Oct 13 2007
The Worship Practice of our new Mortuary Cult
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BY JOHN STEPPLING // DIALOGUES FROM VOXPOP
10/13/07
[Editor’s Note: Our special blog on culture and politics — and countless other topics— VOXPOP uses a dialog format between its co-editors, Guy Zimmerman and John Steppling, both playwrights. This is just one of many excerpts from what is truly a unique public epistolary.]
Guy—
The entire MoveOn.org ad spectacle was a perfect example of both the trivializing of American politics, and of the seemingly endless adoration this society has for the military. It was also yet another blow to free speech. The erosion of the first amendment (and the second, and the….) is now at critical mass. Is there any free speech anymore? Well, only in a prescribed fashion, in limited less than public ways. The mantra of this worship of authority and militarism is “support the troops”. I will say again, no, I don’t support the goddamn troops. I feel compassion for those young men and women foolish enough (and economically coerced enough) to join up, but I don’t support them.
This worship of militarism is an interesting topic, however. The psychological tributaries include racism, patriarchy, authority. The public discourse on the MoveOn ad was mostly pure jingoism. The Democrats ran away scared of this trope of patriotism; all wrapped in the endless mantra of “support the troops”. How do you support troops by sending them to die in an Imperial war of profit? Why don’t the American people ask why there are no children of congressional leaders at the front? Why isn’t it clear Cheney and Bush and all the rest of these morally bankrupt rodents never faced an enemy with a gun? No, the worship of militarism runs deep in the US psyche. The acceptance of a two billion dollar a day defense budget speaks to the lack of critical awareness in the US public. But I keep returning to the knee jerk embrace of the military icon wherever it surfaces … and it surfaces a lot in the mainstream media, in both Hollywood and in TV and print media.
Now, let’s also remember just how NOT radical MoveOn.org really is. Supporters of war mongering Democrats, this is not exactly a leftist or progressive organization — and yet it is still a target for the ruling class power structure. When Amahdinejad speaks at Columbia, the cartoon jingoism is trotted out immediately. It is, as Pat Buchanan again says, *infantile*. Yes, it is, but it’s part of a process of infantilization that has been going on for a while now. The military scares people …. to criticize it means you make yourself a target. Authority works that way. We internalize authority and it’s one of our first experiences as children. So, free speech is marketed as wimpy, as a sissy ideal, while real men react aggressively — usually with physical violence. The MoveOn.org ad controversy and the Iranian president’s request to go to ground zero, are only the latest in political theatre. Both are designed to help create public support for the coming attack against Iran.
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If one looks at just the creation of US military bases around the globe, one sees the desire for Empire. The US has [major] bases in something like 60 countries, and probably more at this point. There is controversy from local populations (Okinawa, Puerto Rico, etc) because these bases are little tidal pools of violence and repressed anger. The surrounding area is usually awash in prostitution (both straight and gay) and with lewd public behavior. This theme returns again and again to our dialogue. From the Michael Vick story, to support the troops, from military bases to frisson of naked power. The creation of a deeply aggressive and resentful population — perhaps primarily male, but including both genders is reflected in and partly created by the de contextualized barrage of violent imagery. The US military (and its subcontracted private security firms) are made up of video game soldiers. Men and women without any historical awareness, class consciousness, or relevant outlet for their inarticulate frustrations and anger. I point again to the US support for the death penalty as an expression of this anger. Vengeance remains a popular theme in american popular culture. Vigilantism, militarism, and punishment are the main themes driving our ever more childish culture today.
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The US is an Empire, but not a traditional Colonial empire — it is, rather, (or tries to be) an economic empire with staging stations (forward deployment areas) for its military. These outposts are not part of the local system (like Rome or Great Britain in their Empire) but are purely there to enforce US dominance through force, much as the International Financial Institutions are there to dominate economically. When countries resist, or indicate a desire to step away from the control of the Empire, they are labeled as rogue states or dictatorships, and public opinion is worked up for support of a military response (assuming they can’t be beaten into submission economically). The US runs economically on its defense budget and military spending. It needs soldiers to toss into pointless occupations, into various wells of chaos and killing. It needs targets for its huge stockpile of ordnance. I’ve been feeling of late just how emotionally cut off most Westerners are to the real effects of violence. It’s a video game. Real flesh and real pain do not register (until it happens to you !). Modern weaponry contributes to this distancing. And aerial bombing is the ultimate expression of it (starting with Hiroshima). The new warrior class is everywhere, and it’s time to question it, especially (in my humble opinion) in popular culture.
