Watching the drift of America toward war with Iran is like watching a suicidal person slowly walk toward the edge of a cliff. The disturbed mind of the suicidal person sees no alternatives to self destruction, and thus cannot stop the fateful walk over the edge. America has reached an analogous point of delusional conviction, and our nation appears to have quietly decided on collective self-destruction. Here is why I believe this to be true:
- For decades, America has built up a cult of military invincibility. The seeds of this poisonous belief were planted in WWII. The staggering scope of our global triumph, underlined by the epochal invention of nuclear weapons, made us shift our allegiance from liberty to militarism. The setbacks encountered by America in Korea and Vietnam were never acknowledged as defeats; they simply angered Americans and prompted increased defense spending and further military adventures. WE WILL NOT ACCEPT THE POSSIBILITY OF DEFEAT. We would rather die.
- The highly-leveraged game of globalization on which the US economy is now based requires steadily increasing access to energy supplies on favorable terms. High per-capita energy consumption is so deeply ingrained in American culture and daily life that our lifestyle has become "non-negotiable." We would rather die than sharply reduce our energy consumption.
- The dual triumphs of mysticism and nihilism over rationality have resulted from the steady encroachment of evangelical Christianity and the parallel growth of a decadent secular population paralyzed by hedonism and various addictions. These elements would rather die than abandon their sustaining compulsions.
- The Zionist imperative, that nothing will be allowed to turn Israel into a secular state, has been accepted by America's politicians and most of its people. There appears to be no limit to what Zionists are prepared to do to preserve the current character of the Israeli state. Zionists would rather die than witness the secular transformation of Israel.
- The perfection of broadcast propaganda has completely insulated the vast majority of Americans from accurate information about current events. The corporate-produced TV "news" can whip up a bellicose frenzy against any nation in the world within 72 hours. We would rather die than abandon our hypnotic immersion in TV propaganda.
For all these reasons, America is quietly moving toward what is likely to be a massively destructive war with Iran that will end life in our nation as we have known it. The great fault of the progressive blogosphere is that it refuses to accept the clearest and simplest explanations for America's collective suicidal tendencies, and persists in the belief that repeated recitation of facts will save the day.