I find it ludicrous that young political folks are shouting down politicians for “feeding the coming nuclear holocaust” with government money. They shout and don’t think.
When I became a pacifist, after many years (75), I had already grown-up around war and “Defense” and all the discussion and arguments of why we need this. I knew all the arguments and the counter-arguments, the religious stances, and all the rest–in and out of literature and non-fiction tomes.
Finally, I saw the “light” of the darkness. All post-modern nation/states and dictatorships that have nuclear capabilities, are formed in a hierarchy of power. Everything they fight for and represent has been subservient to their singular power over us–including our way of life, our consumer society, and our social structures. Just look around and see everything they’ve created: fear, terror, death, and hatred of group against group, and individual against individual. Free-floating weapons, control of personal, mental, and spiritual freedoms.
It was all formed out the mushroom cloud begun by the all-powerful USA, and soon taken up by the opposite ideological forces in the world. This kind of “at war mentality” has existed since humans first took a living breath. It’s not new, but the weapons are new, and this is where my pacifist outlook comes in.
If I don’t take a life, I am not responsible for what others do. If I refuse to go to war, I am not responsible for the antagonism of the power elite and their control over me. They can kill me, yes, but they can’t stop my thinking and/or future pacifists who don’t want to kill in the name of anything–especially anything invented by that kind of power-hungry mind.
So, when young people shout down politicians about feeding to the next nuclear annihilation, just study history a little bit. See where this anger comes from. See what masters we live under today. Analyze where your own anger comes from. See what you’ve experienced. Destruction, with modern weapons, has become more distant (drones/missiles) and soon to be “robotic super soldiers” and they’re all governed by the King Kongs at the top of the giant skyscraper of nuclear stockpiles. Each nation is not you. It’s a system of power created by the ones who want to maintain control over you. It’s always been that way.
And it’s only escalated since the first bombs were dropped in Japan, which started with an event at Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, where my dad was a lonely, drunk sailor inside the brig on Saturday, because he pissed over the side of a ship at an officer’s wedding. When the bombs dropped on Sunday, he was let out to help save the burning ships, and the dying men. That’s what war is. You act. You don’t think. It’s that simple.
Today, I act in peaceful ways. That’s just me. I think in peaceful ways, unless I’m writing fiction about power-hungry and angry folks. Kill me for it. I did my time in the service of these powers. I learned from experiences–both personal and written in books.
Take care!