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And a link on the Blackwater shootings…
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/24/1412230
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John Steppling is Senior Editor, Arts & Culture at Cyrano. He co-edits VOXPOP—Placebo Art with his colleague Guy Zimmerman.
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Mr. Steppling:
You are right … no time left to mince words. Here’s a poem:
WAR TORN
I am war torn,
blown to bits,
dismembered,
ripped to shreds,
maimed and mutilated,
bombed to smithereens,
gunned down point blank,
gassed and burned in my sleep,
incinerated, incarcerated, eliminated,
whipped, drugged and poisoned.
I am tortured, dehumanized,
pulverized and brutalized,
eradicated, exterminated,
demoralized, murdered.
I am shocked and awed,
depopulated, decapitated,
uranium irradiated,
collaterally damaged.
I am ethnically
cleansed.
I am dragged
through city streets,
lined up and executed,
with a bullet to the brain,
herded into concentration camps,
my home is razed to the ground,
the wealth of my people is stolen,
my parents gassed, my babies raped.
I am the victim, the sacrifice,
I am the soldier, the executioner,
I am the bomber and the bombed.
My enemy is he of infinite wealth,
in pursuit of infinite power.
He enjoys immense luxury,
and mindless extravagance
He owns herds of humans
who satisfy his satanic needs.
His sister is his wifewhore
who spawns the next
generation of ghouls.
Day finds him plotting
more death for dollars schemes,
night finds him in bloody rituals
in the bowels of the Earth.
Mr. Bankster,
so you want war …
you got war.
I, the war torn, declare war today.
Wow! Preternaturally lucid. I took a look at some of the other dialogs on VOXPOP and they are truly amazing. Sometimes the going gets rough with some of the references, but the authors never talk down to the audience, if anything they pique the reader’s curiosity enough to look up topics and terms, and thereby get something of an education on areas one may have never heard of before.
Steppling and Zimmerman’s analyses will surely irritate all professional flag-wavers, but those who recognize that loving one’s nation is about upholding its healthy traditions and not its diseases, will be grateful for the frankness of the diagnosis.
I both agree and disagree with this article. Tackling the military portion, it’s not as if all military leaders would assumingly agree with whatever jobs they are given, so attacking it as a whole is pointless and without base. Hell not even all of the military leaders get a say in what they do or don’t do. Sometimes they have to simply accept they are being fucked over and make the best of it, plain and simple. A military stands by itself, for itself no matter what country it belongs to. When the leaders that we feel are competent no longer come from within those ranks and have the responsibility or the knowledge to successfully lead a nation with a firm hand that is also a good hand, we are without question at a loss. Worst of all, Eisenhower warned us of the Military Industrialization Complex. If you really want to assault anyone for the reason things have gotten out of hand, it is not the media, it is not the government, it is us, and the generations before us that have failed to fight and realize what is going on. Instead, they merely complied with everything, just as everyone else for the most part is today.
People are waking up however. Multiculturalism is failing, anti-war and anti-military efforts are growing, hatred for our government and its treatment of its citizens compared to those of illegals and minorities is growing also. Until we regain the spirit of ‘76 and that’s 1776 boys and gals, this country won’t have the boot in its own ass that it needs.
As far as America being an empire, well I won’t deny that at all. Nazi Germany tried breaking itself off from international national influence of anything non-German and we see what happened. Nevermind all the bullshit we’re told in high school. Anyone who actually researches it, atrocities and personal feelings aside, would see that Germany was again attacked when it simply wanted to make well for itself. But no, the influence that was pervasive at that point and even greater now wouldn’t let that happen, and one of the last shining examples of the human fighting spirit was crushed yet again. Now where are we? Overweight, weak and ignorant. We don’t fight for anything non-tangible anymore. Just the dollar. The “mighty” dollar. Wealth and comfort have replaced family and friendship. No honor left, just greed.
