The Song Has Ended�And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.� �Jesus
�We seek the truth, and will endure the consequences.� �Charles Seymour
Ben Tripp calls it a life-sized paper-mach� model of the earth. It looks perfect, but the merest of prodding can poke a hole in it. He is referring to the matter of war. More specifically, he�s referring to why Americans don�t seem to care that our government�s justification for going to war has turned out to be little more than a pack of lies, that the Weapons of Mass Destruction haven�t been found, and day by day appear a little more to never have existed.
There has been no uproar from the multitudes of America. No burning questions searing every state concerning the discovery that Iraq does not have (or had) biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons. And why is that? The American public doesn�t care.
There will be no consequences for the Bush Administration for their actions in Iraq. No reprimands for killing thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens. No disgust for securing oil fields before (or bothering to at all) securing hospitals, churches, museums, or even government buildings. No letters to Congress, or cries for impeachment because the public has been lied to. Why not? Probably because we never really believed the lies in the first place. We don�t want to know. We don�t want to care. We don�t give a shit about what our government does.
�Oh, not me!� you say. �I care! I give a shit! I care so much that I�ve done� Why I�ve protested� I� I�� What have you done? Nothing. You care so much that you don�t do anything, don�t make waves, don�t think.
Oh there�s the few outsiders, both for and against. But these outsiders fall under the category of what the Neo-Cons call �moral relativism,� which translates into, �Are you gonna believe what your eyes are telling you, or what I�m telling you?� This applies to religion, nationalism, and loyalty to a particular brand in the supermarket. God said it, I believe it, and that settles it. This contains an underlying threat: Don�t question anything I do or say.
The fundamental problem with this is that it doesn�t take into account basic human nature. We�re selfish, greedy, and usually pretty stupid.
Of course, basic human nature is the fundamental problem with anything. You�ve all heard the saying, �In a perfect society� this or that would be possible.� In a perfect society, governed by behavior most Americans try to avoid, our leaders would be honest, diligently striving to serve the people they represent. They would care nothing for the increase of the own wealth, and care very little for power or privilege.
Yeah, right. Back in the really real world, everybody has an angle, everyone is in it for something, most often for money, power, and privilege. The higher the position, the more of each you get. The Chief Executive, naturally, is in it for as much as possible.
Basic human nature. You can�t really get pissed off about it. It�s not like you can find anyone at fault for it. That�s what was so cool about how the Founding Fathers set up our nation. They created the system of checks and balances to keep basic human nature out of the business of basic human affairs. It was a brilliant idea, pitting the three branches, fully comprised of self-serving powermongers, against each other so that the needs of our country get taken care of.
It doesn�t really surprise me that succeeding generations have worked tirelessly to break this system down. And have generally succeeded. Now, two of the branches are composed of the same people, and the third branch doesn�t really get involved at all anymore.
This may seem pretty difficult to believe. All that I ask is that you open yourselves to the possibility that maybe it�s difficult to believe because you don�t want to believe it, at any cost. That you�re frantically holding onto the idea that everything is going to work out fine.
This is because we�ve been brought up to believe in the power of America. That we are a nation more noble and more enlightened than everyone else, and we were determined to be free, and equal, and have a better life unfettered by the constraints of oppression. Anyone who�s taken a good look at history knows exactly how ridiculous a fantasy this idea is. The upshot is, this fantasy has pushed our nation to the top of the totem pole, that our nation is very nearly as good as it gets in terms of freedom, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Unfortunately, this is directly at odds with the other principles America is founded on: Capitalism in the form of Corporate Power, and Warmongering in the form of Military Industry. Our government is no longer run by the people for which it stands, but on the special interest groups from which it receives its reelection.
You can pick whatever nicer word for it you want, but America started a war and invaded another country, a country which had virtually no army to speak of to defend itself. We used our air superiority to drop highly non-discriminating bombs on this non-army, on innocent civilians, even on our own troops (�whoops, my bad,� says military intelligence). The invaders have always been the bad guy in history. Think Hitler, think Vietnam, think Communism in general.
To avoid being the bad guy, the American public was given a song and dance routine explaining how we were in danger of weapons that would destroy our cities, kill our children, and drive gasoline prices way up. We were given specific examples. We were in danger. Anyone who took a close look at the evidence saw right through it, but even more than that, I don�t really think the American public believed it. Not really. We could always, and did quite often, change the channel. We could always watch 24. So we went along with the song and dance, which was easier than confronting the real reasons for such aimless bloodshed and monstrosities. To do otherwise might shatter the patriotic glass case we carefully shelled ourselves into in order to close ourselves off from the opinions of the rest of the world.
When it became apparent the WMD song and dance was full of shit, our government entertainers wrote a new musical about the joys of exporting American Democracy, and how wonderful it is, even if democracy must be spread by force.
Oxymoron: n A rhetorical instance in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined.
Freedom is a choice, and cannot be forced upon anyone.
Most Americans hardly cared at that point. Anything to avoid being the bad guy. It�s easier to just agree than question everything, isn�t it?
Not that this is anything new. Why do you think it was so easy for the government to play their song and do their dance? Because we�ve been accepting it for years. We�ve been happily throwing away our civil and personal rights, we�ve joyfully been voting for political parties, rather than for people who can do the most good. We�ve watched our opportunities for advancement�in jobs, technology, society, and civilization�get taken away by corporations and corrupt CEOs, and all we�ve done is wish we could be as rich.
And let�s face it. It�s a lot easier than caring. If we cared, than our self-esteem would be at stake, and God forbid anyone take that away.
Do you care? Are you happier watching the Song and Dance, or finding out what�s really going on? It�s easy to find out. Ask yourself these questions:
1)Is what you see and feel at odds with what you�ve been told is how it is?
2) Do you find yourself redefining what is important to you in order to exclude those things you don�t want to believe?
3) Do you find yourself getting angry at people who ask you to examine an issue which you consider closed?
4) Do you often wonder why everyone but the most patriotic of Americans are wrong?
5) Do you believe America has a different set of rules to follow than the rest of the world, and that America should be the one to enforce both sets of rules?
Pretty cynical, isn�t it. Yet, in this worldwide conflict, somebody is in the wrong. Are we too arrogant to admit that it might be us? Or too scared?
It�s a painful and frightening thing to immerse ourselves in the idea of a unified earth. To think about someone other than ourselves for once. And ignorance and denial definitely hurts a lot less, but not in the long run. And that�s the imminent danger we face. Not weapons of mass destruction.
I know this hasn�t sounded like much of a sermon, cyber or otherwise, but the idea of loving your neighbor as yourself doesn�t refer to the person who lives next to you. America has built its house on the unstable and shifting sands of money, power, and distrust, rather on the rock of truth, love, and good relations with our fellow Man. And when the floods come, which house would you rather live in?
Peace.
The IrReverend
