Monday, December 22, 2008

wow

five men have been convicted for conspiracy in their supposed attempts to kill american soldiers at fort dix, new jersey. i repeat, they have been convicted for conspiring to kill. but, who will convict the soldiers who actually have killed? and who will convict, or even charge, the american leaders who started the wars that have led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands? when you attempt to be even moderately honest, it is a stunning bit of hypocrisy that we are convicting men who we claim to have conspired to murder soldiers while we put medals on soldiers who have actually killed people. the convicted men are all muslim; is there not, within our largely bombastic, jingoistic, ignorant populace, just a few of us who sympathize with their frustration and feelings of hatred toward the u.s war machine? are not our soldiers making the lives of iraqis and afghanis a living hell? would we think much of a german court, or a chilean court, or any other court that represented a militaristic state, finding guilty a group of men who were attempting to combat the forces of that state, by any means necessary? yes, of course, we would prefer to write letters to the editor, and march down the street beating on plastic containers. we would rather blog, and take out radical titles from the local library. yes, we may prefer to do these things, but is this the limit of resistance? if so, it is no wonder that those of us who are "resisting" are getting our asses kicked.

my point is this; no one among us should join the service. there is no draft. you don't have to go. we all know that we are bombing countries left and right. anyone who joins now doesn't have the excuse that they are trying to "make some money for college" or "learn a trade." selling drugs and pimping women can make you a pretty penny too. that doesn't make them right. so, after knowing that the u.s is a war making country, you still enlist, then i believe that you are fair game. i will not support you, whatever that means. i can not oppose a war and support the troops that fight it. i don't get all teary eyed about veterans who wanted to kill everyone in the middle east after 9/11 only to find out, after blowing several iraqis up, that "they are human too." i don't want more body armor for our troops. fuck em. if they want to go invade someone else's country, and bomb them, then i want the other guy to be able to hit back. i'm not gonna get pissed about how some soldier got robbed of a couple of grand for college. of course the army lies! they are killing people and telling us that they are bringing peace and freedom! and you are still gonna believe what they say?

again, think about it; we are gonna throw guys in jail for conspiring to kill soldiers, while the soldiers who have killed people, and the political leaders who instigated the wars those soldiers prosecuted, are walking around free. and this is not even commented on. there is no sense of irony, no acknowledgement of the profound hypocrisy that is at the center of this narrative.

well, the truth, ignored and unacknowledged, is still the truth.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

when it comes to the troops, fragging should be encouraged. of course, not enlisting should be the first priority, but even heavyweight minds like zinn, vonnegut, etc. fell under the sway of propaganda. "no vietcong ever called me . . ."