Me, myself? White, working class and proud. I myself will join the military, not for the pleasure of working for them, but since the military is so worshipped these days, maybe the people will listen to someone actually from the military. We’re entering a time almost like the 60’s, where the people are looking for real leaders to speak out and kick this country’s ass. Well boys and girls, who’s going to step forward? We can bullshit all we want online, on the internet, where no one really gives a shit except sounding good as armchair warriors. But how many of you are actually walking out and speaking out against these things as loud as you can no matter where you are? Restaraunts, public parks, anywhere. Speak loud when you bash this, let others hear you. It will make them think, and they will tell others. It must spread. But I can’t tell you anymore than that. It’s up for you all to work for yourselves. ‘Nough said.
The US is simply a colony of Israel and the Jews within America are an enemy occupying force. This is what is behind the Irak war and every other war of the last 100 years. Unless this basic reality is addressed it is useless to talk about the consequences of it. We are just as enslaved and occupied as the Irakis.
As usual, under the guise of patriotism, ignorant Nazis have taken over this thread. Few things help the rightwing better than the tribal expression of ignorance and hatred for “the other.” Anti-Jewishness is more than 2,000 years old. Hitler was a merely the “industrializer” of death for many Jews, not the pioneer of an old idea. Europe—often at the behest of Popes, Czars, Kings and barons—persecuted Jews under a million pretexts, and the crimes committed were heinous. Apparently this malignant idiocy is alive and well.
WW2 cost more than 60 million lives—not counting the physical ruination of priceless assets of all humankind—to finally control this very same insanity. And here we have it again, it’s the minorities, it’s the Jews, and so on—never the real reason: the ill-distribution of social and economic power due to a rotten social and economic dynamic.
While there’s no doubt a lot of Zionist Jews like William Kristol, Richard Perle, Elliot Abrams, Ken Adelman, and so on, are constantly pushing for war in the Middle East using their high perches and media megaphones in the inner circles of the Bush mafia and throughout the American establishment, this is a two-way street: Bush, Cheney and countless others are NOT Jewish, and nothing could force them to act in tandem with them unless they saw an advantage. That advantage is simply world class advantage. American imperialists use Israel as a local cop in the Middle East, something Iran’s Shah used to do for us until his crimes and corruption got him kicked out of that country…At the same time, some of the most courageous and lucid people attacking this raging cancer…are Jews both here in the US and in Israel. I’m not a Jew myself, and certainly disapprove/oppose completely the role of Zionism and the official posture of Israel vis a vis the Palestinians, but honesty is the handmaiden of justice—a word that these devious Nazis on this blog would be well advised to look up, and they should be made to admit that the problem is with policies dficated by system logic and not inherent in any given rac e or culture.
Further, there is no denying the disproportionate muscle wielded by Jewish businessmen and media figures in the US media, including Hollywood, often paralleling the actions and policies advocated by the biggest foreign policy lobby: AIPAC, a presence that puts a chokehold on US foreign policy all right, and keeps both cowardly opportunistic parties as willing hostages to a rotten national posture in international affairs. But the same can be said for the cesspool Cubans in Miami and New Jersey, whose radical rightwing obsessions and deep incestuous commingling with the CIA and other shady plutocratic agencies have also polluted our foreign policy in mighty costly ways, and almost drove the world to a nuclear war under the Kennedys.
But while the warmongering behavior of Zionist American Jews (many with dual-citizenship in high level government office) is highly objectionable, it’s again common throughout the US capitalist establishment. Bush and Cheney themselves are hardly Jewish, nor for that matter was that piece of human fundamentalist excrement Jerry Falwel, or are Gary Bauer, James Dobson and the rest of their hypocritical and rotten ilk…and Howard Hughes, the reclusive and very WASPy semi-mad tycoon was one of the heaviest disseminators of lies and propaganda in his time, through movies (he gave us that all-time classic, “I married a Communist”) and other media he controlled, and you can bet he would have been applauding Rupert Murdoch heartily, were he alive today.
nicely written
Well, we really ought to support Ron Paul, the only one who wants to end this nonsense.
Anybody belonging to the CFR (Council on Foreign Relations), the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderbergs, the Skull/Bones Society and the Bohemian club DO NOT SERVE US!
