including ourselves. Does that speak of superiority? What rational reasoning can explain invading a country that was no threat to us with Shock and Awe?
The country was never a country to begin with, it was held together by a dictator who we "removed." We are threatening another country, in between the two that we have occupied, with nuclear weapons, I have read, because we accuse that country of wanting to make nucllear weapons. Sound funny? It isn't funny, of course. It may trigger far worse effects than we anticipate. Obviously, we in this country, and humans in general, are not very good at anticipating consequences of our actions.
People tell me I must have hope. What should I hope? Another election to make a difference? Scientists finding a way to"? Beings from the Pleiades rescueing
us from our own follies?
The buzz word is sustainable. A sustainable society. When half the world's population now lives in cities, when the corporations that grow our food only
know monoculture which requires enormous quantities of fertilizer (made from oil) and pesticides (that pollute the earth, water and air)?
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