Why We Fight

i just watched an interview with Eugene Jarecki about his film "Why We Fight." have to say that i am looking forward to seeing it...

the official site is at sonyclassics and flash is needed.

the film is reportedly inspired by Eisenhower's farewell speech, and is intended to look at the way in which the industry of war influences american life. i haven't looked into it deeply yet.

so why am i looking forward to seeing it?

there is a quote in the tao te ching, verse 46 i think, that basically says "when a country has the tao, horses haul fertilizer in the fields. when a nation loses the way, horses carry soldiers beyond the city walls."

when we look at the things our country acts upon, and cares about, it is clear that the war horses are marching beyond the walls. we spend more on our war machine that the rest of the world combined. we cut funding for schools. we do away with food stamps, and buy bombers worth several billion dollars each. we lose scientific, support, teaching, programing, production, creation, invention... hell every type of job, millions a day, to other countries. but we have a shit load of bombers. we can't rebuild our towns when a disaster strikes, can't fix our schools, can't build a better car, or fridge, or TV, or computer, or VCR. but you know what we can do? we can bomb the shit outta your country!

we struggle with health care. we struggle with medicine. we struggle with equality. we struggle with education. and as much as people like to scream about class warfare, we have gone past that, to engage in class occupation and terrorism.

but we got nukes.

someone once told me that you could see what was important in a city by looking at the skyline. that once in america the church in a town was the most prominent object on the skyline, but today it will be a skyscraper with a company name on it. i am not sure about that. i wonder, what percentage of Americans work for a defense related company? how directly? i foresee a new version of the six degrees of separation game. or the four degrees. two?

how large can a system like that become before it controls the ecosystem it arose from? if we looked at a small town, totally dominated by a single large employer, we would no doubt find numerous problems. this has been done many times. looks at the steel and coal industry for example. yet it seems we have a single industry of comparable size and influence, but over an entire nation. why do we not see the risk?

i can't help but think of the USSR, and their never ending military budget. their attempts to bury America. the way in which they neglected the internal structure of their nation for an external protection. and here we are walking in their footsteps.

if the primary economic power in a nation is the military, what happens if the military fails?

so we can't let it fail then, can we. instead we keep using it. we keep starting wars. we are the primary cause of instability in the world. we are the axis of war. we have to be, our lively hood is built on it.

how long do we think this can last?

[edit] i owe this one to Sue on the walden list. if ever a picture was worth a thousand words...

common dreams page

what do you think, are we into building up our nation from the inside out? or are we interested in warfare? all the above page needs is a few pictures showing the armed forces budget for each nation.