WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS,
#101, NOVEMBER 23, 2022.
US Endless War and a Way to Stop the System
Dick, US Pervasive War System
Hedges and Bacevich, “the folly of endless war”
Walter Hixson, [US
History of] Imperialism and War
Quakers’ Way to Peace
US Patriotism, US Militarism, and US
WAR
Why have we been at war since 1941? Probably the inclusive, pervasive patriotism
does it, with its arrogant US Christian nationalism and US exceptionalism
inserted in every nook and cranny of USA.
We are taxed and disciplined by relentless, yet to most invisible, patriotic
propaganda for militarism, empire, and war.
The Nazis used regimented education to persuade and secret police,
concentration camps, torture, and murder to compel their citizens to kill
others en masse. Similar regimented results
have come to us on little cats’ paws: nationalistic, militaristic education and
cultural blizzard: TV ads praising gifts to US troops abroad (where are
they not?) from three local TV stations and McDonald’s; stores giving discounts
to veterans. No need for Storm Troopers
here. Record how the patriotic
militarism system USA works—and expands its power— and tell about it (here),
and to every ear and eye available to you..
Help to bring critical thinking
to our education of youth.. Think what
a different nation and world we would have if every public school US history course
did 2 things: 1. Replaced “America” with
the truth: North America or US or USA; 2. Assigned Walter Hixson’s history of [US] Imperialism and War. Dick
The Chris Hedges Report with Andrew
Bacevich on his book "After the Apocalypse" and the folly of
endless war. CHRIS HEDGES. NOV 9, 2022. |
|||
|
|||
In the months of July and September 1940 the
French historian and future resistance fighter Marc Bloch, who fought in World
War I and World War II, wrote a short book called L'Étrange Défaite or
Strange Defeat. It was a searing condemnation of the French high command and
political class which was responsible for the humiliating defeat and
disintegration of the French army with the Nazi invasion of France. Bloch, who
went underground to fight the Nazi occupiers, was executed by the Gestapo in
1944. His book, published after the war, was the model for historian Andrew
Bacevich’s book After the Apocalypse. In his book Bloch wrote:
“Our war up to the very end, was a war of old men, or of theorists who were
bogged down in errors, engendered by the faulty teaching of history. It was
saturated by the smell of decay…” Bacevich is no less censorious of the political
and military class that has led the United States into one debacle after the
next since Vietnam, a war he served in as a young officer. He argues they are
woefully out of touch with reality, crippled by self-delusion and unable to
adapt to a changing world. Unless they are wrenched from power, he argues, the
twilight of the American empire will be one filled, especially given our
refusal to seriously address the climate crisis, with catastrophe after
catastrophe. Joining me to discuss his book After the Apocalypse is
retired Army Colonel Andrew Bacevich and emeritus professor of history and
international relations at Boston University. He is also the cofounder and
president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
Share
The Chris Hedges
Report is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my
work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Walter
Hixson. Imperialism and War: The History Americans Need to Own. 2021.
Page 1:
“The potent patriotic discourse of
American exceptionalism provided the glue that forged the unlikely and fragile
union of 13 highly disparate British colonies….” “This book argues that it is long past time
to unpack this destructive discourse animated by national self-worship and to
replace it with a desperately needed new paradigm of cooperative
internationalism.” [If this history of
the USA or North America had been
taught in our schools, we would not be fraught with constant fighting and
conquering. Please read the book and buy
it for libraries and give to friends and officials. --Dick]
QUAKERS COUNTER WAR BY PEACE: PREVENT WARS, STOP WARS, HEAL THE BROKEN
PEOPLE AND THE EARTH
Statement on the peace testimony
and Ukraine: AFSC joins with other
Quaker groups in affirming our commitment to seeking peaceful alternatives to
armed conflict and ensuring the human costs of war are not forgotten. Whichever
way this war ends, we know that healing and sustainable peacemaking will take
more than a generation, and will only be possible through inclusive and
sustainable processes.
No comments:
Post a Comment