Some examples to start with: The Clintons, Bushes, Bill Richardson, and a few other of the present candidates (of BOTH PARTIES).
I agreed with much of this, I think true support would be to bring our people back.
John Murtha also proposed that we get “Taxed More” for the Iraq war…..I would like to say (since I frequently email/petitician our Deaf, Dumb, Blind) politicians frequently to no avail (I’m sick with MCS) so I can’t exactly march the streets….but I would Love to see Murtha andbody like minded…to round up some soldiers and FORCIBLY REMOVE THESE TRAITORS FROM OFFICE (Dem & Republican)….The house needs a thorough cleaning out…and (no, I NEVER vote for recumbants).
As for Puerto Rico, after reading yesterday that Pets were forcefully removed from certain building projects and thrown 50 feet from that bridge down to their deaths (if that’s their mentality), I don’t feel the slightest bit sorry for any of them.
As we already know the sounding of the drums of war ,brings out images of John waYne and company.Our youth for the most part are consumed by it.It is an adventure for them,they know not what they seek,only the propaganda of it.
We as a nation have forgotten our roots .
We have been lead to believe as all other empire people were led to believe, that we are some how superior to others. That is why it is so hard to accept a defeat like Viet nam, upcoming Iraq defeat. The trouble is those that think themselves superior
to their enemies will do anything to assure victory,torture, rape, murder,genocide.
the superior thinking indevidual will think nothing of murdering an Iraqi in cold blood.
This is what is going on in Iraq today,Why Black water and our troops can do these things they do ,yet still only minimal outrage among the people.
It is what enabled hitler to exterminate people as if they were rats,Today we are like the germans ,Romans, british all of which saw themselves as superior. We have forsaken our forefathers and forgotten our Constitution. We have become death destroyers of worlds.
You do realize, especially the couple of posters above this, that it is more than just a little co-incidental that anti-war anti-fascism folks all tend to agree something has to be done…and then someone brings up “the Zionists” or “Israel” and then–watch out! Disunity everywhere, name calling, the it’s-getting-way-too-shopworn-accusation of “anti-semitism” (good grief—does that phrase even mean anything anymore?)…you do know folks, that this is the sort of thing THEY want to see in the anti-fascist movement?
Cut the crap already! we know who the enemy is! we need focus here, not crapola!
Wrong again Tiscareno: Ron Paul is not alone in wanting to end the war. He’s only alone among the filthy GOP front lot. Two Democratic contenders— Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel—also oppose the Iraq war and advocate an end to it and to this country’s hypocritical warmongering in foreign affairs.
No particular group should be singled out for hatred. It is better to hate and despise them all since they are all crooks, suckers, and lazy cowards. The problem with the military is that it is constantly celebrated as “special”, when it is just ordinary in the extreme. Your average military man is a moral and intellectual coward, and that is supposed to be equaled by physical bravery, which is incredibly rare.
The worship of the military is worship of the state. War lies at the heart of every government. Soldiers defend the strong, since only the strong can afford to keep them. Citizens defend our “freedoms”, soldiers are a constant threat.
John Hanks is absolutely right! In fact, as a former military man myself I can vouch for what he says. What’s more, as someone one said, referring to Hitler’s armies, “bravery in combat is more about ardent conformity” than true heroism. The fear of showing yellow, of straying from the herd…is that true courage? Sure, some people put themselves in harm’s way knowing full well what that entails, but, in my observation, that has always been rare. Most casualties occur in situations that happen lightning fast, you rarely get to see the enemy, and, because as even many of my former marine colleagues will admit, “because you’re stuck in there, in some filthy, rotten place with some guys shooting at you, or raining shells, and you gotta fight your way out.”
Terrific article, by the way. Takes guts to say what this guy is saying here.
Thank you for listening to my dime’s worth.
War corporatism has taken over America. The rich have lost any pretense of caring about the welfare of the general population (9-11, Katrina) and are on a homicidal bender of epically cynical proportion. The mass media appeals to the primitive back brains of teenagers via vicious and soulless fare (Hostel, violent video games, etc.) in order to create callous murderers who think that dropping White Phosphorus on sleeping families in Iraq is somehow courageous. Maybe the anti-war movement will gain enough momentum to stop these new Dark Ages, but a lot of college kids (and nominal adults) are going to have to unplug their I-Pods and Nintendos and hit the streets for that to happen.
