Pernicious Patriotism - 11/11/2010
This will not be some wholly unsupported diatribe on how we should dismantle our armed forces due to wasteful government spending, nor how the military is a brain-washed force who have been mislead into fulfilling the vile self-interests of the corporate elite. No, I neither have the motivation nor the documentation to cite sources for my incredibly lazy and obvious liberal rhetoric. However, my tendencies err on the side of philosophizing as opposed to any particular political stance, and so I merely have to intuit my updates rather than research them. Yep, ya got me....this means I'm free to make all this shit up as I go without needing data or facts to back up my preposterous musings. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
Ya see, today is Veterans Day, and I think we are all very much indebted to our veterans for the sacrifices they've made and continue to make to serve and protect our country. There is no doubt in my mind that we owe them a great deal of gratitute for all they've done to keep us safe from harm, and to ensure that our way of life continues undisturbed for future generations.
However, I believe that fervent patriotism......fighting for your nation, your honor, your God, etc....well, it's all very unsettling. It's a form of fundamentalism, and ...left unchecked....could be just as dangerous as any doctrine or belief that compels the terrorists to perform the acts of violence their epithet implies . Blind obedience to authority, without equivocation, serves no good....and in fact creates a programmed soldier who is robbed of both volition and identity.
This is, no doubt, deliberate....instilled in our armed forces during boot camp to free them of their sense of self so that they do not listen to their fears and instead react immediately on instinct, greatly increasing their chances for survival during combat. However, this extrication of the self also has a negative impact in that it CAN strip these soldiers of their humanity. And what happens when they return home, are they the same person they were before they left, or is something missing? Have the horrors of war, along with their strict, gruelling training and conditioning, taken something away from them that can never be replaced?
I'm not sure, and in fact I'll never know because I am a coward. I don't have what it takes to devote myself to the greater good, to give of myself so freely and completely so that others may continue to live safely. But while I have nothing but respect and admiration for the men and women in our armed forces, I must admit that I have the sneaking suspicion that they're ultimately serving something far more sinister than God or country. Indeed, without realizing it, I think our military is one of the great sources of fuel and energy for the Demiurge and his Archons, and that they inadvertently carry out an agenda which is ensures that the very peace they are fighting for will never be attained.
