The NYT And Me
The New York Times is running one of their wonderfully patriotic and fat-headed series, this one on our military heroes who are such brave youth and who just incidentally, you understand, have signed up to slaughter other human beings. I commented:
What is it, in particular, these hired killers are fighting for? Not to protect our country; Afghanistan has never been a threat to this country. Not "our freedoms"; our freedoms have been eroding for years. Not "our way of life," whatever in the world that could possibly mean.
Hey, I've got it: They're fighting to ensure that the politicians and generals who start the wars can continue to advance their careers. They're fighting so the weapons manufacturers can keep amassing their fortunes. The men, women, and children they're slaughtering? The comrades who come home in body bags? The gutted wrecks of the countries they invaded? The collapse of the American economy as more and more resources are diverted to war? Just too insignificant to mention.
Mark these words: There will be a reckoning. And it won't be pretty.
I haven't read the rest of the comments yet, but was gratified to see that 30 people recommended my comment. Hope that means there are at least thirty people in this benighted country who don't care for the blood bath. Would there were 30 million.
Labels: Comment On--What Else?--War
posted by Mimi @ 11:42 AM
9 comments
9 Comments:
Hi Mimi, good to see you posting here again. As far as I can see the purpose of the NYT, along with the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, etc, is to tell people that everything's OK and there's no need to be alarmed. You know, "nothing to see here folks."
Coincidentally or not, they also do decent journalism on other occasions. I guess mainly when doing so doesn't conflict with that larger message.
Your comment also makes for an excellent post Mimi. The NYT has become a joke, even its propaganda isn’t very good and that’s about all they print. I recently read some anti-war articles and even those could not stop running on about the sanctity of the troops and how they are being betrayed. Poppycock, it is all too clear that many join up because they want to kill and nobody who has been awake can truly believe that the troops are protecting us or are fighting for freedom and justice. Military worship has no place in a working democracy, but then we don’t have a working democracy we have a military/police state.
I think you hit the nails on their heads, guys. Some of the Times is a pleasure to read, but as it is with virtually all of the media, the worship of psychopathic killers is rampant. I'm just stumped in trying to figure out how you can rail against the horrors of war, but kiss the butts of those who wage it. Didn't they KNOW when they signed up that the bottom line is, you have to do murder on command?
NYT propaganda is a tornado of epic fail. Weren't they the ones that ran that pic of the Marlboro smoking GI Joe? Bwa!
As far as signing up to see the world and kill brown people goes, well, not so much aktuly. Most people sign up because there's nothing else to do since all the jobs left for Mexico/India/China/Wherethefuckever.
So you go to the recruiters office and they tell you a whole raft of lies about how odds are you'll wind up a car mechanic at Ft. Bragg or a fuel jockey at some AFB somewhere. And you want to believe those lies because your kids are going without or because you want some of the things you see on tv or you just want to get the fuck out of Bumfuck, MO.
But, psychopaths? Nah. The army only wishs that were so. If only psychopaths signed up, there'd be no reason for basic training.
Thanks, Mimi -- excellent post. I wrote down a related thought or two here.
what kind of reckoning are we speaking of? Do you believe in the wrath of god, an oncoming revolution or what?
Alan, yes, poeple do sign up out of desperation, but don't they know what the bottom murderous line is? I guess it's possible they think they'll never get into combat (not so much lately) or else convince themselves certain people are "the enemy." I've never been in the military; what prompted you to join?
No, JM, I wasn't referring to anything supernatural or even revolutionary. I think our war mongering is going to lead to the rest of the world actively working toward, or secretly supporting, our downfall. Not sure in what way it will come; what do you think?
Well Mimi, I was a marine corp brat for awhile but I never joined up. Partly because I saw what our military does to people - mostly because I was never that desperate. But I sure looked into it and a lot of people I know signed up. None of them were psychopaths that I know of. At least before they signed up.
So, yeah, recruiters can be pretty persuasive, especially to the average 17 - 18 yr old. That's their training. (Plus, the system is set up so that the better a recruiter does the better their pay is.) Part of that training is to convince kids to lie to themselves (I'll never see combat, I'll get my college paid for, etc) and part of it is just flat out bullshit (protect the Homeland, bring democracy to the world, blah blah blah.) Anyroad, there's a whole bag of tricks they use to get you to sign on the dotted line.
Certainly no recruiter is going to tell you about the Army suicide rate being at a five year high or that one if four homeless people are vets. But if they did I'm not sure it would mean very much to an unemployed 18 yr old single mom or a 17 yr old with a GED and no prospects beyond running the fry machine at McD's for sub-minimum.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Post a Comment
<< Home