The military is a useless pathetic sel-serving parasitic institution!!
The only salute that I will give to its men and women is the middle finger!!
you’re all a$$holes
Fuck the US military and its fascist supporters. All Americans know is war. They love it. They’re too wimpy to stand up against their fascist country’s military criminal actions.
I can’t for a world without the US.It will be a better place for all. US will lose WW III.
I agree with everything except for one factual error…
There is one Congressman, a particulalry militaristic one, who has a son at the frontline in Afghanistan: Congressman Duncan Hunter (R- CA)
this piece just proves without a doubt that the people who runs this site, and most of it’s visitors, are traitors to this country who deserve to be shot. this piece of garbage steppling clearly states he does not support the troops, which by default means he supports the enemies those troops are fighting. if this is not treason i don’t know what is. he had better hope he never crosses paths with me, for if he did he would receive the penalty his treasonous actions demand.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that war and the military machine, from an American perspective, has and continues to have its allies; Hollywood, corporate MSM, even toy manufacturers (remember Mattel in the 60’s and 70’s?) public re-education centers we call ‘public schools’ Conditioning from the cradle to the grave.
R Schulz, great post. Truth is usually scorned, so by that benchmark, you’ve really hit the truth on the head. As much as I like TPC, they pretty much just rant against the symptoms of the disease without ever really getting at the heart of it.
Jesus Christ the Messiah, whom the Jews reject, explicity taught AGAINST the practice of REVENGE. The New Testament is loaded with teachings AGAINST revenge, vengeance, as tools of the devil. Only when people, Gentile and Jewish, learn these lessons will there ever be a chance at peace and true justice.
REVENGE IS SELF-DESTRUCTIVE. It’s BARBARISM, plain and simple.
It’s no conspiracy that some very well organized Jews took ownership of American mass media and movie making Hollywood 90+ years ago. Their agenda and passions found their way into the ears and eyes and minds of generations of Gentile Americans essentially turning them away from Christ and instead towards humanism. Revenge and vengeance were turned into “values”. If you don’t practice revenge, you’re essentially “weak”. That is Jewish belief, not Christian. Many Gentiles have adopted this way of going about life.
For about 60 years, the entire United States has been off the rails, a rogue nation and an Israeli-Jewish proxy/colony. It’s just that now in 2007, the rot is so evident that some folks have been rudely awakened, but this didn’t happen overnight.
I know individual Jews here in New York whom I’d give anything for and have been some of the most wonderful people I’ve ever had the benefit of calling friends. Yes, the reject war and warmongering. They are compassionate and caring. Jews are not monolith in their thinking, which is a terrible stereotype, but organized Zionism is their enemy as well as the enemy of true peace.
Zionism’s goal was always to smash the nation-states of the world (especially the White countries) in order to rise to the seat of World Domination. Destroying the nation-states and their self-determination and independence makes control over them much easier.
CAPITALISM is a symptom of the disease.
But, keep addressing the symptoms, TPC, you guys are definitely a good read.
The negative impact of activist Zionism in the United States should be obvious to anyone who has not willingly blinded themselves to the possibility that there might be both good and bad Jews, just like ever other group of human beings. The problem with exposing Zionism and American/Israeli conjoined foreign policy, is dealing with the slander of “anti-Semitism” that always comes along with it. As you see from the quote below, we have to confront purposeful lying and the twisted re-definitions of truth that they push forward. The quote below comes from Judea Pearl, father of Daniel Pearl:
“I condemn anti-Semitism for being an instrument for a worse form of racism: anti-Zionism. In other words, I submit that anti-Zionism is a form of racism more dangerous than classical anti-Semitism. Labeling and fighting anti-Zionism as racism is precisely the weapon that our students need for survival on campus…
Anti-Zionism earns its racist character from denying the Jewish people what it grants to other collectives (e.g. Spanish, Palestinians), namely, the right to nationhood and self determination…”
http://www.spme.net/cgi-bin/facultyforum.cgi?ID=2130
Anti-Zionism confronts the ethnic cleansing tactics used by Israel, speaking out for the equal rights of both peoples in the conflict to self-determination and nationhood.