Are Congressional Staffers — from pencil pushers on up to senior staff — morally responsible for enabling the daily slaughter their Congressional boss funds, arms and lies for? Absolutely.
My fear is that these young staffers come to believe that ‘this is the way it is’ and true patriots face that reality. That ‘my country can do no wrong’ becomes part and parcel of their political identity.
My fear must be real because how in the world can so many lifer politicians do what they do and still sleep at night? How can politicians support war and CIA crimes decade after decade?
I spoke with a young man two days ago. A young man who served in the army in Iraq. He thoroughly, utterly and completely believes that America must carry out all the CIA interventions and must be involved in all of these conflicts in order to protect our shores.
I’m sure this veteran perceived me to be an out of touch naive old man. Maybe so. But I don’t want to be part of a country whose behavior is based on violence in an effort to keep us safe. Seems like playing God to me.
Mark your articles and cartoons stimulate thought and critical thinking every day. Thank you for your diligence and your posts. In a fascist state you would be one of the first to be targeted. I think we need to keep that in mind now as our world becomes more tenuous.
That young man is a product of the death state. At the same time, some of the most eloquent and insightful resisters of the corporate death state have been veterans. I remember a counseling client of mine who was nearing retirement from the Army. He had been sent on four or five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and experienced five of six bombings and was showing signs of traumatic brain injury.
He was stationed at a military base about 50 miles from the hospital where I worked. He was coming to see a private therapist instead of a military counselor because he was afraid if they determined he was handicapped he would automatically be discharged and not get his full retirement benefits. That's how the United States treat their soldiers. More soldiers and wannabe soldiers better get clear about that.
I only saw him a few times. He shared some of the horrible trauma he had gone through in two wars that were complete, utter failures ... except for the oil companies, weapons manufacturers and the corrupt cretins running this ponzi scheme of a government who grew wealthier off our war crimes.
As for the fascist state? I fully expect it to come. It's already here, as they shred our Bill of Rights.
"Through our tax dollars, we paid for the bombs. We killed those children. We slaughter and rip limbs from more children every day. We are all complicit."
I agree. I've been saying this since day one that we are ALL complicit if we don't fight back against this genocide. It's our tax dollars and we're giving our consent either implicitly or explicitly on how they're being used if we're not protesting vocally against genocide.
I had an interesting conversation with a fellow protester today as we stood on a busy street corner. How do people just ignore so much injustice in the world? How do they live with themselves? How do they not see what is happening? Do they choose not to "see" because it's too painful? Or because if they acknowledged the carnage, they'd have to admit their complicity, and that's just too much psychologically to endure? Or maybe they just ignore it all because they know if they speak out against the genocide in Gaza they could lose their job, their status, their health care, their popularity and all those things are more important than strangers' lives and well-being? (And this protester said she taught in a Catholic school and they don't ever mention the genocide in Gaza even in their weekly chapel. Whoa.)
The failure of American churches has been stunning. I have not seen a SINGLE comment/criticism by any 'Christian' church other than the Palestinian Christian pastor in Jerusalem.
I tried to work with a local "progressive" congregation not far from my home .. spoke with the pastor. I asked if they had a peace and justice committee ... um, no.
When I asked her about the silence on Gaza she was clearly uncomfortable. She said churches are hesitant about criticizing Israel because so many American churches failed to speak out against the Holocaust in the early years. Clearly, they are terrified of being labeled antisemitic.
I said I would be happy to meet with any congregants concerned about Gaza. She said there might be a few and would get back to me. A couple weeks later she texted there were a few and a meeting could be set up. I texted her that anytime would be fine. I never heard back.
When the Jerusalem pastor spoke on Christmas I texted her a link. She never responded. She meets with a group of church seniors at a coffee shop I often go to. She doesn't even acknowledge me. I always make a point of sitting nearby in her line of sight.
The kicker is I have gone to a few services at that church in the past and the place is filled with gray hair old farts. In another 6-8 years the place will be empty as everybody dies off and the beautiful church building with become a restaurant or secondhand store.
As with ALL other institutions in this crumbling country, the churches are another empty, meaningless parody.
I was a brainwashed child and leaving the church was a mental ordeal. But I realised early on something wasn't right, and as a teen, or maybe 20, wrote 'The Last Church'. It would be many years before I would have my own mind but that little essay was my starting point. Religion is politics. Always has been.
The "graying" of church congregation is a real thing, and pretty much means things will come to an end sooner rather than later since they fail to reach out to young people and young families. If you have more funeral services than weddings or baptisms, you're in a death spiral. Maybe that explains some of their hesitation to make any "criticisms" of Zionism... They're desperate to keep what few members they still have, and a lot of those are possibly arch-conservatives who have swallowed the lies of Zionism, hook, line and sinker. So they stay silent to maintain the status quo. It's a sick status quo but they're happy with the "devil we know than the devil we don't." And everyone knows the devil spells its name "d-evil." American churches are thinking they're the lesser evil apparently. Screw them!
In The Fourth Turning, they describe a four-stage cycle of social or mood eras which they call "turnings". The turnings include: "The High", "The Awakening", "The Unraveling" and "The Crisis". - Wiki
i.e. Our unravelling has to become a crisis so that the next generation can have the high of community rising from the ashes.
PS: Love the cartoon. Fighting politicians led me to being angry at the bureaucrats they relied on pretending they were just doing their job. Instead, they were earning very good money for supporting corruption.
