they defend their abusers
when speaking to the faithful about their god, the state, one gets many reactions, often of the defensive nature. never mind the facts or the indisputable nature of the logic; state apologists believe in, have faith in (with no way to back it up), their allegiance to the state and the deeply flawed concept of coercive government. at no time is this more apparent as when discussing war - the greatest atrocity of the state.
i remember talking to someone about WW2 and how unnecessary it was and how it was pre-planned by the great american fascist, FDR. the very idea of this drove this person to rage. how dare i say such things! didn't i realize that that person's father had been injured and their father's brother killed in that war? they were heroes!
actually, it isn't that i didn't realize it (i didn't), it's that it should add credibility to my argument. my own grandfather was in the army air force (that's what it was called at the time) when his bomber was shot down over germany. he parachuted out, broke his back upon landing, was placed in german prison camp and starved for 9 months before being liberated by the british. he suffered psychologically for this for the rest of his life. this fact doesn't induce me to revere war, or to place the state on a pedestal - quite the opposite! i have great animosity toward war and the state in general for such things. the state sent my grandfather off to kill and be killed in furtherance of the state's imperial agenda in europe, where he suffered from that point on. they used their great power of propaganda to trick these poor men into sacrificing their lives for the greater good, when, in fact, it was no more for good than any murderous crusade ever could be.
analyzing people's psychology can be a very difficult task, especially for an untrained novice such as myself. it blows me away how people can continue to support the very things that the state has actively used against them and their loved ones for decades or more. war is nothing more than theft in support of murder. money is stolen through taxation in order to fund the military's actions that will knowingly result in the deaths of innocent civilians. so, not only do people defend the role of hapless loved ones duped into carrying out the state's evils through war, but they subject themselves to the worship of the entity that fleeces them in order to fund such activities! it's as if they defend a man who repeatedly breaks into their homes, steals their money and tricks their children into attacking their neighbors.
what is good or heroic about this? soldiers are, at best hapless dupes (as i once was) and, at worst, evil killers. the vast majority fits into the "dupes" category, uncritically swallowing the state's rhetoric as a zealot would a religious message. they are told that what they are doing requires valor and courage and that it is necessary to the defense of "our nation" (whatever that is). nothing could be further from the truth, as one might expect, should they be familiar with state rhetoric.
war is murder, funded by theft, employing the good intentions of courageous people in the commission of evil through emotionally charged rhetorical trickery. those whose loved ones have been caught in this trap should damn the state for it, not revere it. such is a slap in the face of those unfortunate enough to have suffered in such a way.
i remember talking to someone about WW2 and how unnecessary it was and how it was pre-planned by the great american fascist, FDR. the very idea of this drove this person to rage. how dare i say such things! didn't i realize that that person's father had been injured and their father's brother killed in that war? they were heroes!
actually, it isn't that i didn't realize it (i didn't), it's that it should add credibility to my argument. my own grandfather was in the army air force (that's what it was called at the time) when his bomber was shot down over germany. he parachuted out, broke his back upon landing, was placed in german prison camp and starved for 9 months before being liberated by the british. he suffered psychologically for this for the rest of his life. this fact doesn't induce me to revere war, or to place the state on a pedestal - quite the opposite! i have great animosity toward war and the state in general for such things. the state sent my grandfather off to kill and be killed in furtherance of the state's imperial agenda in europe, where he suffered from that point on. they used their great power of propaganda to trick these poor men into sacrificing their lives for the greater good, when, in fact, it was no more for good than any murderous crusade ever could be.
analyzing people's psychology can be a very difficult task, especially for an untrained novice such as myself. it blows me away how people can continue to support the very things that the state has actively used against them and their loved ones for decades or more. war is nothing more than theft in support of murder. money is stolen through taxation in order to fund the military's actions that will knowingly result in the deaths of innocent civilians. so, not only do people defend the role of hapless loved ones duped into carrying out the state's evils through war, but they subject themselves to the worship of the entity that fleeces them in order to fund such activities! it's as if they defend a man who repeatedly breaks into their homes, steals their money and tricks their children into attacking their neighbors.
what is good or heroic about this? soldiers are, at best hapless dupes (as i once was) and, at worst, evil killers. the vast majority fits into the "dupes" category, uncritically swallowing the state's rhetoric as a zealot would a religious message. they are told that what they are doing requires valor and courage and that it is necessary to the defense of "our nation" (whatever that is). nothing could be further from the truth, as one might expect, should they be familiar with state rhetoric.
war is murder, funded by theft, employing the good intentions of courageous people in the commission of evil through emotionally charged rhetorical trickery. those whose loved ones have been caught in this trap should damn the state for it, not revere it. such is a slap in the face of those unfortunate enough to have suffered in such a way.
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