I'm tired, achy, and cranks, so I'm just going to belch out my disgruntled complaints in an unadulterated fashion before I have a nap. What injustices are the world neglecting? Let's start with the United States, the global equivalent of Azathoth.
For those of you not acquainted with Lovecraftian lore, Azathoth is the master of the universe, but he is a a dumb and blind idiot, dancing through the cosmos of his own design to the tune of thin, monotonous flutes.
Harm the Poor
To give substance to the metaphor, this year marks the sixteenth anniversary of the United States' involvement in Afghanistan. 2,386 American military personnel and 1,173 American civilian contractors have been killed in that time. I am not going to criticize, just ask:- What has been accomplished?
- What provisions have been made for the children made parentless by these deaths?
- How have the 20,049 wounded Americans been treated upon their return from this theatre of operations?
- How much longer must the United States occupy Afghanistan to "complete" its mission?
- Would anyone volunteer to guard the poppy fields in Afghanistan if it were possible to earn money for a family locally?
Economics
Enlistment in the U.S. Military is dropping. Word is getting out that poor people are being told that their military wages can pay for a home and a health plan for their families. Word is also getting out that these are bald-faced lies. Would you like to buy a cheap home? Get one that is foreclosed on a veteran's family. The Department of Veterans Affairs sells them off HERE. Or you can click on this https://www.hudforeclosed.com/government-foreclosures-info/va-foreclosuresHere is the lie - sign up for a tour of duty, and we can get you a mortgage at a cheap rate. We pay you while you shoot little Afghan kids for a year, and then life is free and easy for you and the next generation of soldier. Problem: when you get injured, you are no longer considered part of the war against terror/drugs/al-qaeda/ISIS, you are part of the problem that holds America back from fighting whichever one of those problems threatens democracy this week.
Wounded, disabled, and handicapped soldiers return from combat to find that they are no longer eligible for the sub-prime mortgage rates that are issued to soldiers in active rotation. Suddenly, boom. Your family lives out of the car if you've got one, and you can't get a job. Why not? Click HERE or copy and paste this address: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/sudy-bharadwaj/veterans-employment-discrimination_b_3347752.html
Bottom line: for decades, the U.S. Military has been selling people a bogus product. If you serve your country and defend America against... erm... stuff like Nazis and terrorists, serving freedom and liberty and the like, you will end up better than you started.
Poor Shame
People that are one leukemia diagnosis away from complete bankruptcy look to the military as a way out because their families have always voted for autocrats that made decisions for them and absolved them from the awful weight of freedom.. That demographic is shrinking because they are dying. Literally. With no health insurance, and with no employment in increasingly useless industries like coal-mining, buggy-whip-making, or slave-manacle-manufacturing, large numbers of people thought that the military would pay them enough to get their family into a house that had heat and possibly water.That dream is falling apart. Now, instead of sparing Ma and Pa from a serving at the dinner table every night and coming home with enough to save the family farm, a young man or woman leaves and comes back missing a limb or two and needs help going to the bathroom.
What price are we paying for freedom, and... wait.. how are we defending freedom again, exactly?
The entertainment industry has been working overtime to make sure that mutilations in Afghanistan are justified because of 9/11 and xenophobia,etc. "Designated Survivor" and other prime time television shows are packed with messages that U.S. military troops are needed all over the world (that have valuable resources) and must rescue all sorts of confused people that would much rather have lived their lives in peace.
How many tens of thousands of displaced, maladjusted, disabled, and emotionally unstable people must this militarist state create before it undermines itself?
The movement to create a mental health service within the military has been afoot for years and can be found HERE.
Please watch the film. This is not a political issue - it is a humanitarian one.
http://www.thankyouforyourservicethefilm.com/
Yemen
One of the few places where American military boots are not seen on the ground is Yemen. Millions are literally dying as we speak. Please look at this article [HERE]:https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/millions-yemenis-days-away-losing-clean-running-water
Cholera, starvation, and dehydration are killing millions.
Why don't we hear about this?
American weapons destroyed all of the hospitals and water stations. President Trump declared the missile and drone sales to the Saudis as a tremendous deal for American workers.
OK. Some of you are indifferent toward human misery. That's fine. How about the animals that have been affected by Saudi Arabia's embargo against Qatar and Yemen?
Here is an article detailing the number of poor, dumb animals that have died a horrible and miserable death because some piece of thousand-year-old manuscript has more validity than another thousand-year-old parchment. HERE.
And because I know none of you will click on the link, I'll attach some pictures.
These camels were denied permission to migrate because of Saudi border patrols. But the Saudis are awesome because they buy a load of American-made weapons.
Shower stuff
Now that I've depressed you, here is the music that accompanied my last washing-up.- Friends, by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant
- Tell the Truth, by Derek and the Dominoes
- Science and Love, by Cheapskate
- American Beauty, by the Grateful Dead
When I return, I am going to try and write a scathing attack at Stephen Colbert, and the way in which his show tried to marginalize the relevancy of Walter Isaacson's latest book on Leonardo da Vinci. Academia has a place in the world, and any sniggering attempt to reduce it to some sort of ivory tower speculation is part of the decay that has made truth a negotiable currency, rather than an absolute aspiration.
I apologize. I have begun to figuratively froth at the mouth when discussing the intersection of ideology and life.
Please let me rest. Good night England, and the Colonies.
—mARKUS
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