Patriotism's Imminent Threat
When Trump ordered the assassination of general Soleimani of Iran, he justified this war crime by saying that Soleimani was an "imminent threat" to the safety and security of many Americans. When George W. Bush invaded Iraq, he used the same excuse: Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and posed an "imminent threat" to America's safety.
source: Needpix.com
These were lies of course; there was no imminent threat. Go back in history and you'll see that all wars are ignited by similar lies about a fabricated enemy. George H.W. Bush used lies about babies being removed from incubators and thrown on the floor to die. Vietnam was starteed over the Gulf of Tonkin incident, another imminent threat, another lie:
Johnson commented privately: "For all I know, our navy was shooting at whales out there."
In 1967, former naval officer, John White, wrote a letter to the editor of the New Haven (CT) Register. He asserted "I maintain that President Johnson, Secretary McNamara and the Joint Chiefs of Staff gave false information to Congress in their report about US destroyers being attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin."
source: Wikipedia
Never in history did a group of young healthy men spontaneously decide to pick up weapons to go to a far away country in order to kill far away young healthy men. Never. And they never will. It's always the leader of the country who wants something another leader has. No sane person will take up arms to get something the leader wants, so the leader has to convince the young men that those far away "others" are evil, or somehow less than human; only when the leader manages to foster enough fear, anger and hate, will the riled up young men go out and kill anyone who stands between their leader and that which he or she desires. This is simply how it works. Humans don't naturally like to kill each other, so humongous propaganda campaigns are necessary; Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany, Joseph Goebbels, masterfully prepared the German collective psyche for the horrible genocide we all know about. False flags, fear-mongering and vicious lies lay at the root of any large scale armed conflict between nation states. The first casualty of war is the truth for this reason.
This part may not be popular with my American brothers and sisters, but it has to be said, so please bear with me... America is special when it comes to waging wars; the country has been in some form of armed conflict every single day since the Second World War, without missing one day. Currently war is waged in 7 countries simultaneously, mostly through proxy wars and drone bombing, by the leader of the free world. All these wars are based on lies, all of them; the entire anti-terrorism narrative has been a lie from the very beginning. And to be honest here; support for these wars among the American people has been dwindling for decades, since right after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The war in Iraq was the last war that was supported by the people; the lies about WMD, "yellow cake", anthrax, Saddam's connection to Al Qaeda, Bin Laden and the 9/11 attacks were too much to handle after they were all revealed to be blatant lies.
America is special in another way as well; as the only surviving superpower after the Cold War, and after being the sole undamaged survivor of both world wars before that, America has become the leader of the free world. Although the term is much older, American exceptionalism is a real thing and refers to America's self-image as the guardian and herald of freedom around the world. When you're raised with the strong suggestion that "your" country is truly special, when the nation's flag is waved proudly at every opportunity, when sports matches start with standing up for the National Anthem, when the nation's military is revered to the tune that failing to "support the troops" is equated with a dangerous lack of patriotism, one's nation becomes a significant part of one's identity; America is special, I'm an American, so I'm special too. This innate belief of the nation's goodness gives its leaders a head-start in the people's mobilization for war and the demonizing of the enemy of the day.
America is the prime wager of war this past century, it houses the heart of the military industrial complex and the nation's economy would hurt a bunch without those wars; I'm not trying to speak evil of my American brothers and sisters, I'm just saying that it stands to reason that your leaders have good reasons to always foster nationalism and patriotism. The same reasons as always: power and money. America's special brand of patriotism has helped keep the nation at war for three quarters of a century without a day's break. The invasion of Iraq was preceded by months of strong propaganda, which followed right after the attacks of 9/11 and all the rallying around the flag that went with that. Not supporting the troops was considered to be unpatriotic, even after it was clear that the war was based on lies. All this was absent when Trump bombed Iran's top general, which is why he has a much harder task in convincing Americans that he was evil and that he posed an imminent threat. Patriotism's imminent threat is that being patriotic in the extreme, makes one an easy target for the lies that lead to wars.
Is the USA evil?
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Very nice post, @zyx066! In the George W. Bush-era, patriotism, which has a rather broad definition, was often conflated with jingoism (a radical, or extremist, form of patriotism). The Neocons became well-known and loathed among many for their propensity to not only advocate, but also carry out their militarism and wars of aggression. It's long been a fear of mine that Trump may be influenced by the military-industry or the like.
In many ways, he plays his cards close to the vest—projecting only what he wants people to see. Where he stands on any given issue at any given time is anyone's guess. It's almost as if though he's utilizing a form of psychological game theory to achieve his ends, and this makes sense when you consider the realm of politics, where you can't trust anyone. However, that can easily backfire depending on how well it's received and or perceived.
It seems to me that he's trying to appease the military-industrial complex and his anti-war fanbase at the same time, and that's quite the balancing act. At this point, I'm just glad that I don't vote. Here is a quote that you might find interesting about game theory. I honestly still cannot tell if and when he escapes the impeachment circus and wins his reelection if he'll veer hard left or hard right.
The way I see it if he's fooling the people there would be no reason to keep up the charade of pretending to be antiwar if that is in fact what he's doing. Until hindsight reveals with great clarity whose side he is on, I've no choice but to cheer the good and jeer the bad actions he's taken.
The way he publicly trolled Iran, creating a martyr out of an important major general. Even if it was all pretend or a staged show between the two countries, it will give the deep state a more realistic pretext for a false flag, and this means they can justify military action at any time of their choosing. No matter how you shake it, this move of his, or the perception of it, doesn't at all seem wise.
I haven't watched the video yet, but I do think that in many ways, the U.S. is one of many "baddies." However, it's also important that people do not confuse the government with their country. One is a body of land, "from sea to shining sea," whilst the other is merely the current corporation who is playing king of the mountain. In time, this too shall pass, change, or become reformed—whether it's done well or not, is another question entirely.
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