My fear is that these young staffers come to believe that ‘this is the way it is’ and true patriots face that reality. That ‘my country can do no wrong’ becomes part and parcel of their political identity.
My fear must be real because how in the world can so many lifer politicians do what they do and still sleep at night? How can politicians support war and CIA crimes decade after decade?
I spoke with a young man two days ago. A young man who served in the army in Iraq. He thoroughly, utterly and completely believes that America must carry out all the CIA interventions and must be involved in all of these conflicts in order to protect our shores.
I’m sure this veteran perceived me to be an out of touch naive old man. Maybe so. But I don’t want to be part of a country whose behavior is based on violence in an effort to keep us safe. Seems like playing God to me.
Mark your articles and cartoons stimulate thought and critical thinking every day. Thank you for your diligence and your posts. In a fascist state you would be one of the first to be targeted. I think we need to keep that in mind now as our world becomes more tenuous.
That young man is a product of the death state. At the same time, some of the most eloquent and insightful resisters of the corporate death state have been veterans. I remember a counseling client of mine who was nearing retirement from the Army. He had been sent on four or five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and experienced five of six bombings and was showing signs of traumatic brain injury.
He was stationed at a military base about 50 miles from the hospital where I worked. He was coming to see a private therapist instead of a military counselor because he was afraid if they determined he was handicapped he would automatically be discharged and not get his full retirement benefits. That's how the United States treat their soldiers. More soldiers and wannabe soldiers better get clear about that.
I only saw him a few times. He shared some of the horrible trauma he had gone through in two wars that were complete, utter failures ... except for the oil companies, weapons manufacturers and the corrupt cretins running this ponzi scheme of a government who grew wealthier off our war crimes.
As for the fascist state? I fully expect it to come. It's already here, as they shred our Bill of Rights.
"Through our tax dollars, we paid for the bombs. We killed those children. We slaughter and rip limbs from more children every day. We are all complicit."
I agree. I've been saying this since day one that we are ALL complicit if we don't fight back against this genocide. It's our tax dollars and we're giving our consent either implicitly or explicitly on how they're being used if we're not protesting vocally against genocide.
I had an interesting conversation with a fellow protester today as we stood on a busy street corner. How do people just ignore so much injustice in the world? How do they live with themselves? How do they not see what is happening? Do they choose not to "see" because it's too painful? Or because if they acknowledged the carnage, they'd have to admit their complicity, and that's just too much psychologically to endure? Or maybe they just ignore it all because they know if they speak out against the genocide in Gaza they could lose their job, their status, their health care, their popularity and all those things are more important than strangers' lives and well-being? (And this protester said she taught in a Catholic school and they don't ever mention the genocide in Gaza even in their weekly chapel. Whoa.)
The failure of American churches has been stunning. I have not seen a SINGLE comment/criticism by any 'Christian' church other than the Palestinian Christian pastor in Jerusalem.
I tried to work with a local "progressive" congregation not far from my home .. spoke with the pastor. I asked if they had a peace and justice committee ... um, no.
When I asked her about the silence on Gaza she was clearly uncomfortable. She said churches are hesitant about criticizing Israel because so many American churches failed to speak out against the Holocaust in the early years. Clearly, they are terrified of being labeled antisemitic.
I said I would be happy to meet with any congregants concerned about Gaza. She said there might be a few and would get back to me. A couple weeks later she texted there were a few and a meeting could be set up. I texted her that anytime would be fine. I never heard back.
When the Jerusalem pastor spoke on Christmas I texted her a link. She never responded. She meets with a group of church seniors at a coffee shop I often go to. She doesn't even acknowledge me. I always make a point of sitting nearby in her line of sight.
The kicker is I have gone to a few services at that church in the past and the place is filled with gray hair old farts. In another 6-8 years the place will be empty as everybody dies off and the beautiful church building with become a restaurant or secondhand store.
As with ALL other institutions in this crumbling country, the churches are another empty, meaningless parody.
I was a brainwashed child and leaving the church was a mental ordeal. But I realised early on something wasn't right, and as a teen, or maybe 20, wrote 'The Last Church'. It would be many years before I would have my own mind but that little essay was my starting point. Religion is politics. Always has been.
The "graying" of church congregation is a real thing, and pretty much means things will come to an end sooner rather than later since they fail to reach out to young people and young families. If you have more funeral services than weddings or baptisms, you're in a death spiral. Maybe that explains some of their hesitation to make any "criticisms" of Zionism... They're desperate to keep what few members they still have, and a lot of those are possibly arch-conservatives who have swallowed the lies of Zionism, hook, line and sinker. So they stay silent to maintain the status quo. It's a sick status quo but they're happy with the "devil we know than the devil we don't." And everyone knows the devil spells its name "d-evil." American churches are thinking they're the lesser evil apparently. Screw them!
That comment really hit me too, Mark. What is genocide doing to its perpetrators' humanity, and what are they capable of?
In The Fourth Turning, they describe a four-stage cycle of social or mood eras which they call "turnings". The turnings include: "The High", "The Awakening", "The Unraveling" and "The Crisis". - Wiki
i.e. Our unravelling has to become a crisis so that the next generation can have the high of community rising from the ashes.
PS: Love the cartoon. Fighting politicians led me to being angry at the bureaucrats they relied on pretending they were just doing their job. Instead, they were earning very good money for supporting corruption.