Post by karpomrx on May 29, 2005 9:20:49 GMT -5
This is the first Memorial Day weekend that I remember thinking seriously about the price of war. As I grow older ,events which occured decades ago seem to have more clarity, more substance than the hum-drum work week which has just passed.
My parent's generation joined in the great effort to rid the world of fascism. In terms of national organization, this effort was successful. Nazi Germany was defeated, Italy and Japan were compelled to change their approach to world events, all in all, things worked out just fine.
This would seem to be true if the mythology of popular history were the measure of fact. It seems to me, now, that one set of corporate fascist murderers ended the competition of another set of gangsters,merely changing the way the "take" was split.
All through this time, until this day, the best hopes of moral people were cynically exploited by those seeking power and fulfillment by brutality,theft and lies. I had an uncle tell me that during the thirties most of the people concerned with racial equality were members of the Communist Party. These were not people who took joy in the purges of Stalin, these were people looking for justice, who were betrayed.Betrayed by the New Socialist World of Tommorrow, then betrayed by the witch hunts and black lists of the cold war.
My generation,seeking cover under our desks in the event of a nuclear attack, listening to the Beach Boys, enjoying the wealth of a rich consumer society,my generation went to Viet Nam. We were betrayed by lies about dominoes, by agent orange,by Kent State.
Those young people now wearing the uniform of the U.S. military are being betrayed by radiation poisoning, a poison which will harm future generations beyond measure. We are all being betrayed by the vast amounts of wealth being stolen on credit, making a society of serfs inevitable.
The entire planet is being poisoned for the temporary advantage of a few greedy fools, who seem to think that their are no consequences that will be applied to the elites.
We are betrayed by a government which gives lip service to the troops, while denying them medical care.
We are betrayed by spiritual leaders that loudly proclaim the saintliness of each one's particular group, all the while ignoring the great family which is the human race.
We are betrayed by the facade of a consumer society which is beyond the means of most of the people in the world. A social system which has dumbed most of us down to the level of passive observers, waiting for the next bit of entertainment,passing our lives away watching teevee.
Yeserday they were impoverished enlistees,today they are the honored dead.
My parent's generation joined in the great effort to rid the world of fascism. In terms of national organization, this effort was successful. Nazi Germany was defeated, Italy and Japan were compelled to change their approach to world events, all in all, things worked out just fine.
This would seem to be true if the mythology of popular history were the measure of fact. It seems to me, now, that one set of corporate fascist murderers ended the competition of another set of gangsters,merely changing the way the "take" was split.
All through this time, until this day, the best hopes of moral people were cynically exploited by those seeking power and fulfillment by brutality,theft and lies. I had an uncle tell me that during the thirties most of the people concerned with racial equality were members of the Communist Party. These were not people who took joy in the purges of Stalin, these were people looking for justice, who were betrayed.Betrayed by the New Socialist World of Tommorrow, then betrayed by the witch hunts and black lists of the cold war.
My generation,seeking cover under our desks in the event of a nuclear attack, listening to the Beach Boys, enjoying the wealth of a rich consumer society,my generation went to Viet Nam. We were betrayed by lies about dominoes, by agent orange,by Kent State.
Those young people now wearing the uniform of the U.S. military are being betrayed by radiation poisoning, a poison which will harm future generations beyond measure. We are all being betrayed by the vast amounts of wealth being stolen on credit, making a society of serfs inevitable.
The entire planet is being poisoned for the temporary advantage of a few greedy fools, who seem to think that their are no consequences that will be applied to the elites.
We are betrayed by a government which gives lip service to the troops, while denying them medical care.
We are betrayed by spiritual leaders that loudly proclaim the saintliness of each one's particular group, all the while ignoring the great family which is the human race.
We are betrayed by the facade of a consumer society which is beyond the means of most of the people in the world. A social system which has dumbed most of us down to the level of passive observers, waiting for the next bit of entertainment,passing our lives away watching teevee.
Yeserday they were impoverished enlistees,today they are the honored dead.
