Thursday, November 11, 2010

Remembrance Day 2010


















My tribe is red hot, your tribe ain't doodly-squat.

He kept us out of war.

The War to End All Wars.

The War to Make the World Safe for Democracy.

If we don't stop them in Vietnam, the rest of Southeast Asia will fall like dominoes.

We must invade Iraq because of its Weapons of Mass Destruction.

We must fight them over there so we don't have to fight them here. 

"Pak's [Pakistan's] terror infrastructure is world's greatest danger" -- Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, New Delhi, India, December 22, 2008

"The greatest danger facing the world is the prospect of a nuclear Iran." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New Orleans, USA, November 8, 2010.



















Unreflective knee-jerk patriotism is the same impulse that delivers whole peoples into war frenzies to begin with.

Leaders starting wars usually end up dead, broken or out of power by war's end -- leaving masses of dead and broken, confused survivors behind. Until the next round.

In memoriam to the war dead, civilians and warriors alike, RIP. Also to the living survivors and future casualties of war . . .

Today's Rune: Protection. 

8 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

Unfortunate that people can be so easily manipulated by leaders with their own personal agendas. It's partially a matter of information, I imagine, the leaders have it and the followers are given only those dollops that incite them. Still, I do think at times war can be necessary. Most of the time not.

ivan@creativewriting.ca said...

I wish I had the spunk 24 hours ago to put up somehing like this. It is time.

jodi said...

Erik, Happy Veterens Day! I could never do what they do.

Adorably Dead said...

*likes this post...just has nothing of value to say*

Mark Krone said...

Hi Erik,

Great post. I always cringe when someone thanks our troops for "protecting out freedom."
They deserve lots of gratitude but they are not protecting our freedom or us. They are protecting American political and economic interests.

Mark

nunya said...

*sigh* I see them on the streets. They never go away in this county.

JR's Thumbprints said...

Only someone who has served can do this. Makes me want to "repost" my John Wayne / Boy George Country Crossover Video.

Erik Donald France said...

Thanks all for the comments on a controversial subject. Here's to civilian control of the military, to what Alfred Vagts called "The Military [professional] Way" vs. militarism.