Banana Strings and the Military-Industrial Complex
SEPTEMBER 11, 2020
by KATHLEEN WALLACE
How did we ever arrive at this unfamiliar destination with a strangely morphing reality—writhing and shifting at an ever-accelerating pace? 8 months ago, the notion that a pandemic could alter our social interactions to this extent was not really considered to be a possibility. Now it feels as if life was always this way. Added to this massive change is an undeniable new reality associated with climate change. The warnings for severe and unpredictable weather that would ensue without appreciable change in human-carbon interactions—well it politely knocked on the door ever so quietly the last few decades, a loud rap here and there, but overall, something ignorable for the vast majority. The denialists shrugged and turned up their television to drown out the knock. Now climate change has opted for a battering ram to the door–just this last week we had record highs in places like San Francisco along with 90+ weather giving way to snow the next very next day in Colorado. It’s enough to make one feel like the fabric of reality is unraveling, and really it is. The concept that we live in a somewhat static environment is being challenged daily. The bizarre nature of the Trump presidency only adds to the Salvador Dali-esque atmosphere, but instead of clocks melting, we have Andy Warhol’s soup cans shifting about, the deadly weapon of choice for the new anarchist.
How much more can we all handle without going irreversibly insane?
This may be the moment before the crack in the ego—the moment that all notion of personal control freakery ends. The instant the insane cackling begins, hopefully followed by relief that others feel the same way. The moment to connect with others and create anew. There’s going to be a realization that if all this absurdity can have an official stamp on it, then this by no means needs to be our reality going forward. Why should such a system be protected, coddled, and advanced? The answer is that it should not.
The unwritten contract that a government must provide something of value to its citizens and the citizens will diligently prop up the government has been shown to be a farce. It always has been, but we’ve played our parts in this crappy grade school level theatrical production since the start of feudalism and the new names we’ve called it over the ages. We have been infantilized, bickered with our brothers and sisters, basically surrendered agency to groups of individuals that couldn’t even be trusted to feed your pets or not molest your kids. They play the populace for fools and the populace does not disappoint. We need to become the vessels of decency and kindness that our leaders are not. And they need to no longer be our leaders.
In the United States, we have a military the likes of which would make Odin blush. But our government refuses to make any legitimate attempts to protect us from something around 0.125 microns in size. What is the use of such expensive “protection”? The truth of it is that the military industrial complex is nothing but a sham and I think deep down we all know it, even those who thump their chests the loudest. The priest who questions a god’s existence, the soldier that wonders what it’s all for…… those moments of doubt need to be nurtured to arrive at a truth beyond the level of magical thinking and jingoism. Our holy is this earth; our protection is each other and empathy.
More:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/09/11/banana-strings-and-the-military-industrial-complex/
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