Deja War
Posted on 11 November 2009
Funny how history keeps repeating herself. Afghanistan. Who would’ve thought this President, after all his campaign talk about pulling troops out of the Middle East, would end up pulling a Lyndon Johnson. I’m old enough now (60, not bad) to see it all happening again. Exactly the same story. Exactly. Massive corruption in a country to which we were “bringing democracy.” Elections rife with game playing and duplicity. Another “domino theory” that if Afghanistan falls, Pakistan falls next. We remember how Vietnam ended (at least some of us do). We know what happened to the Russians in Afghanistan (and their supply lines were just a wee bit shorter than ours.)
So how did it all come to this?
Part of what motivated the progressive JFK keeping his fingers in the Vietnam war that a conservative Eisenhower before him wasn’t wildly happy about (that the French before him hadn’t been happy about either) was that Kennedy didn’t want to appear weak before the right wing. Is that part of what motivates Obama now? I’d put money on it.
And I’d put money on this war ending just as badly or maybe much worse because the difference this time is that we don’t have the kind of money in our treasury that we had back at the end of that last war, lost. Goldman Sachs and friends have that money now. Back then we still had a manufacturing base, but Goldman Sachs and friends have sold off all that for their whopping bonuses. And back then we didn’t have the highest level of unemployment since WW2.
So maybe history won’t repeat itself quite the same this time. And for that we may not be grateful.
4 responses to Deja War
I like how you feminized history in the opening sentence and “neutered” her in the closing line. Was that with a purpose?
Your posts trigger connections with apparently unrelated situations in people’s lives. I have a more detailed response in process. Have a lot to say about your Dream video as well – about Sophie, about the fine line that Carol mentions as well as some thoughts relating to my own dreaming process.
Here goes:
This neat little summing up of recent American history serves as a metaphor for a process that is repeating itself worldwide, in varied contexts. In my own life I’ve become the current target of the domino theory being applied in my apartment block by an unscrupulous realtor (having the support of filthy, ugly local politicians)bent on driving out lawful residents and capturing territory under the pretext of doing good for the development(!) of the area. Your suggestion that it’s about not appearing weak triggered a whole lot of thoughts in my head. He doesn’t want to appear weak either! He’s knocked down “Pakistan” already but he’s reckoned without the fact that he has to deal with India (that’s me) next. That may not be easy or swift and there could be a whole lot of effects the aggressor didn’t bargain for. Just as the mess created by all these wars may not end in a hurry and could have consequences far worse than post-Vietnam. My own personal situation, trivial and apparently irrelevant in the global context, is really just a miniature mirror of the great, big impending doom consequent to these indefinite and wholly meaningless wars. History repeats herself/itself and situations replicate themselves across both time and space. It’s the same old “karma-chakra.”
However, the domino effect can be used for creating good ripples. It’s the same process and it does work in a positive direction albeit more slowly and painfully, as climbing up is that much harder than toppling down. We need to go for it, start somewhere and start now! The longer we wait, the harder it’s going to be. We just have to take the challenge and steer this planet out of the monumental mess we’ve made.
It is harder to climb up than topple down. This explains why wars are so prevalent. Much easier for Bush to go to war, than address the problems of 911 in a mature way. Much easier for Goldman Sachs to buy up companies and sell them off for quick profits, than rework them, deal with complex worker, management, etc and bring healthy profits to the world. Much easier to get cancer and die, than to get healthy and live in this word that because toppling is so easy and therefore the world is in so much trouble it is not an easy place to be right now. It is so easy to move towards despair than hope. All of which is to say I agree with everything you’re saying. Good luck in addressing this landlord (one more lost, sad fool on the planet) in a a mature (climbing up the hill) way.
Both said TRUE WORDS…
“This neat little summing up of recent American history serves as a metaphor for a process that is repeating itself worldwide”
“It is so easy to move towards despair than hope.”
And the final words was “However, the domino effect can be used for creating good ripples.”…
That’s all just TRUTH.
From really bad things & actions we can make good, it’s in our hands…
All we gotta do is take advantage of them and use them in another way.
It’s like poison (in a metaphorical way) it can kills you but if you use it in right analogies, it can HEAL YOU.