War is the health of the state.
If you give sanction to the state, you support war.
From the LA Times:
The Raad brothers, and tens of thousands of children like them in this poor walled-in Shiite Muslim district, have been shaped by war, honed by poverty. They are witnesses to sectarian violence, Shiite militias, angry sermons echoing through mosques, Humvees gurgling through streets and pictures of religious leaders and wanted men hovering on billboards. These children may not know grammar and punctuation, but they know what to do when the bullets come, how to take cover, to hide from the kidnappers, the militants and the soldiers.
Bloodshed and years of unrest are harsh teachers, especially in Sadr City, where 30% of children have quit school, according to a Baghdad human resources office. That estimate is probably low. A United Nations report found that 94% of boys in Iraq attend elementary school, but that drops to 44% by high school. For girls, 81% start elementary school; 31% go on to high school.
In another world, boys like the Raad brothers might dream of being engineers, doctors or hip-hop pretenders. But here the uniform and the gun command respect, the soldier wearing dark sunglasses, a .50-caliber machine gun tight in his hands. The soldier and the policeman offer protection; no classroom or Encarta program can guarantee that, not in this neighborhood, a riot of clatter, of dusty houses and tin roofs, spreading like a gray sea from the tailor’s shop to the corners where the sheep cry before slaughter.
…
“Once when I was working,” said Karrar, “an American helicopter fired from overhead at some gunmen. I rushed and closed the shop and ran home. Sometimes, there’s firefights here. You listen to the bullets. I used to be scared of the shooting, but I can tell now if the shooting is near the market or somewhere else.”Karrar pulls a dream from the grease.
“I would love to join the National Guard,” he said. “When I see them, I love them. They are brave and I love how they stand with their guns.”
Figure With Meat - Francis Bacon, 1954
This bifurcated view of morality that posits that moral laws do not apply to certain sacred actions of the state has killed hundreds of millions of people in the past century alone. No sane person would support the existence of an organization that had a record of slaughtering children by the millions – that is, if it represented itself with anything other than a flag.
I find this sickness quite saddening, as it is so pervasive, so all-encompassing. If you walk out onto the street, you can be assured that every person that you see suffers from this moral illness.
When people ask if someone “supports the troops” they are asking if they support the concept of the troops, a category of men that exists outside of morality, who are permitted – obligated, by law – to murder.
That belief is almost universal.
How daunting the prospect of standing against the weight of this ancient and gibbering madness is! Yet how necessary, all the same, for there to be any hope for this species.
There is no middle ground on this issue. One either supports the spread of this moral contagion, or opposes it.
If you ever find yourself confused about the moral nature of the state – or, more likely if you are reading this, are in contact with someone who is – it helps to point towards war to illuminate the truth of the loathsome state.
It is meaningless to say that you “oppose” war, but believe in the principles that make war possible. When I see a politician, I can’t help but to see all the blood, too.
1 Comment
October 22, 2008 at 9:47 am
This brings to mind the millions of people who claim, “I am a pacifist. I am against war. I LOVE MY COUNTRY!”
The hypocrisy in this sort of statement is sickening, once you’re aware of it. But it’s so viral, it’s difficult to see it.
Cheers for helping to bring it out in the open, JC.