“Nothing is more barbarous than war. Nothing is more cruel. And yet, the war dragged on. Nothing is more pitiful than a nation being swept along by fools.”
Daisaku Ikeda, The Human Revolution
* this is a pro-Bernie diary.
Sigmund Freud's nephew, Edward Bernays paved the way to the world we know today by refining the process for brainwashing the masses. One of his many 'accomplishments' was convincing women that smoking tobacco was the key to social equality. His book is titled,
Propaganda.
Since then, American brainwashing has come to dominate almost the entire world. Though its reach is greater here and lesser there, thanks to Hollywood and Madison Avenue, it has been global. Some of its messages may be relatively harmless but many are not. The falsity that war is necessary and unavoidable definitely is not.
Nations are capable of diplomacy as are individuals. Every nation has its own corps of diplomats. We could stop the fighting if we wanted to. But too many people profit from it. The irony is it's not that many people. They just happen to have amassed extraordinary wealth and inordinate power and what they say tends very much to go. We have to stop that from being true.
In this day and age, we must recognize planetary limitations and the very real threat of a mismanaged planet that we all face in common. And we need to recognize that the armaments and war industries have outlived their usefulness. It's time to put down the primitive implements of ancient man, stop slaughtering each other, step out into the light and unite humanity against the further degradation of the planet or the ongoing harm of its people. Humanity needs to commit to the spirit of peace, love and international cooperation for any of us to have a chance. We need to share the responsibility of caring for each other and the planet, or we are going to ruin things for our descendants - if we haven't already.
We need to get focused. We need our priorities to be straight. Cooperation among people and nations is called for and is the only rational, loving and responsible answer to present day dilemmas. We must make peace, and we must make haste.
But first we have to break out of our conditioning. We have to make the leap. We have to become the paradigm shift we've been waiting for.
We have to stop these damned wars.
It's the nature of good brainwashing that those subjected to it are unaware of it. Escaping the notice of many, we've all been conditioned to accept war as a necessary and normal part of life when it's anything but. They play on our fears and natural insecurities to make us believe that if we don't bomb them, they will surely bomb us! They punch us in the lizard brain, riling up our fears and then sprinkle in a little hate, a soupçon or a ton of racial or nationalist superiority, convince us it was all inevitable in the first place, it was them or us, they hate us for our freedoms and laugh all the way to the bank while people are slaughtered on the battlefield or in their homes.
What kind of way of life is it that requires human sacrifice and the utter denial of those not sacrificed?
We start these wars on purpose. History is clear.
These wars are not necessary and are in every way beneath us.
It's time for Americans to snap out of it. We need to stop letting them do this. We need to stop letting a handful of crazy and immoral billionaires have their way with us. The 1% will continue to operate with impunity until we little people stand up to them. They don't need to be in charge anymore. We need common sense leadership from someone not afraid to stand up to these bullies and not afraid to govern for the people.
When we finally grow up, make peace and get our priorities straight we will find that there are riches for all. We can actually afford to do a lot of good things like educate our young, provide for those in need, take care of our planet and make ourselves over into the kind, peaceful, just, caring and responsible society that we all deserve. You know, rather than blowing shit up, killing innocent people by the thousands and distracting everybody from proper humanitarian tasks for no good reason.
There is a world of human suffering to be relieved by our cleverness and economic might, and many problems to be solved if our species is going to make it. We need to ban war and unite humanity in the effort to save our asses, if at all possible. No more war. No more of anything that doesn't actually make sense or doesn't serve ordinary people, the common welfare, humanity at large and the highest standards of human rights and human dignity.
No more war.
War is monstrous, and nothing is more pitiful than a nation being swept along by fools.
“Give peace a chance.”
Bernie Sanders
I'm not saying Bernie Sanders is an anti-war or peace candidate, if he was he probably couldn't win here in the land of the brave, but he is the nearest thing to it. We know he has rational views, that he's actually committed to justice and that he's not afraid of standing up to the Military Industrial Complex. We know he thinks war should be strictly a last resort and that he's interested in spending what's wasted in the military budget on human needs. That all seems amazingly rational to me and amazingly consistent with the Bernie Sanders we've long known.
The Case for Bernie Sanders
His critics say he’s not realistic – but they have it backwards. More than any other politician in recent memory, Bernie Sanders is focused on reality. It's the rest of us who are lost.
Matt Taibbi in Rollingstone
Finally, thanks to everyone, here and elsewhere, who continue to fight against war and madness. We need to wake up our countrymen. We need to wake up the whole world. We need reason and compassion like never before.
