Beginnings (and the end?) of War
Janet Kuypers
11/15-19/23
Feeling nothing like the dictator
Waving his arm over his newly acquired European countries,
I could only look over the massive expanse in this scale model,
Understanding how grandiose the depravity was for Dachau,
As I stood in Hitler’s expansive first, and comparatively small
Concentration camp.
Feeling more like Liu Xiaobo
Than any Chinese Emperor, I stood where students sat to block
Tanks, but I stepped over the gold bars in doorways to enter
Emperor rooms from one dynasty, then confronted another dynasty,
Climbed the stairs and got long stares from the locals before I
Traversed the Great Wall.
Feeling that tumultuous pit
In the bottom of my stomach that I can never shake when I
Think of mother Russia, I thought of how even when other
Oppressive countries seemed to somehow embrace the U.S.
Commercialism, this long-time enemy never did the same,
As I watched their armed guards.
War is everywhere I go.
First counted too many Gettysburg unknown soldier graves.
Flew to Hawaii; witnessed the still bubbling oil from the USS
Arizona. Stopped in Sulphur Springs to view the memorials
Honoring the Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War.
Even the Galapagos Islands —
Once looted for tortoise meat,
Even housed a naval base during the War of 1812, so I retrace
Darwin’s steps and pass animal carcasses along my journey.
Even in Antarctica — I first saw ravaged ships from whale
Slaughter in this now war-free continent. So, I slept on the snow,
But then... I had to go.
—
I never understood
How a people could willingly embrace a blinding faith... or a
Leader, who embraces war. Come on. It’s us against them.
They want to hurt you, they say, so we must hurt them first.
That’s what a pre-emptive strike is all about, saving what’s ours,
Keeping us “safe”.
So many fall for this.
They seem to lap it up with a spoon, and I’ve been trying to
Figure it out, why people want to take sides so, why people
Want to be the bully, and want to have their way literally at the
Expense of someone else.
This war mentality
Seems to exist across the spectrum: even in the States, Trumpites
Will start a revolution in our country’s Capital... or go back to
W. Bush’s “if you’re against us, then you’re with the enemy”
Mentality (not unlike a Sith in Star Wars), but wait for Obama to
Call it “justice” and
Kill a man point-blank.
Because, you know, he deserved it. He went against the set of
Standards we’ve chosen to live by, and that means those who don’t
Agree with us must face the consequences. It’s just that cut and dry.
Plain and simple. Wrap your feelings for your government, for your
Country, for your god
In a thick blanket
Of blind faith, and you can justify anything. People will do
Whatever their leaders say if we’re in a state of war, to protect our
Way of life. Generals know what’s right, just follow their orders,
because — is this sounding like a military, or the Third Reich?
...A north Korean woman
Explained, where she’s from,
There is no love for your family, but only your leader. That’s
All that matters. But wait a minute, this is sounding way-too
Indoctrinating-y (or would that be Indoctrinating-ish? You
Don’t want to seem too Indoctrinate-able) because the idea of
Blind faith in your leaders
Is not new,
when they got
Their ideas from religion. When the SS swore their oaths, it was
Not to their country but to their FÜhrer. That makes it easier to
Justify your actions when you say you were just following orders,
On blind faith, to commit heinous crimes against humanity. But
Hitler’s systematic elimination
Of Jews is much bigger
Than any one man; it’s much more basic, and much more vile.
That’s what I’ve been trying to wrap my head around, why
People decide they hate other people so much that they need to
Slaughter them, cold-bloodedly. I can bring up leaders now as
Examples,
but beyond that,
Throughout history, the root is
Religion. “We believe in the same god, but I believe in that god
Differently from you, so you should die.” “We believe in the
Same god, but you believe he had a son who said to not believe
In old ways, yet you still have that eye-for-an-eye mentality,
So you should die.”
“We believe in the same god,
But yours is in a different book. And you think we should die?
Is it the strictness in your edicts, or is it because we impose
Our vision of how to live in your world? Well, maybe we’ll
Strike you first, make a pre-emptive strike, impose our own
‘justice’ and kill you first?”
—
Surround yourself with people
Like you, and it won’t seem so bad, there’s safety in numbers.
Once, a man at a breakfast diner started talking to us at length,
They communed and felt comfortable with us... They then asked us
what church we attend. When our answer didn’t match what
He believed in blind faith,
Conversation abruptly stopped.
But that’s okay, anyone that narrow-minded with blind faith
Couldn’t grow or learn — their unprovable ill-conceived notions
Stunt them into hate of the other. But this isolationism us-or-them-ness
Is even in our day-to-day lives; we stay in our own little bubbles, we
Surround ourselves with people
Like us, and we think we’re safe.
Who needs to think about all this bad stuff if it’s not in our
Everyday life and shoved down our throats? We try not to think of
Homeless people littering our street corners asking for money and
We turn on the boob tube (which is now flatter than our minds),
Where all we see
Emblazoned on our screens
Is the Hamas attack on Israel, as Iran funds terror-proxies whose
Express mission is to annihilate all Jews. Like a lemming, I blindly
Turn on CNN for stats; PMSNBC (as Rush Limbaugh credited their
Rantings) or Fox News (and the Urban Dictionary defines them as
“A station that allows propaganda
In order to turn everyone
Into mindless republicans”), they also share stories of atrocities... but
Flip to BBC News, you would think that ninety percent of this network
Covers every detail of this. Watch coverage of the brutal retaliation
From Israel. ...Didn’t this region stay more in line when it was ruled
By the British empire?
The Brits would squash any
Uprising — which sounds kind of like Israel now, after Brits created
New countries and left all their old war weapons for Israel to keep.
Still, don’t forget the human-interest stories of bombed hospitals and
Displaced patients, civilians can’t evacuate, plus, strikes on schools
Pull on your heart strings
As they run out of food and fuel
And safety is nowhere to be found. Antisemitism is nothing new when
Nazis found willing collaborators with leaders in the Arab world —
Even though Hitler thought Arabs were racially inferior, he’d accept
Whatever help he could get for the extermination of the Jews. And this
Antisemitism and Islamophobia
Rears its ugly head in the U.S. too,
Thanks to social media and television. So, like a mindless zombie, you
Watch, wonder when the horror will end. But the thing is, it never does.
Even Eisenhower, the President who approved adding “under god” into
The Pledge of Allegiance, so the high-and-mighty American weren’t like
Those godless Communists,
Keeping old churches only
As artifacts when their comrades now worship their leader instead...
Eisenhower warned against establishing a military-industrial complex.
Since then, so many of our leaders have remained convinced that this
Is the only way to help our country grow. Dedicate more money
Into the war machine —
Jobs for weapon production
Go up, up, up, and now we can all actually feel like we’re a part
Of something, instead of people excelling at goals to make life better
For people versus killing more of them instead. It’s us against them,
Remember, and culling the herd needs to be done occasionally so
Only the best get ahead.
Wait, is this now sounding
A little too Darwin-istic? Because I can’t tell you if the world would
Truly be a better place if there was no religion, who knows, maybe
Different atheist leagues would create conflict and war about how to
Properly lead the atheist life... but one quote still resonates with me:
“Radical Muslims fly planes into
Buildings. Radical Christians
Kill abortion doctors. Radical Atheists write books.” For when naval
Bases can spring up even on the Galapagos Islands, religion makes
No place safe as religions falsely claims morality, the masses follow
Elusive orders, and blind faith exalts the lowest common denominator
Instead of logic and reason instead.
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