"We exist in moments of gentle apocalypse"                       Roland Barthes      

 

11 May 06: More smart people        

 

  James Carroll, author ""House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power." Transcript of interview from Democracy Now  

   

  Andrew Bacevich joined Carroll in an interview by Tom Ashbrook for WBUR's 'On Point'. Download or stream here.

 

Also, I have found Foreign Affairs magazine book reviews incredibly valuable. You will have to dig for the specific books though.

 

For those pressed for time I will offer my summary...

  Carroll presents the argument that the military industrial complex (may read as 'the machine in which we, as a nation, buy things that we don't have immediate use for, all of which in someway or another serve the process of killing people)

in combination with the fact that we as a nation have not come to terms with the amount of life, innocent and otherwise, we have taken since the bombing of non-military targets from wwii to the present, has led us to the perilous state of putting to much faith in violent solutions, while simultaneously being the worlds largest arms dealer and impetus of nuclear proliferation.  He argues that the pentagon is the origin, but clearly states that the civilian military leadership has done far more to exacerbate this pathos.  Further, he explains how this mentality has been aided and abetted by those seeking political office, the academy, and of course, the business district.

 

While Carroll's text may be seen as a top down ideological dissemination,  Bacevich presents similar concerns but recognizes the individual's role in all of it.  i.e. it is pretty easy for one to sit back and blame the congress, or an administration, but it is you america, you joe non-voter, you head in the sand suburbanite, that feed the american militarism from the grass roots up.  We are all culpable.

 

It was a joy to hear these two wise gentlemen discuss these issues in a non-confrontational format.  Thank you Tom Ashbrook and WBUR.  I only wish it was an all day seminar.  

 

I am tormented by all of this.  We may think we are a smart country, because of the conveniences we have created for ourselves.  But I fear that while there are many smart people in america, they are 10% having the rest of us for lunch.  Seriously.  I am not arguing for a utopia, but I would at least like a country that could have intelligent conversation about the national good.  The politicians, the mainstream media, and the advertisers profit from avoiding intelligent debate.  The arms traders profit from war, no matter if that trader is a government or a company. 

 

I am feeling deconstructionist today.  So I invite you to consider what elements of human nature have contributed to circumstances...

 

1.  Selfishness, or self-interest.

 

        The propensity for one to spend more energy trying to perpetuate their present security or comfort over accepting the fact that change is inevitable, and in fact necessary for the most people to enjoy the most good.

 

    Topical case in point...we don't need cars with better mileage, we need an investigation into price gouging...

 

    We strive for security, people just as much as corporations, just as much as bureaucracies.  Corporations have more money and thus more voice (reference free speech and campaign contribution decision).  Bureaucracies often have the means by which to grant favor on corporations, though they too spend a lot of time convincing others of their necessity.  Manifestation....everything from the military industrial congressional complex to farm subsidies to laws benefiting established businesses, to airline bailouts.  These things adulterate market competition and undermine the nation's  competitiveness.                     

 

Next time...shared responsibility.